August, 2006 News (continued)
Castration or civil commitment?
MATT SABO
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Editor's note: The following story contains graphic imagery of an issue that is playing out in Virginia's justice system and in other states.
His testicles or life in prison? Virginia's worst sex offenders might soon grapple with the same decision.
Across America, some states are embracing castration - mostly through chemicals that lower testosterone - as a means of controlling convicted pedophiles. The mental disorder is treatable through therapy by drastically lowering testosterone, which has been shown to stem the urges that lead to sexual assaults. But treatment doesn't guarantee a pedophile won't offend again.
Virginia isn't a state that castrates its most violent sex offenders. Virgina has, however, embarked on a relatively new program to commit the worst of its sexual predators to a maximum-security institution in Petersburg in hopes of reforming the behaviors that lead to the outbursts of sex-driven violence.
Police: Teacher May Have Molested Dozens
Associated Press
05 Aug 2006 2:23 am
A substitute elementary school teacher was charged Friday with lewd and lascivious acts involving a 10-year-old girl, and police said he claimed to have molested more than 100 students.
Eric Norman Olsen, 28, of Ontario, told detectives that he molested between 100 and 200 elementary school students since becoming a teacher three years ago, said police Detective Diane Galindo. He was scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 8.
Police said his resume shows that he has taught in different school districts throughout San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties.
Police were asking the public to help identify whether there were other possible victims by contacting local police or school districts.
The 'Crime Emergency' That Never Goes Away
Colbert I. King
05 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The District's leaders tell us we are now in the midst of a crime emergency. Pray tell, when in the past 20 years -- well, 17 to be exact -- have we been without one?
With each emergency, more arrests, more guns recovered, more young men hauled into court and jailed, which usually lowers the communal blood pressure until, of course, the next crime wave.
Sooner or later, however, the incarcerated are returned to the District's streets, unrehabilitated and untrained. Meanwhile, preteen, out-of-control youngsters grow into out-of-control teenagers with guns and attitudes.
Ergo , another flare-up in violence, or a sensational crime that grabs national attention, followed by an emergency proclamation that produces yet one more version of the same short-term response.
Putting the emotional and physical well-being of troubled children, youth and struggling families ahead of downtown interests is a good way for the city to begin taking a bite out of crime. But that calls for a mayor and city council with the right priorities instead of an eye for the cameras.
Hearing for man convicted of rape ends
Marcia Moore
05 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The Snyder County Court hearing for a North Carolina man convicted in 2004 of raping a Shamokin Dam girl ended Friday after his trial attorney took the stand.
William Gary Sullivan, 48, is serving a 16- to 60-year prison term after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl while visiting the family's Shamokin Dam home on three occasions between January 1999 and October 2000.
At trial, witnesses testified that one of the alleged assaults occurred on the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in 1999.
Following his conviction, Mr. Sullivan produced evidence that showed he, along with his wife and young son, were at a theme park in Tennessee that weekend.
Abandoned boy's dad also charged with rape
KRISTINA BRENNEMAN
04 Aug 2006 5:15 pm
The father of a baby boy abandoned at a Gresham motel was charged Friday with child abandonment and the rape of a 16-year-old girl in an unrelated incident.
The teen was allegedly raped Thursday morning at the Super 8 Motel at 121 N.E. 181st Ave., Gresham, said Grant McCormick, a spokesman for Gresham Police. The 16-year-old girl reported the incident to police later that afternoon, he said.
While at the Super 8 motel, he apparently gave his son to someone to babysit.
McCormick said the babysitter disappeared and the baby was found late Thursday night by two teenage sisters.
Oregon's "Safe Haven" law allows parents (guardians) to anonymously leave a child at an authorized facility, but only applies to infants 30 days of age or younger, McCormick said.
Ore. teacher arrested on child porn charge
ANTONIA GIEDWOYN
04 Aug 2006 5:04 pm
A high school teacher at the private school run by the Grand View Baptist Church in Beavercreek was arrested on a child pornography charge, the FBI said.
An undercover FBI agent linked [the teacher] to several photographs depicting child pornography. Authorities later found child porn on [the teacher's] home and work computers.
Ex-offender laws must pass muster
04 Aug 2006 11:56 am
Connecticut state law leaves no ambiguity when it comes to sex offenders. After the criminals have served their time, they are required to register into an electronic database, accessible to the world from the state's Web site.
It's a proactive regulation, one that aims to keep kids and families safe from such criminals who, some studies show, have a high rate of recidivism.
Now, several Connecticut municipalities are looking to extend their reach in an attempt to further regulate the lives of convicted sex offenders.
Protecting the wellbeing of our children must be the chief priority for both state and local governments.
But that goal must not be accomplished by sacrificing rights guaranteed to all United States citizens by the Constitution — even sex offenders.
Polygamist gets 45 days for sex with teen bride
Harriet Ryan
04 Aug 2006 11:04 am
An Arizona judge has sentenced a polygamist to 45 days in county jail for having sex with a teenager he took as his third wife.
The sentence disappointed authorities in Kingman, Arizona, who had hoped a harsher punishment for defendant Kelly Fischer would discourage others in the church from taking teenage wives.
Fischer was the first of seven members of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints (FLDS) to be tried for plural marriages to minors.
"I don't know if we've sent a strong enough message to these people," said Gary Engels, an investigator with the Mohave County Attorney's office.
Although polygamy is unconstitutional in Arizona, it is not a crime. Law enforcement largely left the FLDS alone until about 18 months ago, when Mohave County began investigating allegations of sex with underage girls.
Relying on birth certificates and testimony of former church members, a jury convicted Fischer last month of sexual contact with a minor and conspiracy for having sex with a 16-year-old.
The woman, now 21 and the mother of three children by Fischer, refused to cooperate with the prosecution and was among 130 people to send letters vouching for his character to the judge.
"We have a beautiful family together. I love my husband. He loves us and takes very good care of us. The children adore their father ... I don't need to explain my personal life to anyone," she wrote in the letter.
Man Pleads No Contest
JODIE MOZDZER
04 Aug 2006 12:00 am
An East Hampton man who was accused of sexually assaulting six children in 2002 pleaded no contest to the charges Tuesday in Superior Court.
Frank E. Carreiro, 78, was initially charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault and 21 counts of risk of injury to a minor. Under a plea bargain, the charges were reduced to six counts of risk of injury to a minor - one count for each child. He faces up to five years in prison, with the right to argue for less.
Carreiro was charged with molesting five boys and one girl, who were 7 to 12 years old at the time of the crimes. One of the children has since died in an unrelated car accident.
The children, four siblings and their two cousins, were sexually assaulted at sleepovers at Carreiro's East Hampton home, where Carreiro would show them pornographic magazines, have sexual talks with them and play sexual games, said State's Attorney Maureen Platt.
"The experience was extremely traumatic for the children involved," Platt said. "All of the children are in counseling as a result."
The affidavit said Carreiro, who was the landlord of some of the children's parents, threatened to evict the parents if they went to police.
Carreiro was sentenced in 2003 in Alaska to four years in prison, suspended after 18 months, on each of two counts of sex abuse of a minor. His two victims were 9 and 10 years old. He was also convicted in Superior Court in Middletown of a charge of fourth-degree sexual assault in 1989 and served two years of probation.
The current case was continued to a pre-sentencing hearing on Oct. 20, where Carreiro can argue for a lesser sentence.
Police seek info on alleged rape
NEAL GOSWAMI
04 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The Bennington Police Department is seeking information from the community about an alleged sexual assault that occurred early Sunday morning.
Detective Peter Urbanowicz said a girl has alleged that she was forcibly raped by two men after she got into a vehicle with them. The incident is believed to have happened between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Urbanowicz said the girl was picked up near Beech and South Branch streets. She told police she was held down in the back seat of a car by one man while the other one raped her. She was then driven to South Stream Road, where she was left on the side of the road. She was picked up by police and transported to the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
Police are asking that anyone with information contact Urbanowicz at 442-1030.
EXCLUSIVE: I fought off sex attacker
04 Aug 2006 12:00 am
An alcoholic, violent, child-molesting and "sado-masochistic" sexual predator who was living unsupervised in the town was jailed on Monday for attacking a Leamington woman.
And his victim bravely spoke to the Courier about her ordeal.
Editorial: Innocence commission needed for Texas justice
San Antonio Express-News
03 Aug 2006 6:02 pm
State lawmakers should give serious consideration to creating an innocence commission when they convene in January.
Cases like that of Ruben Cantu, a San Antonio man executed in 1993, demand it.
Several witnesses in that case, including a key eyewitness, have recanted their statements and claim the state executed an innocent man.
District Attorney Susan Reed has reopened the case, but the state should not have to wait for a district attorney to voluntarily take on the review of such cases.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, twice has unsuccessfully attempted to get legislation on an innocence commission passed. The bills met with heavy political resistance and never made it out of committee.
During the last legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry created a nine-member Criminal Justice Advisory Council to review the state's criminal justice system.
That was a great move, but the council is not an innocence commission. The council is looking at the justice system; however, it is not reviewing any individual cases.
Violence on National Mall Sparks Calls for Repeal of Gun Control Laws
Dave Workman
03 Aug 2006 1:22 pm
Outraged by reports of armed robberies on the National Mall, spikes in criminal assaults, and the brutal murder of a British citizen working as a political activist here, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) has called on Congress and the Washington, DC, municipal government to abolish the District’s 30-year-old gun control regulations.
Under the gun control ordinance adopted in 1976, handguns are banned and long guns must be dismantled.
Associated Press (AP) reported two weeks ago that robberies are up 14% and armed assaults had climbed 18% since mid-June. During that time, British subject Alan Senitt was murdered in Georgetown by thugs who slit his throat and attempted to rape his female companion at gunpoint.
“This is what happens,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb argued, “when law-abiding citizens are told their Second Amendment rights have been suspended through elitist government fiat, and that they cannot possess the tools to defend themselves against criminal predators.”
Shelby vows to get millions to fight sex predators
Ana Radelat
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
States like Alabama would be able to apply for grants to fight sex offenders who victimize children with millions of dollars Sen. Richard Shelby vowed to secure from Congress.
Flanked by John Walsh, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Shelby on Wednesday said he would seek $55 million for a new grant program that would allow states to create specialized law enforcement units that focus on sexual predators.
The whereabouts of 100,000 to 150,000 of the nation's 550,000 sex offenders are unknown. The Adam Walsh Act requires that all sex offenders register their addresses with local law enforcement agencies. It also creates a national registry of offenders that would be available on the Internet.
Named after John Walsh's son, who was abducted and killed 25 years ago, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, also imposes stricter prison sentences for offenders who fail to register.
