Colorado vigilante Ross Swirling busted for doing the very things he accused others of doing

While I'm not fond of Internet ENTRAPMENT operations, I'm also not a fan of self-proclaimed vigilantes, either. So many of these folks have criminal records or later obtain records of their own. 

The police aren't much better, actually, since they spend too much time entrapping folks on the Internet rather than solving real crimes. 

There are no winners in this story, only losers. 

I suppose if there's a moral to this story, it is that those who bark the loudest have the most to hide. ALL vigilantes should be investigated. 

https://www.westword.com/news/denver-musician-who-called-out-sexual-predators-now-a-convicted-sex-offender-17578252

Activist Musician Ross Swirling Pleads Guilty to Attempted Sexual Assault on a Minor

Benjamin Neufeld, Westworld, 9/6/2023

Ross Swirling, a political activist and onetime prominent member of the local punk music scene, has spent years using the internet to call out alleged perpetrators of sexual assault — and anyone who associates with them. But this summer, Swirling himself was convicted of attempted sexual assault on a minor, and a condition of his probation sentence had him kicked off the internet.

Swirling is the frontman for Denver-based punk band Allout Helter — which last released music in 2017 with the LP The Notion of Control; the band's social media accounts are currently offline. A 2018 Westword article outlined some of Swirling's efforts to cancel shows by artists he deemed politically problematic: He helped get an April 1, 2018, Globe Hall gig by the Norwegian band Taake shut down in protest of its anti-Muslim lyrics; later that year, he pushed for Lost Lake to cancel a show by Elite Fitrea because of the supposed similarity of the band's logo to a swastika. Other musicians and members of the local music scene also report being harassed by Swirling through the years.

On September 23, 2022, Swirling began sending messages to a person he thought was a fourteen-year-old girl named Izzy, according to a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit. Izzy was actually undercover investigator Rachael Impson, who messaged back and forth with Swirling over the course of the next five days.

Earlier that day, Impson had created a profile on an internet chatroom that allows users to communicate anonymously. Her profile displayed her interests as "Denver" and "Colorado," but offered no further information. When Swirling initiated the conversation at approximately 6:16 p.m., he asked Izzy's age.

"She wrote, '14.' The user told her he was '39,'" according to the affidavit. Later that evening, Swirling messaged Izzy again: "Maybe we could link up and hang out." Izzy told him she was "down" and asked what Swirling liked to do. He replied, "Well, we'll smoke duh/Haha/We can listen to music and relax."

Over the next few days, Swirling sent several photos of himself. "Izzy commented that she liked Ross' tattoos and, he told her he has 'six.' He also wrote, 'If you ask nice, I'll show you my other tattoos,'" the affidavit states.

On September 27, "Ross asked Izzy what she was wearing that day," the affidavit continues. "She told him she was wearing layers since she does not like the cold. Ross told Izzy, 'You should just come here, I'll keep you warm (winky face emoji).' Ross further wrote Izzy would not need all her layers and he would help take them off and, 'Start rubbing my hands up and down your body to warm you up.' Ross told Izzy if she 'wiggl[ed] that butt back up against me youd feel me get hard.'"

Later that day, Swirling sent Izzy a photo and video that included "his naked penis," the affidavit notes.

On September 28, the pair made a plan to meet at the McDonald's at 7509 South Alkire Street in Littleton during Izzy's lunch break from school. "I know the age difference is, um, pretty big," Swirling wrote, "so im glad you didn't just tell me to fuck off lolol."

Instead of Izzy, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigators were waiting in the McDonald's parking lot, and they arrested Swirling at 11:06 a.m. that day. He was charged with internet luring of a child with intent to exploit, internet sexual exploitation of a child, and criminal attempt sexual assault on a child-victim under fifteen, according to Brionna Boatright, spokesperson for the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office.

During the arrest, "Ross was visibly upset and made statements he was going to die and his life was over," the affidavit states. It adds that Swirling made comments about not wanting to be like his father, and the investigators later learned from a 2013 FBI press release that a man named Scott R. Swirling, Ross Swirling's possible father, had gone to prison after traveling to Washington, D.C., to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

A JCSO investigator subsequently obtained a search warrant for Swirling's cell phone. According to the case report, Swirling had been actively communicating with one other user on the social media app that he'd used to talk with Izzy.

"The user 'Ryan' sent Ross 12 photos of young females possibly between the ages of 10 to 14 years old. The pictures were not of child sex abuse material, however, some were sexual in nature. For example, one photo showed a young female wearing a fitted shirt and underwear," states the case report. "Ross wrote the following comments: Mmmm fuck yes/ Those puffy little nipples (heart eyes emoji) [//] Omg that last girl/ Lift up that dress and pound that pussy [//] Imagine those eyes looking up at you with your cock in her mouth [//] Omg that's so hot/ The ageplay is kinky af."

In June, Swirling pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit sexual assault on a child, and the other counts were dismissed. The judge sentenced Swirling to two years of sex offender intensive supervised probation; he is now on the Colorado Bureau of Investigation sex offender registry.

Over the past two decades, Jefferson County has earned a reputation for keeping an eye out for predators online. So far this year, JCSO has arrested 33 adults in connection with internet cases, according to Sergeant Mike Harris; 46 were arrested in 2022, including Swirling.

Since 2005, JCSO has run a unit called CHEEZO, aka the Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations unit. "The CHEEZO’s intent is keeping children safe," Harris says. "We do this by portraying ourselves as underage teens in various social media apps and sites. Our intent, if an adult is using these same apps and sites to lure a child for sexual purposes, [is to] identify them and arrest them before they actually get to a real child/teen. The CHEEZO team also educates and presents to numerous schools throughout the school year."

He continues, "We have learned and know from experience, adults who have a sexual deviance for underage children go to areas on the internet/social media where children/teens go. We frequent social media apps and sites which are frequented by children/teens. So many of these sites are not policed, and adults frequent these same sites. The majority of the time when a communication begins with our teen persona and the individual learns we are eleven, twelve, fourteen or under eighteen, they immediately cease communicating with our teen persona."

But not Swirling.

Although Swirling had been arrested twice before in Colorado, those charges both involved his political activism. In 2015, he was arrested for property damage and simple assault, but both charges were later dismissed. In 2021, he was arrested again for obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest — but the charges were never tried in court.

This time, though, he was convicted. And as people in the music community learned of Swirling's guilty plea, they began sharing a screenshot of his entry in the sex offender registry, along with concerns of how he had targeted some musicians.

One of Swirling's primary targets was Teenage Bottle Rocket, a punk band from Laramie, Wyoming. Swirling's wife at the time shared allegations about a high-profile punk band from Laramie on a July 21, 2021, edition of the podcast enough, which "aims to shine light into the darkened corners of the music industry," according to its Spotify description. At the time, she identified herself by her first name and said she was the leader of the Denver Chapter of Feed the Scene, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that provides food and a place to stay for touring bands. 

That October, Teenage Bottle Rocket's show at the Turf Club, a venue in St. Paul, Minnesota, was canceled because of the podcast episode, according to an article on alt-news website Racket that drew a specific connection between the allegations made on the podcast episode and Teenage Bottle Rocket. Swirling often shared links to that article.

Swirling also went after the band's booking agent, Toby Jeg of Atomic Music Group, simply because he works with Teenage Bottle Rocket, according to Jeg. Swirling contacted the agency, "trying to get AMG to drop the band and specifically attacking me," Jeg says, adding that Swirling would sometimes contact venues directly and say that a bandmember was a "rapist."

"I would not be working with or booking anybody that was involved in any sort of criminal activity like that," Jeg says. "It's completely false."

Des Garcia, a former tour manager who worked with other bands targeted by Swirling, says that his actions were "abusive," and calls the charges leveled at her bands "absolutely false."

She and Jeg say that Swirling would even go after bands that refused to publicly denounce Teenage Bottle Rocket — including bands with which Garcia worked.

"I'm a sexual assault survivor myself," Garcia says. "I'm not trying to discount that someone who is a victim is going to see this and feel attacked. I would never want to do that to someone, because I'm that person, too; I'm a survivor. I was a person that was an internet Karen once; I definitely rallied behind some shit that I'm mostly ashamed of now. ... I was that person, so I understand that most people that are jumping on this bandwagon just want to help and give a voice to people who they feel have been abused. But what these people have done is weaponize that for their own benefit."

On August 14, as news of Swirling's conviction began circulating, the main Feed the Scene Facebook page put up this post: "Based on information disclosed yesterday, the rights of FTS Denver to use our name have been terminated — effective immediately. Even though he was never part of our organization, [Swirling] resided in a home shared by an FTS location and we neither support/condone his actions nor intend to cover them up by ignoring them. We’re currently working on taking all FTS Denver information/branding down."

Swirling's former wife declined to comment, as did Teenage Bottle Rocket's representatives. Feed the Scene did not respond to a request for comment. Swirling, who wrote a piece in 2015 for Westword's music section on the return of the band Tin Horn Prayer after the death of drummer Camden Trendler, did not respond to numerous phone messages or a letter dropped off at the address on his arrest documents, asking for an interview.

A Denver woman who was once involved with Swirling and asks to remain anonymous recalls that Swirling and his then-wife were "definitely very, very active online. Very active in trying to call out pedophilia, trying to call out sexual assault allegations and things like that."

In retrospect, "I'm sure that not every one of those was true," she says. "I know there's been a lot of people that have been torn apart by both of them."

After she learned of Swirling's conviction, she adds, "I was definitely feeling pretty gross for a couple of days."

After putting up with Swirling's harassment for years, Jeg was feeling relief. "I'm just glad that, for me, he's going to get off my fucking case," he says. "I hope so."

The Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board gives Registered Citizens a middle finger for Christmas

I managed to bypass the Gazette's shitty paywall to bring you the absolutely worst and dumbest OpEd I've read this year. 

One commenter wrote, "Say it out loud: "stupid, unethical editors". Not "adults who failed journalism and run divisive media outlets". Same thing in the case of the Gazette, but might as well stick with brevity." 

To that, I say the terms Yellow Journalism ("journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration") or better yet, "brown journalism ("journalism so biased, fallacious. filthy and full of shit that it makes mainstream journalism appear accurate and objective by comparison"), best describe whoever wrote this tripe for the DUHzette. 

https://gazette.com/premium/editorial-say-it-out-loud-sex-offender/article_48e07fce-6454-11ec-86ca-57d4b17574f6.html

EDITORIAL: Say it out loud in Colorado — sex offender

The Gazette editorial board Dec 24, 2021 Updated Dec 24, 2021

(Note, here are the five fucktards on the editorial board: Ryan McKibben, Chairman; Christian Anschutz, Vice Chairman; Chris Reen, Publisher; Wayne Laugesen, Editorial Page Editor, Pula Davis, Newsroom Operations Director)

Kudos to Gov. Jared Polis for nixing the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board’s vote last month to substitute silly, “person first” wokeism for sound policy.

Readers might recall that the obscure board, which writes the rules for rehabilitating and monitoring convicted sex offenders, made news a few weeks ago with its 10-6 vote to bar — ironically — the term “sex offender” from board use.

Board members decided instead to call sex offenders, “adults who commit sexual offenses.” Precious, right? To say nothing of absurd, pointless and insulting to the many Coloradans who have been victims of sexual assault.

Last week, the board voted again — to reverse its decision and table the new policy — after a timely trip to the woodshed. The governor appears to have felt putting the person first when it comes to convicted sex offenders could be interpreted as putting the victims last.

“We must be wary not to normalize violent acts of sexual aggression or even give the appearance of normalizing such unacceptable behavior,” Polis wrote to board Director Kimberly Kline the day before the vote.

“I hope that the board will reevaluate its previous decision to allow for additional discussions with the wider community, including carefully examining potential trauma to victims. …”

Which, of course, is diplomatic gubernatorial parlance for, “Are you guys nuts?”

Just plain bad policy aside, the board’s vote also was tone deaf amid public alarm over Colorado’s skyrocketing crime rate. Violent crime in our state soared 35% from 2011 to last year — it rose only 3% nationwide — and among the grim stats was a 9% jump in rape.

It can’t have escaped Polis’ attention that his fellow Colorado Democrats have been dogged lately by a soft-on-crime reputation. So the timing of the board’s ill-advised decision last month couldn’t be worse.

Actually, it could be worse — and in fact is. As reported in The Gazette on Thursday, courtesy of Denver’s 9News, a man who had been sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2014 for sexual assaults — and served only a fraction of that time — has been accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl in Aurora this month. Just 18 months after his prison release.

Kenneth Dean Lee was arrested Dec. 10 and faces charges of sexual assault on a child and first-degree burglary. Aurora police officers were told a man, later identified as Lee, entered a residence around noon, identified himself as an immigration official, and assaulted the victim.

A quick search for “sex offender” in The Gazette’s archives turns up a trove of tragic and unnerving headlines just from recent months. Here’s a sampling:

“Sex offender gets 48 years for kidnapping, sexually assaulting Douglas County woman”

“Repeat child sex offender sentenced to 126 years in prison”

“Aurora man who sexually assaulted a teenage boy is sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison”

They don’t need to be coddled with kinder, gentler labels. They urgently need help — and they should be getting it behind bars, preferably while serving out their full sentences.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board could use a little therapy, too. Members who voted for the change should be required to repeat the words, “sex offender” aloud 100 times. Acknowledging who they truly are is the first step toward helping them.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis is trying to out-stupid Lauren Boebert

Is CO Gov. Jared Polis in a competition with Lauren Boebert for dumbest politician in Colorado? You'd think a gay person would understand the demeaning power of labels. But then you'd be wrong. I sent him a pretty scathing email to remind him of the power of negative labels. He needs to study up on gay history too, since it wasn't that long ago the "sex offender" label was used to target the gay community.  

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/20/sex-offender-label-colorado-jared-polis/

Colorado board reverses controversial change to “sex offender” label at urging of Gov. Jared Polis and his appointee

In November, the state Sex Offender Management Board voted to replace “sex offenders” with “adults who commit sexual offenses.” Then the board opened that decision up to public comment, and that’s where things went off track.

By ALEX BURNESS | aburness@denverpost.com | The Denver Post

PUBLISHED: December 20, 2021 at 1:31 p.m. | UPDATED: December 20, 2021 at 3:39 p.m.

Under pressure from the governor and the state’s public safety director, Colorado’s Sex Offender Management Board has reversed its controversial November decision to scrap the term “sex offenders” in its own guiding principles in favor of “adults who commit sexual offenses.”

The board, commonly referred to as the SOMB, voted 16-2 on Dec. 17 to “table” the language-change matter and refer it back to a subcommittee. It’s possible the board votes again to change terminology in the future, but the tabling means it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

This decision followed a 10-6 vote by the board in November to stop using “sex offenders” in its own principles and policies. The board controls treatment standards for people convicted of sex offenses, and changing the language in this way would not have affected treatment or management policies. But it was hailed by supporters as an important step away from labels and toward “person-first” language that research shows can improve rehabilitation prospects.

After the November vote, however, the board opened a public comment period. That’s where things went off track.

The language change had gotten coverage on talk radio, on Fox News and in The Daily Caller, in addition to various Colorado outlets. More than 400 people submitted comment on the matter, an overwhelming number for a state board that tends to generate little public attention.

Public defenders and people who’ve committed sexual offenses, plus their family members and advocates, were supportive of the change. But comments from victim advocates and members of the general public were by far in favor of no language change. Law enforcement leaders have also opposed the change from the start.

“The coddling from some of the offender-affiliated representatives was repugnant,” tweeted Colorado sex assault survivor and motivational speaker Kimberly Corban, two days after the vote on a language change. “This shift is offensive for those of us who have experienced victimization at the hands of sex offenders who don’t like their ‘label.'”

On Dec. 16, the day before the board’s reversal vote, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis sent a letter to Kimberly Kline, the chair of the SOMB.

“We must be wary not to normalize violent acts of sexual aggression or even give the appearance of normalizing such unacceptable behavior,” he wrote. “I hope that the Board will re-evaluate its previous decision to allow for additional discussions with the wider community including carefully examining potential trauma to victims and ensuring that a clear message continues to be sent to the general public than non-consentual (sic) sexual aggression is not acceptable or tolerated in Colorado.”

Polis also expressed concern that the SOMB, a 25-member board when fully seated, had only 16 of its members present for the November vote. Polis appointee Stan Hilkey, director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, said the same in his own letter to Kline.

“The oddity of this policy change occurring without a true board majority subjects the SOMB and CDPS to public scrutiny,” Hilkey wrote.

Hilkey suggested that, as director of the department that oversees the SOMB, he would likely reject the new language as a policy change.

“I … wish to avoid a scenario where the Board and the Department are not in alignment on the issue, which would place community trust, credibility and relevance of both entities at peril of reputational harm that could jeopardize our collective success,” he wrote. “While unintended, I am concerned that this is on a path to cause more harm than was trying to be fixed within the narrow intent of the trauma-informed language in the first place.”

Polis and Hilkey got their way, to the frustration of reform-minded advocates.

“The research is overwhelming that how we label people impacts their ability to build healthy, prosocial identities and lifestyles that are incompatible with sexual offending,” Laurie Rose Kepros, director of sexual litigation for the Office of the State Public Defender, told The Denver Post. “The SOMB Standards provide the regulations that govern the professionals charged with supporting these positive changes, so the language should support that mission.  Do we want these clients to reoffend or not?”

This was Kline’s argument all along — that the language change was not, in fact, anti-victim, but rather pro-rehabilitation and public safety.

“If we’re talking about how someone speaks about themself, … that can increase risk,” Kline, arguing against labeling people, said ahead of the November vote. “Ultimately it is victim-centered if we’re reducing risk.”

Amy Stillahn of Colorado wants all registered citizens to register for life no matter how petty the offense

Just what the world doesn't need, yet another skinny blonde professional victim who thinks she's a model advocating for more registry laws.

She says she wants it to "be over" and to have her "life" back yet she obsesses over this issue and wants to harm others in the process. That's not how moving on works.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/contact7/hundreds-of-sex-offenders-get-their-names-taken-off-the-sex-offender-registry-every-year-in-colorado

Hundreds of sex offenders get their names taken off the sex offender registry every year in Colorado
Sex offender gets off registry, despite victim's plea
Posted: 3:13 PM, Feb 04, 2019  Updated: 5:20 PM, Feb 04, 2019

By: Jaclyn Allen

A Contact7 investigation found that in the state of Colorado, hundreds of sex offenders are getting off the sex offender registry every year. In one case, a felony sex offender's motion was granted even after his victim pleaded against it.

While Denver7 generally doesn't identify victims of sex crimes, Amy Stillahn wants her story told and wants people to know what she has been through.

"He stole something from me, absolutely," she said, speaking for the first time publicly about the then-21-year-old lacrosse coach at Arapahoe High School, Matthew Buck, who she first met in an AOL chat room in 2000 when she was only 14 years old.

"It was on the playground," she said. "That pea gravel, I remember it sticking to my skin on my bottom, and I was just like, 'I don't want to do this.' It's destroyed and shattered my life."

That year, Buck pleaded guilty to attempted sex assault on a child by a person in a position of trust for the crime.

After the charges became public, Stillahn said she went from popular cheerleader at Arapahoe High School to social outcast — overnight.

"Kids put together the crying girl in the counseling office was the one on the news, and I was being called a slut," she said, the emotions still raw almost two decades later. "I had no friends; it was so hurtful."

In the fallout, she tried to end her life for the first time, and a lifelong battle with anorexia and depression began. She dropped out of the high school and was home schooled, never going to college.

"I think about dying every day," she said. "So often, I just want it to be over."

In stark contrast, Buck's story also takes a dramatic turn after the criminal charge.

After he went to prison in 2005 on a probation violation, the son of an attorney went to law school, passed the Colorado bar and now practices law in Denver, focusing on marijuana and criminal defense, according to his firm's web site.

"It is not common [for felons to practice law in Colorado], but it does occasionally happen," said Jessica Yates, Colorado's attorney regulation counsel, who said attorneys must meet character and fitness standards.

Records obtained by Denver7 from a recent court transcript show prosecutors said Buck downplayed his conviction to the bar, stating he "was involved in a romantic relationship with a high school student."

"I met him twice and he raped me. No. We did not have a romantic relationship," Stillahn said. Stillahn added that at 14, no sexual relationship with an adult in a position of trust could be considered consensual.

John Gleason was the attorney regulation counsel for Colorado in 2011 and said the bar admission system then was dramatically different. His office took over shortly afterwards, he said, implementing a more thorough investigative process.

"To say that Mr. Buck would not be admitted under the current character and fitness evaluation process is pure speculation," Gleason said. "What I would say is that based on my experience, his application would receive a much different evaluation, a much more thorough evaluation...I’m not aware of any other case that is as significant a crime as this."

Buck became an attorney, but he was still a registered sex offender, until he filed a motion to de-register last year.

"This was the last thing I was expecting, and didn't know it was possible," Stillahn said.

Under Colorado law, certain sex offenses must stay on the sex offender registry for life, but Buck pleaded down to attempted child sex assault by a person in a position of trust, which is eligible for de-registration after ten years.

"I just think it was probably a loophole that was inadvertently created by the legislature," said former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey. Morrissey said he believed attempted sex crimes should be included on the list of crimes not allowed to be de-registered. "I think somebody could take this up and should take this up because again, I think it’s a loophole that they did not intend to have. "

Denver7 found hundreds of sex offenders de-register every year in Colorado, and while Morrissey speculated that many are deferred sentences or misdemeanor sex crimes, he said some may be "attempted" crime felony offenders who should be monitored.

"Also, I don’t think people should use the registry as gospel on whether someone is a sex offender or not because an awful lot of of sex offenders get off the registry," he said.

Buck said he did not wish to comment, stating that he had two daughters, and court transcripts show he stated they were the reason he filed to de-register.

Christopher Decker, a criminal defense attorney in Denver, said many sex offenders have been targeted because of registries.

"They have been assaulted. Their houses have been burned down. Their children have been ostracized in schools," said Decker, who has worked with the Colorado Criminal Defense Institute Project offering free legal services around the state for those who qualify to de-register. "I think what's going here is society is beginning to look more carefully at how and why and when we should require someone to register and what are we really getting from this registration."

Decker said the constitutionality of registries is now being challenged in federal court, and many states are looking a modifying them.

"When you have a system that treats everybody the same, bad things happen and some good people get caught up and some bad people don’t get caught up enough," Decker said.

Under Colorado's Victim's Rights Act, a petition to discontinue registration is defined as a critical stage, so victims have a right to be informed of and present for the criminal justice process. Also, to find out if a sex offender has filed a motion, the criminal case number associated with the defendant's conviction is the same case number for the petition to de-register.

So, Stillahn faced Buck for the first time to fight his motion to de-register, speaking out in court and telling her story.

However, Judge Phillip Douglass eventually granted the request , citing Buck's law license as a factor in his decision. Denver7 tried to reach Douglass by phone several times, with no response. He was voted off the bench last year, but he granted the request last month before his term ended.

We checked, and in the 18th Judicial District, where this happened, the majority of de-registration motions were granted last year. In 2018, of the 23 motions to de-register that were filed, 14 were granted, seven were denied and two are still waiting for hearings.

Stillahn wants the law allowing felony sex offenders to de-register changed and wants to warn others about sex offenders no longer on the registry. Really, though, she just wants her life back.

"Everything that has happened all stems back to Matthew Buck," Stillahn said. "What if that had never happened?"

Kyla Galen of ColoraDO'H writes one nasty headline

"Vanessa" in this story is a piece of crap, but this reporter is absolutely disgusting. This is the ugliest headline from a mainstream outlet in a while.

http://www.kktv.com/content/news/11-Call-For-Action-investigates-Registered-sex-offender-living-on-public-dime-478289563.html

11 Call For Action investigates: Registered sex offender living on public dime

By Kyla Galer | Posted: Thu 8:16 AM, Mar 29, 2018  |  Updated: Thu 9:10 AM, Mar 29, 2018

A 13-year-old girl unwittingly made the discovery after learning about sex offender registries at school one day. At her teacher's prompting, she typed in her own address when she got home from school.

"She yelled, 'Mom!'" mother Vanessa (last name withheld) told 11 News. "And I went in there and she said, 'This is our address.' She says, 'Oh my gosh, isn't this our neighbor?'"

Vanessa and her four children live in public housing on the southwest side of the Springs. Under the Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, handbook, owners of these homes are supposed to prohibit anyone on the sex offender registry from renting.

But despite the law, sex offender registration records show Christian Garcia's address listed as the very apartment complex Vanessa and her children call home.

"It's super scary," Vanessa said.

Vanessa now wants to know how this could have happened.

"It makes me wonder how did everyone else in charge not realize that this was going on? And if they did know, why was nothing done? ... Somebody dropped the ball somewhere and it's absolutely appalling that something like this would fly under the radar."

Vanessa -- a survivor of domestic abuse -- says one of the reasons she chose to live in this particular complex is because of the locks on all doors leading outside.

"Unfortunately, as it turns out, we were locking a criminal inside every night."

One of Vanessa's neighbors says the address Garcia listed is actually her own.

"He does not live here at my apartment at all, it's just me and my kids," Jamie Busch said. "In actuality, his address is on the third floor."

11 News reporter Kyla Galer knocked on that address, but no one answered. She later inquired with apartment management how Garcia could have been living at the complex for six months. Management refused to talk on camera, but very briefly spoke to Galer on the phone before hanging up on her. They said they had no idea he was living there.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said sex offenders are checked on once a year.

"It really is incumbent upon the person who is renting the properties to make sure that that person is not a registered sex offender, especially if it is HUD housing," said spokesperson Jacqueline Kirby.

For Vanessa, none of these answers are reassuring.

"I feel like this guy needs to be exposed for the liar that he is," Vanessa said.

The sheriff's office says that just last week, Garcia listed a new address in Colorado Springs. But neighbors say they've still seen him hanging out at the complex in recent days.

Even if he's gone, Busch said she no longer knows if this was an anomaly.

"It kind of makes me wonder how many people now live here that are registered sex offenders with all the kids that run around here," Busch told Galer.

11 News is told it's unlikely Garcia will face charges, but he could get in trouble with his probation officer.

Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn sees pic of kid in dirty bathtub and immediately thinks sex, accuses opponent of showing CP

So this guy is Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Republican who supports the coal industry. So when he's forced to see a presentation from award-winning West Virginia anti-coal activist Maria Gunnoe on the dangers of coal mining on the environment and on the people who live near coal mines, Lamborn found one way to discredit his opponent-- he accused her of disseminating child pornography. An he's not very apologetic about it, either, unlike that time he called President Obama a racial slur. Well, in the interest of fairness, I make no apologies about who I nominate for Shiitake Awards either:

http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_20800163


Lamborn says no apology needed in child-porn interrogation of activist
POSTED:   06/07/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED:   06/07/2012 10:19:17 AM MDT
By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post


WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn said Wednesday that he did not believe he or anyone should apologize to an activist who went through almost an hour of police questioning about child pornography after she brought a professional photo of a child taking a bath in polluted water to a congressional hearing.


"I'm not going to issue an apology, and I don't think the staff members involved are going to issue an apology," said Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican. "I think this woman should consider what type of materials she brings to hearings. Maybe that's something she wants to consider. That's for her to think about."


Maria Gunnoe, a West Virginia mountaintop-removal activist who has garnered awards for speaking out on behalf of southern Appalachia, wanted members of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources to see a photo last week of a 5-year-old taking a bath in dirty orange water.


Lamborn is chairman of that subcommittee, which is under the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources.


Gunnoe, who has testified at Lam born's request one other time last fall, said she submitted the photo via e-mail about two hours before the hearing started Friday morning. She believes the photo helps illustrate environmental damage caused by mountaintop-removal coal mining.


U.S. Capitol Police who questioned Gunnoe found no criminal wrongdoing.


Lamborn is in charge of the witnesses and all the proceedings of his committee and said he heard from staffers right before the hearing started that they believed the photo was inappropriate.


He said he decided to pull the photo, though he never saw it and still hasn't seen it. He says he has no desire to view the photograph, shot by a California-based photojournalist.


"I was going by what staff recommended to me," he said Wednesday. "They had a serious question about whether this is appropriate or not, and based on that, the police based in any state ... will be very cautious and they will want to do due diligence to make sure there isn't some problem."


But Lamborn said he was not involved in the Capitol Police's questioning Gunnoe on whether she was a child pornographer.


"That was an attempted assassination on my character," Gunnoe said Wednesday. "I work with families of children often, and many of these children love me. I will not let this define my work in any way."


An apology would certainly help settle that, Gunnoe said.


It isn't the first time a congressional witness has been censored at a hearing, but it is exceedingly rare, Capitol Hill staffers with decades of experience said Wednesday.


In the mid-1980s, Congress, in attempting to define what was "obscene" music, played songs laced with four-letter words and watched racy music videos during a hearing debating the virtues of requiring record labels to print lyrics for parents.


Last Friday's Energy and Mineral Resources hearing was about an Environmental Protection Agency decision to revoke a years-old permit to reopen the Spruce Mines in West Virginia.


Lamborn, with other House Republicans, said the decision cripples the creation of jobs. Gunnoe was testifying that coal jobs are up in West Virginia and that the kind of mining involved pollutes the water supply.


Gunnoe said she would welcome the opportunity to go back to members of Congress to talk again. Lamborn, too, said he would invite Gunnoe again to hear her voice on mountaintop-removal mining.

Ft Collins Colorado man mistakes innocent man for a sex offender

Proof the adage about people going bald
due to brain use is a myth

This man is a career criminal arrested for kidnapping and attacking a man with a knife, mistaking him for a sex offender. This begs the question-- had his victim been a real registrant, would he even been charged?

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31009753/detail.html


Police: Vigilante Thought Innocent Man Was Child Molester


Fort Collins Man Accused Of Kidnapping, Assault


Posted by: Thomas Hendrick, News Editor
POSTED: 10:07 am MDT May 4, 2012
UPDATED: 10:42 am MDT May 4, 2012


FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man faces kidnapping and assault charges after police said he abducted a man he apparently mistook for a child molester.
Brandon Benhamin Mau, 32, was arrested Tuesday afternoon by a SWAT team.
Investigators believe Mau threatened a man with a knife and forced him into his vehicle Monday on West Plum Street near Taft Hill Road, reported the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Mau released the man at City Park. Police said the man sustained minor injuries from the knife.
Police found no basis for Mau’s claim that the victim was a molester, said Detective Jim Lenderts.
A SWAT team was called to arrest Mau because he has a criminal history, Lenderts said.
Mau was arrested without incident and booked on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree assault, third-degree assault and felony menacing.
According to state court records, Mau was booked into the Larimer County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Mau’s criminal history includes a 2009 arrest on a burglary charge involving assault or menacing, criminal mischief, felony menacing and possession of a dangerous weapon. He later accepted a plea agreement to possessing an illegal weapon and was sentenced to two years of probation, according to state court records.