Judge Tanya Walton Pratt doesn't follow real federal decisions while upholding facebook blanket ban

How did this numbnut even get her job? Hopefully the Indy ACLU will continue the fight beyond this ignorant excuse of a judge.

http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/indiana/judge-upholds-sex-offender-facebook-ban


Judge upholds sex offender Facebook ban
Updated: Sunday, 24 Jun 2012, 2:24 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 24 Jun 2012, 2:24 PM EDT


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A federal judge has upheld an Indiana law banning registered sex offenders from accessing Facebook and other social networking sites used by children. 


Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said in an order Friday that the state has a strong interest in protecting children, and that the rest of the Internet remains open to those who have been convicted. 


The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the class-action suit on behalf of a man who served three years for child exploitation, along with other sex offenders who are restricted by the ban even though they are no longer on probation. 


Federal judges have barred similar laws in Nebraska and Louisiana. 


ACLU legal director Ken Falk says he's disappointed by Pratt's ruling and is considering an appeal.

Church Mutual says registered citizens are a "liability"

I'm not surprised but of all the places to ban registrants about money woes, it is a church. The company involved is Church Mutual.

http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=347294&type=propertycasualty

Insurer to Pastor: Disclose Sex Offenders To Congregation
By Sanne Specht, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.
McClatchy-Tribune Information ServicesJune 24--Officials of a local church are battling their insurance company over demands that sex offenders who come to worship be treated as if they had come to prey, rather than pray.


Chad McComas, pastor at Set Free Christian Fellowship in Medford, said his church disclosed to its insurance company that there were known sex offenders within its congregation. That honesty may spell the end of Set Free, a church he started in 1997.


On May 1, the insurance company, Church Mutual, sent a letter requiring McComas to disclose to his congregation the identity of any and all sex offenders, allow those offenders to attend only one predetermined service each week where they must report in and be assigned an escort who will accompany them at all times, and bar them from participating in any child or youth programs.


"Please respond by June 15, 2012. We will review your procedures. If you have not met all the requirements, we may no longer be able to continue your coverage," the letter states.


McComas is challenging the insurance company rules, which he said will have a chilling effect on disclosure, encourage abusers to go underground, and are the same for an 18-year-old boy who is convicted of sex abuse for having sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend.


"Where does that line go? They're throwing everyone in the same boat," McComas said.


Dave Schmidt, a 66-year-old convicted sex offender who attends Set Free, said he is a devout Christian who attends services to worship God, not to prey on youths.


"Certainly there are people who have not accepted the Lord who come to church (with evil intent)," Schmidt said. "That's not why I'm here."


Patrick Moreland, vice president of marketing for Church Mutual, declined to discuss the specifics of his company's interaction with Set Free. Church Mutual insures more than 100,000 religious organizations. It has covered close to 5,000 sex-related claims since 1984.


The rules, developed by outside legal counsel, are designed not only to protect the organization from the "legal hot water" of sexual misconduct and molestation claims but also to protect potential victims, Moreland said.


"Our No. 1 goal is to protect our churches and our children," Moreland said.


Schmidt abused drugs and alcohol and had a long history of sexually abusing children prior to becoming a Christian, he said, adding he pleaded guilty to first-degree sex abuse and sodomy in 1993 after he succumbed "to temptation" one last time.


Two days after Schmidt was arrested on those charges, he was released on his own recognizance and confessed his crimes to McComas, who was then an assistant pastor at another church.


Schmidt said he tendered his guilty plea in Jackson County Circuit Court to spare the child victim from having to testify. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 10 years of probation and treatment, he said.


"I didn't put the blame on anyone but me," Schmidt said. "I didn't want the minor to have to testify."


McComas is loathe to have his church, which has about 100 members, identified as "the sex-offender church." But this issue is a matter of principle and practicality, he said.


"We deal with a lot of members who have addiction backgrounds. That's part of who we serve. But that's not all of who we serve," McComas said. "We know who our members are. We are being careful and diligent. But how often are we going to have to tell the congregation that someone is a sex offender? The congregation changes all the time."


Sex-based claims and crimes occur in cities big and small, in rural areas and in any denomination, Moreland said. Set Free received the same letter that Church Mutual would send to any church, camp or school that disclosed it had a sex offender in attendance, he said.


"What if you have a known offender who offends again? What's a jury going to say?" Moreland said.


Ashland resident Randy Ellison, board president of Oregon Abuse Advocates and Survivors in Service, is an adult survivor of child sexual abuse. Ellison was 15 when a charismatic youth minister at a popular Portland church began sexually abusing him.


For more than 40 years, Ellison remained silent about the devastation wrought by the trusted leader in his community. Now he is a vocal advocate in the fight to end child sex abuse.


The church and the community at large have a responsibility to protect children, Ellison said. Disclosure to the congregation and restricting offenders from being alone with a child are realistic and necessary provisions, he said.


"If there is a sex offender in my church with my children, I want to know about it," Ellison said.


But the insurance company overreached by requiring Set Free to assign an offender a constant escort and limiting his attendance at worship, Ellison added.


"As a man of faith, I have to say, wouldn't you rather have this person in church?" Ellison said.


Offenders must take responsibility and be accountable for their acts. Church services, addiction recovery meetings and other cognitive and behavioral programs are vital to "rewiring brains," he said.


"We're better off as a society having him go to church with an agreement about what can and cannot happen," Ellison said. "We want them there safely. But we want them there as often as we can get them to go."


As heinous as their crimes are, sex offenders are a part of the community's collective family. In fact, 40 percent of perpetrators are within the victim's immediate family, he said.


"Perpetrators aren't devils in trench coats," Ellison said. "Look at any family photo. Perpetrators look like your father, uncle or grandpa. And that, in fact, is who they are."


If society isolates and excludes perpetrators once they are out of prison, it becomes impossible for them to be a part of a community in a positive way. And the odds of recidivism increase dramatically, Ellison said.


"Humans need to be in relationships," Ellison said. "But we're going to watch and make sure it's a safe and positive relationship."


Schmidt gave up the right to be alone with a child when he molested his first one, Ellison said.


"His past behavior has burned that bridge," Ellison said. "But that doesn't mean that we don't worship with him."


There is no safety in numbers when it comes to these kinds of dangers, McComas said. If offenders have ill intent, they are much more likely to go to a church with a large congregation.


"That's where they want to go, because they can hide and groom these kids," McComas said.


Ellison's minister is the Rev. Pam Shepherd of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Ashland. Shepherd agrees with Ellison that churches have a responsibility to keep children and youth safe. UCC is insured and performs background checks on all Bible school teachers, youth ministers and others who are in positions to deal with minors.


But Shepherd said she has never seen a letter like the one McComas received from Church Mutual. And no one in their membership has disclosed any sex crimes, she said.


"There are no known sex offenders coming to our church," Shepherd said. "But if all sex offenders glowed orange, people might be surprised to see who they are sitting next to."


Schmidt said he has been labeled as a "predatory" child sex abuser. He served additional time in prison during his 10-year probationary period for failing two of six polygraph tests and refusing to participate in therapies he deemed counter to his religious beliefs, he said.


"I was convicted of one offense with one minor," Schmidt said. "But I was open and I disclosed my history of molestation with minors."


Schmidt doesn't believe in "self help," he said. Prayer helps him stay focused on God and not on sin. In addition to attending worship services, Schmidt works in food pantries at Set Free and at his old church, he said.


"We're here to love one another. Not lust after one another, and I was guilty of that," Schmidt said.


Schmidt must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He is used to being watched. Just last week, Oregon State Police were at his door, where he lives with three other men who have been convicted of sex crimes, after a young developmentally challenged man went missing.


"They searched the house, didn't find anything and thanked me for cooperating," Schmidt said.


Schmidt said if he gets driven out of Set Free by Church Mutual's policies, he will simply go to another church, then another. One week at a time, if necessary, he said.


Schmidt was one of seven known sex offenders at a larger church in Medford. Schmidt said policies were put in place and an elder was assigned to watch him. The man sat a few rows behind Schmidt at services. One day he didn't realize Schmidt had gone to the restroom. When the man realized Schmidt was not in his seat, "he got up and he had a look of panic on his face," Schmidt said.


Schmidt was later asked to sign a contract promising not to molest anyone. He opted to leave that church and began attending Set Free, he said.


"You know who I am. If you want to watch me, watch me. But don't ask me to participate in it," Schmidt said. "There are murderers coming into churches. You don't ask them to sign a contract not to kill anyone."

Louisiana: If at first you don't succeed

If at first you don't succeed, pass a new law. Jindal reinstates the RSO FB ban under a new guise. Pay CLOSE attention to what is said.

http://www.ksla.com/story/18818685/new-law-for-sex-offenders-on-facebook



New LA law requires sex offender status on Facebook


Posted: Jun 18, 2012 6:16 PM EDT
Updated: June 19, 2012 03:24 AM CDT
By Fred Childers - bio | email

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -
Registered sex offenders in Louisiana now have to share their sex offender status on social website like Facebook. 


The author of the bill is Representative Jeff Thompson from Bossier City.


He says it's designed to create more accountability for the people who come into your home through your computer.


This law is the latest attempt by legislators to crack down on child sex predators online. But prosecutors say it's purpose is not to prevent those sex crimes, but to prosecute those who commit them and fail to register.


"This is one of those deals that requires a person to say their a sex offender on Facebook, so what can we do if they don't? Same thing we do if they don't have their sex offender id car, we arrest them and prosecute them for it," said Caddo Assistant DA, Hugo Holland.


Holland says Thompson consulted with the DA's Office while crafting the bill, and the DA's Office through offered support. 


A law that prohibited sex offenders from using social websites completely was recently struck down by the courts and deemed unconstitutional. Thompson believes his legislation can easily stand up to constitutional scrutiny because it's only requiring those who already register to share that information on social websites.

The Smoking Gun REALLY needs to fix their banner ads. Really.

So I've been having a fun time laughing at a neighbor caught "stuffing" a teddy bear downtown Cincinnati. That story begs for lots of jokes already. However, when you go to the Smoking Gun website, it sometimes includes a banner ad for the movie "Ted," that talking teddy bear. Sometimes you can't make this crap up.

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/ohio-teddy-bear-lover-678234

Girl lies about rape, RSO still held on $150,000 bond

So this girl lies, claiming this homeless registrant raped her. Then she took it back and now says he only told her he wanted to fuck her. So he's being held on a $150,000 bond on the basis of a statement from someone who admitted to lying. Washington should be renamed Hogwashington, a lot of people in this state are full of it.

http://tdn.com/news/local/lpd-transient-sex-offender-approached-young-girl-at-lake-sacajawea/article_94116850-b5e5-11e1-b149-001a4bcf887a.html


LPD: Transient sex offender approached young girl at Lake Sacajawea
By Tony Lystra / The Daily News | Posted: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 8:30 pm | No Comments Posted




Authorities on Tuesday arrested a registered sex offender suspected of trying to persuade a 14-year-old Kelso girl to have sex with him at Lake Sacajawea in May.
A Kelso girl told police in May that she was at Lake Sacajawea in Longview on May 1 when a man began speaking to her inappropriately, according to an affidavit.
The girl told authorities in two separate interviews that the man, later identified as a 42-year-old transient, told her that he "did not see anything wrong with younger girls having sex with older men," according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in Cowlitz Superior Court.
Among other inappropriate comments, the man also said he was dying of cancer and "wanted to have sex with a young girl like her."
The girl initially told a Longview police officer that the man raped her in a bathroom at the park, but later recanted, saying she lied to the officer, according to the affidavit.
The Daily News usually withholds the name of sex crime suspects until they are formally charged.
The suspect is being held in the Cowlitz County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail on suspicion of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Police said he was convicted of first-degree rape of a child and first-degree child molestation in 1997.

New Jersey wants to be the next Miami- Julia Tuttle colony

Here is the backstory-- A few years ago, New Jersey Supreme Court struck down a number of local residency law ordinances as unconstitutional. So now the idiots at Jersey Shore (the legislature, not the reality show) want to pull a Miami and pass 2500 foot residency restrictions. Maybe New Jersey has geographical penis envy? They should look at Iowa instead.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/159001495_Town_wants_tougher_residency_restrictions_for_sex_offenders_.html


West Milford’s town council backs proposed bill that would restore residency restrictions for convicted sex offenders


THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012
BY DAVID M. ZIMMER
STAFF WRITER
SUBURBAN TRENDS
PRINT | E-MAIL
Township officials are backing proposed state legislation that would restore a local law deemed illegal by the state Supreme Court in 2009.


The legislation, state Senate Bill 380 (S380), would make it illegal for convicted sex offenders with a high risk of re-offense to reside within 2,500 feet of an elementary or secondary school, playground, or child care center. Modeled after legislation recently enacted by the State of Florida, S380 was named for Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old Florida resident who was sexually assaulted and murdered by a convicted sex offender in 2005.


West Milford officials adopted municipal ordinance 2005-021 later that year. The local law restricted convicted sex offenders (who are four times more likely to be arrested for a new sex crime than released non-sex offenders, according to the federal Bureau of Justice) from residing within 2,500 feet of any school, park, playground, or day-care center in the 80.4-square-mile exurban community until it was repealed begrudgingly by township representatives in the fall of 2009.


Months earlier, in May 2009, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that state municipalities cannot restrict convicted sex offenders' residency rights by barring them from living near libraries, parks, playgrounds, day-care centers, and schools.


As noted by Mayor Bettina Bieri, the state is now just one of eight without residency restrictions for registered sex offenders. Bieri said she is in full support of state legislators crossing New Jersey off that list. Eight registered sex offenders have West Milford addresses, according to the New Jersey State Police database.


While some representatives wanted to keep ordinance 2005-021 on the books in 2009, the threat of potential lawsuits and the loss of liability insurance coverage ultimately led to the ordinance's elimination. Township officials initially refused to support proposed legislation that would create new residency proximity standards for convicted sex offenders, claiming the 500-foot restriction for sex offenders more than 21 years old was too permissive. The council had inquired about drafting its own proposed legislation to deal with its objections. However, Township Attorney Fred Semrau recommended allowing state representatives to take the lead given the legal intricacies and potential expense involved.


In addition to the 2,500-foot limit that has exemptions for those residing in correctional institutions, mental health facilities, or existing residences prior to the construction of a school, playground, or child care center, S380 would increase penalties for harboring or concealing a sex offender and committing sex crimes against minors. The latter would include the requirement to be electronically monitored by the state via global positioning system technology.


Email: zimmer@northjersey.com

I shudder to think what the NJ Bookville will look like.

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.

Tony Rackauckas, Orange County California official D.A. (dumbass)

Raw-carcass and Runnion, what a pair.

This has been way overdue. For the past year or so, Tony Rackauckas, Orange County DA, has been the quintessential pimp for the sex offender park bans. It all comes down to his plans for eventual higher office, a ship that has hit a stumble when Raw-Carcass got sued the the mother of a homeless man brutally beaten to death by the dirty half-dozen of Fullerton's "finest." A homeless guy who ended up being the kid of a retired OC cop, no less (recently the city agreed to may the dead man's mom a million to keep quiet). So while Rackauckas has failed to charge four of six crooked killer cops, Tony has been trying to divert attention away from this case by pulling a Bobby Jindal and pimping sex offender issues, specifically park bans.

Kelly who? I'm busy exploiting this child for my re-election bid. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/us/sex-offenders-face-growing-restrictions-on-public-places.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all


HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Convicted sex offenders are barred from surfing at the famous pier in this Orange County city. In nearby Dana Point, they are prohibited from casting a fishing line in the harbor. And if they wander into a public park in Mission Viejo, they could be shipped back to jail for six months, following the City Council’s vote this year to ban them from a host of places where children congregate. “We need to protect our kids,” the Orange County district attorney, Tony Rackauckas, had told the Mission Viejo City Council. “The danger is very real.” Orange County finds itself at the enter of a new wave of laws restricting the movement of sex offenders. The county government and a dozen cities here have banned sex offenders from even setting foot in public parks, on beaches and at harbors, rendering almost half the parks in Orange County closed to them. Ten more cities are considering similar legislation.... Still, Mr. Rackauckas said he was satisfied that the laws were serving as a deterrent. “We’re not going to know how many kids were not molested or groomed for later sexual contact as a result of this law,” he said.

I know how many kids were saved by this law-- ZERO. So by not seeing anything he assumes it is working. What an idiot.  To quote Reason Magazine --" In other words, if the public safety benefits cannot be shown, we can just assume them." Great minds think alike. Of course you see the results below:

Sex offenders here can apply to the Orange County sheriff’s department to be allowed into a county park. So far, 15 applications have been submitted; all but one have been denied. One applicant requested access to Dana Point Harbor to continue working as a commercial fisherman. Another was a locksmith who did work at businesses at the harbor, and said he had a clean record during 28 years living in the area. A third wanted to attend a memorial service for his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, who had recently died. All three requests were turned down.

No surprise. How much are you willing to bet you will see Rackaukas use this crap when he runs for Attorney General? So long as this doesn't pop up too, Tony:

The man who struck the first blow killing Kelly Thomas,
still not charged for murder. Too many sex offenders to worry about!

Exorcist Jindal to exorcise registered citizens from public libraries

So not only will Jindal ban all registrants from using libraries, he's adding them to the list of places registrants can't even travel within 1000 feet. Next up, separate water fountains.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/sex_offenders_barred_from_libr.html


Baton Rouge -- The Louisiana Legislature has given final approval to a measure that would add public libraries and the surrounding 1,000 feet to the list of areas that convicted sex offenders cannot go unless granted specific exceptions. Senate Bill 753 by Dale Erdey, R-Livingston, now goes to Gov. Bobby Jindal for his certain signature.


State law already restricts convicted sex offenders from going near schools, playgrounds and other facilities frequented by children. Erdey said libraries should be added for consistency. The bill set Jan, 1, 2013, as the deadline for governing authorities of public libraries to develop specific guidelines for the law, including any exceptions. The sponsor accepted an amendment along the way to clarify that the law would not apply to sex offenders who are using another police station or courthouse to comply with separate state law requiring them to register on a public database. Erdey said in some Louisiana towns, the law enforcement agency handling the registry is located within 1,000 feet of the public library.

Courtney Laydon and Paul Innace engages in media masturbation

Big snake holding
little snake

This article is so bad it is laughable. But then it pisses me off because it makes viewers assume everybody on the registry will use computers to lure kids in by flogging the bishop in front of a webcam. To further the stupidity, this report makes people believe that everyone on the public registry is doing it (false) and are the only ones doing it (also false). Studies conducted on the subject have found internet sex crimes that involve offline encounters very rare, and most solicitations are of people of similar ages.

http://www.fox43.com/news/wpmt-sexual-offenders-and-social-media-laws-needed-to-keep-kids-safe-20120524,0,4377476.story


WPMT


Sexual offenders and social media: Laws needed to keep kids safe


Courtney Laydon


Anchor


9:07 AM EDT, May 24, 2012


advertisement
The growing world of social networking is making it easier for sex offenders to contact children and feed their fetish.


Pennsylvania State Trooper Paul Iannace of the Computer Crime Unit is warning parents that child predators are beginning to use video chat sessions on gaming consoles and social networking sites to quickly lure children into an inappropriate sexual relationship.


"They get naked, they start masturbating into the cameras ... the kids don't know how to react," Iannace said. 


In some cases, the predator will convince the child to meet to engage in sexual activity.  Through his years of investigating cyber crimes, Iannace says he is always surprised by how many opportunities a child had to tell an adult, but did not.

"What is the kid going to do? Go home and tell mom and dad I had sex with a grown man?  They are embarrassed," Iannace said.


The growing problem has sparked legislation in several states that would either ban or restrict a sex offender from social media sites.  Indiana's law, which bans all offenders from social media sites, is now being challenged in the courts.  Opponents argue the strict regulations violate an offender's first amendment rights. 

In Pennsylvania - State Representative Eugene Despaquale is leading a bill that would give a judge the power to ban a child predator from social networking sites if they have a history of using the Internet to lure in children.


"There's simply a big hole and it's not just PA, we clearly see there's a pattern here," DePasquale says.


DePasquale says he believes a judge would make the bill constitutional because it allows a judge to make a decision on a case by case basis.


Regardless of the laws, Iannace urges parents to communicate with their children and be aware of the social media sites they spend time on. He also recommends that parents encourage their teens to visit www.teencentral.net, which provides valuable information about a variety of issues that teens may face, including Internet safety.

My Faux29 Philly gets Registrant fired. Way to go, assholes!

Another idiot reporter gets a registrant fired from his job. It's Faux News, what do you expect?

This reporter needs to lose his job.

Is it just me or does Chris O'Connell look like Chris Farley? Just as ugly but only half as smart.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/convicted-sex-offender-working-at-citizens-bank-park


Convicted Sex Offender Working At Citizens Bank Park
Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 10:38 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 22 May 2012, 10:21 PM EDT


A convicted sex offender has a job that may surprise you. D**** A****'s co-workers tipped us off that he works at Citizens Bank Park in areas where he comes into contact with children and he has for years. (How much are you willing to bet this coworker just got mad at his boss over some petty shit?)


What could be a more family friendly event than a Phillies game. Well many parents we spoke with tonight were shocked to find out that working inside of citizen's bank park around many children, a convicted sex offender.


Douglas A**** arrived to work at citizen's bank park today like he's done for the last couple years. He works for Aramark supervising concession workers at the stadium.


But we learned something about aster his boss didn't know. Aster is considered a lifetime sex offender on the state police Megan's Law website He was convicted of involuntary deviate sexual assault and other charges for a 2003 sexual assault of a teenage girl in Bucks County. 


When Chris O’ Connell approached A**** to ask him about his conviction, A**** quickly disappeared into a back room not to be seen the rest of the night.


What we learned is a**** was sentenced to 1-2 years in the Bucks County prison for his crimes. He has completed his 5 year probation. But he will remain on the sex offender registry. Many parents we spoke with couldn't believe Aramark, the Phillies concession contractor, would hire someone with his background or not check in the first place.


And a late development, a Aramark spokesman says since this was brought to the companies attention by Fox 29--D***** A**** has been terminated from his position tonight. The company could not tell us if a background check was done on him. 

Believe the victim, but only when it leads to conviction, says Texas court

This case is messed up in many way. You have a man proclaiming his innocence yet convicted on no evidence, a "victim" who later admits she was coerced by her parents to make a false allegation, the reliance on junk science to make a bogus declaration of pedophila, and the intervention of the Texas Supreme Court.

So let me get this straight, the victim has recanted, during a time she is less likely to be coerced into recanting, and is regarded by the court as unbelievable, yet was believed undoubtedly at an age she was more likely to be coerced.

Compounding the problem is the use of the Abel screening test, aka "The Diana screen," named after a girl allegedly abused and later committed suicide. The test is actually simple, it is a test where people are shown a series of pictures of adults and children in bikinis, and if you look at it too long, you are a pedophile. The test has been proven only about 65% accurate (about the same as chance), and can be beaten by simply showing revulsion at the pics or just not look at them as long.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2012/05/18/new_trial_for_man_who_challeng.html


New trial for man who challenged pedophilia test as junk science
By Chuck Lindell | Friday, May 18, 2012, 09:53 AM


The Texas Supreme Court today ordered a new sentence for Michael Arena, a Harker Heights man who has served almost 13 years of a 20-year sentence for molesting a young cousin who later said the incident never happened.
The court ruled that Arena deserves a new sentencing trial because of false testimony by a psychologist, who during Arena’s 1999 trial labeled him a pedophile who was likely to strike again.
The psychologist, Fred Willoughby, based his conclusion on a test that required the then-16-year-old to click through images of swimsuit-clad people of various ages while the computer secretly measured how long he viewed each photo.
According to the unanimous opinion, written by Justice Eva Guzman, Willoughby testified that the test had an 85 percent accuracy rate. In reality, it was 65 percent.
Willoughby also misstated the scientific support for the test, saying independent studies had verified its effectiveness (none had) and quoting a Brigham Young University study as establishing its accuracy. Instead, the study raised serious questions about the test, noting that its ability to distinguish pedophiles from “nonoffenders was not significantly better than chance.”
Had he testified truthfully, Guzman wrote, “the trial court would have excluded Willoughby’s testimony.”
Instead, prosecutors repeatedly referred to Willoughby’s testimony in closing arguments, urging jurors to choose a significantly long sentence to protect the community from a continuing threat. Jurors, who could have chosen probation, sentenced Arena to 20 years in prison.
“Indeed, the state’s closing argument made more express references to Willoughby’s testimony than to any other testimony in the case,” Guzman noted.
Having established that the testimony should not have been allowed in court, and that it contributed to the length of his sentence, Arena met the legal standard for getting a new sentencing hearing, the court ruled.
Defense lawyers have said they are confident that, if given a new sentencing trial, Arena would receive a sentence of less than the almost 13 years he has served in prison, essentially freeing him.
But defense lawyer Dustin Howell pushed for a finding of actual innocence, telling the Supreme Court during oral arguments in January that Arena would otherwise have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, limiting his employment and housing options “for a crime he did not commit.”
Two years after testifying that Arena molested her when she was 7 and he was 15, cousin Stephanie Arena recanted her accusations, saying she was urged to lie by her mother as part of a bitter child-custody battle.
A Bell County district judge who reviewed the case, however, concluded that her recantation was not credible, ruling that it could have been coerced by Michael Arena’s family. That finding, the Supreme Court ruled today, means Arena fell short in legally proving his innocence.

Linda Walker, dumb quote talker

Linda Walker, dumb quote talker

Linda Walker is learning the fine art of propaganda from Money Mackin' Mark Lunsford's and Ed Not-So-Smart's "Surviving Parents Coalition." That means when she makes comments, they arc bound to be stupid.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/12/living/mothers-sex-offenders/index.html


Linda Walker is the mother of Dru Sjodin, who was killed in 2003 by a sex offender and for whom the Department of Justice's National Sex Offender Public Website is named. Too often, sex offenders are portrayed sympathetically while the victims are forgotten, she said. "What are we telling the victims that are still out there and alive when we keep giving [sex offenders] second and third chances?" Walker wondered. She said she sympathized with some mothers, but not when they refuse to acknowledge what their child has done. "As long as a parent feels horrible about the actions of their child, yes, I'm sympathetic toward them," Walker said. "But not toward the ones that continuously keep their heads in the sand."

I'm just wondering where all this alleged sympathy for sex offenders resides because I've seen none. Speaking of mothers with their heads in the sand, this woman has her own head in the sand. With a face that that, I hope it stays there.

Ned Hibberd walks us into a dumb report magnet

It's a Fox Affiliate, it's a bad headline, it's everything you've come to expect from a Worst News Mutt Category. Ned Hibbert is a bad report magnet. Read below for more:

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/120509-walking-into-a-sex-offender-magnet


Walking into a Sex Offender Magnet
Updated: Wednesday, 09 May 2012, 10:22 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 09 May 2012, 10:07 PM CDT


NED HIBBERD
Reporter
HOUSTON - Parks and playgrounds are a magnet for children, so you may be surprised at how many convicted sex offenders live around them.


Halbert Park, in the Heights, has 43 registered within one mile and 181 within two miles. Those numbers were a sinister surprise for Mary Hernandez, who brings her grandkids to Halbert all the time.


“Oh my God,” said Hernandez, when shown the map of sex offender residences - a database compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety. “I don't want to think. You never know who can snatch 'em or what.”


Grimes Park, in southeast Houston, is surrounded by 15 sex offenders within half a mile and 61 within one mile.


Castillo Park, in the East End, has 92 registered sex offenders living within a mile and 284 within two miles.


“I know everyone's always worried about strangers approaching children,” said attorney Sam Mukerji, “but more often than not it's already somebody that you know.”


In fact, more than 90-percent of children who are victimized will be targeted by someone in their inner circle.


So says Diane Vines, a therapist at the Children’s Assessment Center.


“The truth is: most sexual abuse occurs in the home, by people who should be protecting the children from the abuser. They are the abuser,” explained Vines, who counsels the young victims. “Step-parents, grandparents, relatives, people that the family trusts.”


And because those authority figures are trusted, they tend to get away with it.


Part of Mukerji’s law practice involves suing sexual predators. And he says most of them are not already on the DPS’s maps.


“I feel like they are able to – more so than other types of criminals - are able to get by without being noticed,” explained Mukerji. “They've done it multiple times before they're actually caught.”


And it is staggering how many children are sexually victimized, in one way or another, by the time they reach age 18.


According to Diane Vines’ statistics, up to 18-percent of boys and as many as 30-percent of girls have been raped, molested or exposed to sexually inappropriate behavior.


The younger they are when it happens, says Vines, the harder it is to heal.


“They can have flashbacks with the feeling and they don't know where it comes from,” said the therapist. “They start to feel crazy. And that's very hard to work with because they don't know why they're doing this, and they can't really process it. It is way worse with a much younger child.”

Phil Elmore wants us to know he's a potential predator

He's coming out of the closet...

This guy is Phil Elmore, a "freelance writer" and for today, he's featured in the WND (Weapon of News Destruction). I don't know what the deal is with WND, but so far I'm not impressed with the quality of their writers. So this guy, who apparently does voice acting on the side, apparently poses as a freelance writer on occasion, and the result is hilariously bad. His main errors:

1. He claims 2/3 of Registrants re-offend-- complete bullshit
2. Never hire a male babysitter-- that is exactly what got John Walsh in hot water a few years ago. Of course, Phil Elmore is a man so this means he might be a sex offender. Then again, look at the guy. He might just be...
3. Stranger Danger: That went out with bell bottoms and platform shoes; not even the paranoid NCMEC promotes that archaic crap anymore.

http://mobile.wnd.com/2012/05/monstrous-predators-want-your-kids/


MONSTROUS PREDATORS WANT YOUR KIDS
Exclusive: Phil Elmore gives tips for keeping children safe from pedophiles
Published: 20 hours ago
by PHIL ELMORE


Phil Elmore is a freelance reporter, author, technical writer, voice actor and the owner of Samurai Press. Visit him online at www.philelmore.com.
    
The highest court in New York State ruled Tuesday that viewing child pornography online isn’t necessarily possessing child pornography. While the merits of the ruling itself can be argued, the case merely emphasizes the dangers your children face. The bipedal monster who derives gratification from merely viewing underaged sex acts today could actively seek to rape your child tomorrow. This is a logical progression and we would be fools not to recognize it.


There are websites online through which you may chart registered sex offenders living in your area. Most people, when they do this, are amazed and horrified at just how many registered sex offenders live in close proximity to them, even in small towns with low crime rates. According to the legal information website duhaime.org, one out of five girls and one out of six boys will be molested before the age of 18. More than two-thirds of molesters offend again. Duhaime, quoting Taking Care of Your Child, says that 4,600 children are abducted by non-relatives every year. One in every five kids will be sexually propositioned through the Internet.


Predators who target children are remarkably prevalent in industrialized society, and as the statistics bear out, most of them are recidivists – repeat offenders who are not in any way “reformed” by prison time, counseling, probation, or any of the many ineffective “solutions” our legal system seems to think will keep them in check. The fact is, a child sex predator could be stalking your child right now. The ultimate responsibility for safeguarding your children is yours.


Laundry lists of tips to keep your children safe are about as common as the predators themselves. The following, however, are some good general guidelines for keeping your children safer in a dangerous modern world. Most, if not all, are common sense, but where your children are concerned, no amount of repetition is a bad thing. Our children are defined as dependents for a reason. They depend on their parents for everything, while they lack the judgment we are supposed to provide for them.

Would you hire this guy to babysit YOUR kids?

Thinking of hiring a male babysitter? Don’t. Most men are not criminals, but the overwhelming majority of sexual predators and child molesters are male (the epidemic of female teachers sleeping with their students notwithstanding). Simply put, it’s unusual (though not unheard of) for a young man to enjoy the company of, or wish to spend his time nurturing, other people’s children. Be suspicious also of men and boys (or female teachers, natch) who want unsupervised time with your children. Whether it’s the 20-something who wants to “date” your minor daughter, or an older neighborhood man who has befriended your preteen sons, there are very great child molestation risks involved. NEVER leave your child alone with such people.


Talk to your children about authority figures, and discuss with them what is normal and what is not. Very young people have no frame of reference. A child does not know that it is not normal, say, to be beaten with a yard stick while in nursery school, because until a very young child is told otherwise, that’s just how the world works to him or her. Discuss with your children what actions are not appropriate for strangers or relatives (versus what actions are – this is the classic “good touch” and “bad touch” information). Most importantly, explain to them that it is not OK for a person in a position of authority, like a sports coach, a religious figure, a scout leader, a teacher, or a babysitter to touch them or treat them in a way that is inappropriate for any stranger to touch them.


Know where your children are. There is no excuse for a parent not to know where his or her child is at any given time. Technology can be used to help you, in this case; there are mobile phones with GPS tracking features that let you use the GPS satellites ringing the globe to locate your child via the Internet.


Have a protocol for strangers and for changes in routine. Teach your children the old fundamentals about never accepting anything from strangers (especially food and drink), not talking to strangers and not accepting rides from them. If you must diverge from your child’s routine and they are old enough to understand such things, you can teach them a code word that someone could use to establish their trustworthy credentials in case of emergencies. Guard such things carefully, and teach your children never to divulge the codes.


Never ignore or dismiss your child’s concerns. Children often do not report abuse because they don’t understand it or are not comfortable speaking about it. If they do express a concern in a roundabout way, always listen attentively and encourage your children to discuss their concerns in more detail.


Never allow a minor unsupervised access to a computer. Apart from the harmful things they might view when you’re not around, like pornography, your children are very vulnerable to being propositioned, stalked, bullied, or otherwise harassed when online, particularly when playing online games. Always supervise your child’s computer activity. Your child’s computer should be in a common area, not in a bedroom.


The sad fact of the modern age is that our technology makes it much easier for societal predators to target our children. Much worse is that the ruling of New York’s highest court will encourage and embolden such predators, who may well act out their desires with real victims after indulging their sick habits in secret.


While there have always been sex offenders and child molesters, it is more difficult than ever to protect your kids. At the same time, it is easier than ever for criminal adults to find, target and pursue your children. Given this, you must take the time and make the effort despite the challenges. Your kids may not always thank you for it, but the role of a parent is often a thankless one. You will know you are keeping them safe. That is all that matters.

Hi-yo Sharon Silver, away!

Today's lesson is on "How to perpetuate stranger danger and assume all men are potential sex predators" by Sharon Silver. Who is Sharon Silver? Well she runs some site called overreactive parenting.... oops I mean "proactive parenting." She mentions something about being on Oprah. Well that explains a lot. So Sharon Silver also writes on one of those mothering sites, "Circle of Moms." Today I was made aware of an article she wrote entitled "How to spot a child predator." The gist of the article is this, she spots some kids talking to some older man talking to some kids in a restaurant, assumes the man is a predator, confronts the poor guy, leaves the restaurant, and when she returns, he is gone, so this confirms her suspicion. Only thing is, a person falsely accused would have run off just as easily out of fear of being mistaken for a sex offender. Plus now the kids have been scared by this angry, shouting woman. It doesn't matter, she's sticking to her guns. Thankfully the message boards are filled with comments calling Sharon out on her BS.


How to Spot a Child Predator
By Sharon Silver - Apr 13, 2012


Imagine a really busy day at your favorite café. There’s a long line of people flowing out the door. The crowd’s chatter creates a deafening roar, the kind of noise that gives those in the café the illusion of privacy.


Above the roar I hear it. Where’s it coming from? Does everyone hear it, or am I the only one? Then I see him, an older male talking loudly at a table beside the open door.


My gaze moves from the man to a table on the other side of the open door. Two boys are laughing, seemingly delighted with the grown-up activity of eating alone.


Then I hear the man’s voice again. Why is he shouting above the roar of the crowd and asking the boys to solve addition problems? I decide the older man must be the one who brought the boys to lunch since this game of math is being played so effortlessly between them.


I retract my gaze and order my lunch. As I’m waiting, I feel compelled to observe the situation again. The man asks them what grade they’re in?


“3rd grade!” the chatty one proudly says. The other boy has gone silent. 


The man relentlessly continues throwing question after question at the boys. Who do you want to marry when you grow up? What’s your favorite subject in school? Who is your teacher? Do you like astronomy? What’s your favorite planet?


My name is being called to pick up my sandwich. Then, like a thunderbolt, it hits me! Those boys are being groomed. That man may be a predator!



I don’t want to believe it. I begin looking around for any reason why this man, who appears to be a stranger, is asking so many weird “get to know you” type questions. My mind wants to believe he’s just having fun. But my body has warning bells going off.


I move very quickly to the table where the boys are and ask, “Where are your parents?” The chatty boy loudly says what his dad’s name is, not where he is. The other boy remains silent; he won’t answer my question.


I look around hoping to see a parent getting up to tell me to mind my own business. I see no one.


As I shift my gaze from the crowd back to the boys I lock eyes with the older man. I purposefully linger in the gaze sending him the strong message, I know what you’re doing! You will not succeed here!


I promptly walk to the counter and say as loudly as I can, “Miss, I’m concerned about those two boys. They don’t seem to be with any adult. There’s a man over there, the one sitting by the door, asking them questions he shouldn’t be asking! Do you see them? Do you see the man? Please look after them and call the police if they leave with anyone other than a parent!”


I leave and go to my car. My husband looks at me and says:


“You need to go back in, don’t you?”


“Yes.”


When I return the man is gone! The boys are still eating and laughing. The waitress says, “I know his Dad, he’s on the way.”


Parents, I believe the older man was a potential predator. Am I sure? There was no way of knowing. Did I prevent him from harming those boys? I don’t know. I did what I could without falsely accusing someone of something that hadn’t happened yet.


All I do know was this man was asking the types of questions that predators ask. He was setting the stage, a.k.a. "grooming" the boys so he’d be familiar to them if he appeared again.


I’m not writing this so we can have a debate about how to deal with predators or situations like this. I wrote this so you’d read about the types of questions a potential predator uses so you can prepare your kids.


Please don’t scare your kids, but do talk to them. Use these, or examples like the, so your kids know what bad strangers ask so he can say, “Hey remember me, we had fun doing those math problems at the café didn’t we!” 

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang: Weapon of News Destruction

This is Chelsea Schilling, a reported for WND (WorldNetDaily). She is sounding the alarm. "Bombshell!", Chelsea explains. "Bombshell! America's favorite social network is child-predator playground."

WND seems to have issues with being fair and balanced. I think WND stands for Weapon of News Destruction, but that's just me.

The gist of her story-- Facebook is a "playground" for "child predators." She uses a few anecdotal examples from personal pages with less than 100 of the alleged 150,000,000 or so US Facebook users who are allegedly trading kiddie porn. Then she adds a bogus study that had been suppressed by the very agency that created it, because there were errors and the sample was limited to those who volunteered for a prison treatment program (which gave incentives for completion).

The second mistake was claiming Pedobear was a real symbol used by real pedophiles to identify each other (sadly, it isn't the first time). Should I notify Fark.com the great pedobear scare of 2010 has extended to 2012?

It could have been a great report had she stuck to facts and not sensationalism, but instead she made a Shiitake-Worthy

http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/kids-raped-sodomized-on-facebook-pages/

WND EXCLUSIVE
KIDS RAPED, SODOMIZED ON FACEBOOK PAGES
Bombshell! America's favorite social network is child-predator playground
Published: 4 hours ago
by CHELSEA SCHILLING Email | Archive


Editor’s note: This is the first of a four-part series examining the dark side of Facebook. Part two comes tomorrow. Media wishing to interview WND’s Chelsea Schilling about this series, please contact us here.


(EXPLICIT CONTENT: This report contains graphic details of sexual abuse of children as it has appeared in numerous locations on Facebook. WND immediately reported images of child pornography and child sexual abuse to the FBI. Censored screenshots published are among the mildest of those found.)


She’s a tiny brunette with brown eyes, barely 10, and she’s naked – posing for the man who raped her and traded her photo like currency with thousands of insatiable predators on Facebook.


The girl doesn’t smile, because she knows what comes next. Her abuser will share photos and earn bragging rights from thousands of others just like him who will exchange their own titillating snapshots – often images uploaded from cell phones – of boys and girls they molest.


She’s beautiful. In fact, she could be your own daughter, or little sister. Her little curls dangle over her youthful skin. Her bare body is clearly underdeveloped. But she has become a tool for sex, an X-rated trading card, a means to arouse the world’s sexual deviants.


Discover who is behind the fall of Americans’ traditional sexual morality – and sanity! – with “Sexual Sabotage” from WND Books!


There are many more young girls and boys like her – not in some sleazy magazine from the back of an adult bookshop, not from some homemade videos in the red light district, not in the back alleys of Bangladesh, but on the pages of one of the most successful new Internet companies in the world.


Meet the dark underbelly of Facebook, an ubiquitous U.S.-based company making an initial public offering expected to value the company as high as $100 billion.




Graphic images of sexualized children under age 12 and adults raping young kids are traded among circles of pedophiles on Facebook. Censored screenshots published are among the mildest of those found.)


Another profile reveals a small boy, about 8, who looks much like a neighborhood Little League champion or Cub Scout. He’s been forced to undress on a bed and hold his ankles behind his head as his captor photographs his exposed genitals and anus.
One more boy, about 12, is lying face down on a bed as an adult male penetrates him. The photo is a mobile upload – likely taken by a third person in the room who observed the child’s rape and posted the image to Facebook with a cell phone.
On other pages, child-porn deviants share a photo of two naked girls who are kissing and fondling one another outdoors.  Yet another boy, who appears to be about 4, is receiving oral sex from a child roughly two years his senior.
Other children just like them are shown sodomizing one another – or being raped by adult men or women – in photos and video links of the abuse posted on Facebook. Entire albums of exploited boys and girls are visible to the public and shared with the click of a mouse.
Understand how you can protect yourself from being “Violated Online” with this important resource from WND Books.
On the Facebook user page called “Kidsex Young,” one man asks others, “Care to trade vids?” Another posts a video of a naked man fondling a baby on a bed.


One Facebook user identified as "Kidsex Young" quickly "friends" those with similar interests to trade photos and videos of abuse.


Profile of a Facebook predator


"PedoBear," a cartoon of a pedophiliac bear pedophiles use to identify each other on Facebook.


As part of an undercover news investigation, WND used alias Facebook profiles and located dozens of child-porn images after “friending” many likely pedophiles and predators who trade thousands of pornographic photos on the social network.


During the investigation, entire Facebook predator communities were easily spotted. Child pornographers use groups as meet-up points to find others with similar interests. Many of the offenders would list similar interests on their profile pages, including terms such as “Thirteen,” “Lolita,” “Justin Bieber,” “incest” and “PTHC (preteen hard-core pornography).” Their activities might include “Receiving nude pics,” and they subscribe to explicit Facebook fan pages posted in plain sight.


Send a flood of 1st-class mailed postcards to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, members of Facebook’s board and top-level management and staff telling them you want this criminal activity to stop.


In most cases, child-pornography traders and pedophiles have two kinds of friends: 1) sexual deviants who have similar interests and 2) unsuspecting children they’ve found and “friended” on Facebook. Many predators will establish a virtual relationship with a child, convince him or her to send provocative photos and even persuade the child to meet with them in person.


The following are actual groups and “likes” currently and/or previously available to site users around the world:


Kidsex Young
Preteen Lesbians
10-17 Teen Bisexual
Incest (2,119 “likes” on April 19, 2012)
PTHC (preteen hard-core pornography)
12 to 13 Boy Sex
Young Gay Pics and Movie Trade
Gangbanging
Hot and Teen Lesbians
Bl-wjob Fan Page (1,662 likes on April 20, 2012, mostly girls, some young-looking teens)
Young Lesbians
Teen Sex
Love Little Kids
I.ncest Forever
Menfor Babygirls
Sex Little Girls
Nude Teens
F–k Young Girls
F–k Young Boys


As the name suggests, “PedoBear” is a cartoon of a pedophiliac bear that many pedophiles use to identify each other. At the time of this report, there were 267,064 Facebook “likes” for dozens of pages filled with fan groups containing the term “PedoBear.”


There appears to be little policing of these groups by the social network.


Despite repeated requests, Facebook did not respond to phone calls and emails from WND about the numerous images, videos or explicit “like” groups favored by sexual deviants.


Michelle Collins is vice president for the exploited children division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC. The Department of Justice funds the nonprofit organization, which maintains a CyberTipline to receive child pornography reports and send the leads to appropriate law-enforcement agencies.


She told WND that NCMEC receives reports from all of the social networking companies.


“The law requires them, if they become aware of it, to report it,” Collins said. “With the global nature of this – and companies the size of Google and Facebook and others – they have individuals using their systems from every part of the globe. So, in many cases, we have received reports from the companies that actually indicate child pornography images were uploaded from [locations around the world]. … The average last year was about three days for the content to be removed.”


Asked whether Facebook’s explicit “likes” and interest groups might aggravate the problem by allowing thousands of child predators to interact and trade photos, Collins acknowledged, “Yes, there are key words that indicate that individuals with like-minded interests in children would be flocking to. … I think that’s a really good question.”


Behind the images


Most of these predators aren’t simply looking at child pornography images. In a 2007 Federal Bureau of Prisons study in which psychologists conducted an in-depth survey of online offenders’ sexual behavior, 85 percent of convicted Internet offenders said they had committed acts of sexual abuse against minors, from inappropriate touching to rape.


The U.S. Department of Justice explains: “In most child pornography cases, the abuse is not a one-time event, but rather ongoing victimization that progresses over months or years.  It is common for producers of child pornography to groom victims, or cultivate a relationship with a child and gradually sexualize the contact over time.  The grooming process fosters a false sense of trust and authority over a child in order to desensitize or break down a child’s resistance to sexual abuse.”


This photo was found in a photo album posted in one of many profiles for "PedoBear," a cartoon character pedophiles use to identify themselves.


Richard Lepoutre has been actively involved in the fight to protect children from sexual abuse for more than 25 years and is the co-founder of the fight against pedophiles on Facebook with the Stop Child Porn on Facebook campaign. He also wages the battle against commercial sexual exploitation through his work at the Stop Online Exploitation Campaign and Men Against Prostitution and Trafficking.


“It’s not just about images,” Lepoutre said. “In almost all cases, these images are associated with sexually abused children. We know that’s what’s going on. I would be careful not to characterize this as bad people taking pictures of semi-naked or naked little girls. It’s much more than that, because in almost all instances that picture-taking is very often the actual video or the actual photography of the rape of children.”


Lepoutre’s co-combatant in this battle against child pornography is Raymond Bechard, author of “The Berlin Turnpike: A True Story of Human Trafficking in America,” a historical examination of commercial sexual exploitation and its place within all American communities. Bechard also wrote “Unspeakable: The Truth Behind the World’s Fastest Growing Crime,” an expose of child trafficking around the globe. He launched Men Against Prostitution And Trafficking, the first anti-human trafficking political action committee in the U.S., and is co-founder of Stop Child Porn on Facebook.


In “The Berlin Turnpike,” Bechard explains: “Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have completely changed the game. Enormously popular – and growing every day – these free sites offer very powerful tools for men who are buying sex, pimps who are selling it, and pedophiles trading child pornography. In a brilliantly devious marketing ploy, pimps have used these sites in such a way that men no longer need to look for girls on the street corner or the Internet. Using social networking, the girls will come to them. …


“Far more blatant was the use of Facebook by pedophiles to connect with each other around the world in order to trade sexually explicit photos of young children – another form of human trafficking under U.S. law.”


In a Facebook group called "Forbidden Incest," a "teen girl" posts a request for a "loving dad" and gets plenty of takers.


Bechard notes that one Facebook profile in early 2011, under the fictitious name “Marcos Teia,” had more than 500 “friends” who exchanged photos. One of the first images in his gallery depicted a young girl just 6 or 7 years old.


“She was not smiling in the picture. With her head turned slightly to the right, she looked coyly at the lens. Her hair was coiffed in a highly stylized arrangement with green and yellow ribbons. Along with her makeup she was wearing lipstick, eyeliner and shadow. She was standing outside, a blue sky and unidentified foothills behind her. She was holding an inflatable Daffy Duck. She was completely naked.”


The collection was growing by the hour. After the “Marcos Teia” profile was reported, it temporarily disappeared and resurfaced quickly.
“One day he was on Facebook with hundreds of friends – whose profiles also exhibited sexually explicit photographs of children and adults on the social networking site – and the next day he was gone. A few days later he was back, eager to confirm friend requests from anyone.”
Bechard also stumbled upon the profile “Marcos Robson.”
“These photographs were explicit images of girls, appearing to range in ages between 3 and 9 years,” he explained. “The images showed these girls involved in vaginal, oral and anal sex acts. Some are bound with duct tape. According to the group’s Facebook wall, ‘sex little girls’ had 51 members and the number of photos posted had grown to 37, including one with what appeared to be a female newborn and the genitals of an adult male.”
Sexual deviants use pages like I.ncest Forever this to meet others with similar interests


Advertising child-porn sites


Bechard told WND child-pornography traders are profiting from posting links to their outside video galleries on Facebook.
“Many of these guys have hidden galleries and links to videos they have or have taken,” he said. “That’s the real money for them, in the videos.”
During the WND investigation, it was a common occurrence to find links to outside child-pornography websites with photos and video captions. The following are a few of those captions:


“Arabian boy f–k his neighbor 13 yo”
“Mom seduces son in bedroom”
“Arabian teacher rapes his student”
“Boys f–k each other”
“Arabian boy f–k his younger brother in the a–”
“Circumcision of boys”


The administrator for the group “Planet-of-Boys” posted a visitor advisory on his Facebook page:
“Enter Our Blog and Chat live wz people who love boyz share emails and links safely – you can got deleted if you do that on facebook but on our blog you will not got deleted and you can have fun all the time [sic].”


‘They had no idea this exists’
Bechard said one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome is public unawareness of child pornography on Facebook.
“One problem is the fact that very few people even know this problem exists,” he said. “Nobody knows about it.”
Bechard and Lepoutre informed congressional staffers, who work in the area of child abuse and commercial sex exploitation, of the child pornography on Facebook.
“They had no idea this exists, because they all, by their own admission, love Facebook,” Bechard said. “It’s helping them get elected or prevented others from getting elected. Everybody uses the thing.”