August, 2006 News (continued)
Perils of personal service
DIANE STAFFORD
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
There’s a fine line between being careful and being paranoid, but Kansas Citian Tracey Hawkins, a safety and security trainer, thinks too many workers, especially women, set themselves up for trouble with their marketing materials.
Hawkins points particularly to the real estate industry, where business cards, yard signs and Web pages often provide a picture and personal information about the agent.
And because real estate agents meet strangers when they’re alone in vacant houses, the possibility increases for becoming a victim of a sexual predator, robber or murderer.
Hawkins, whose information is online at www.safetyandsecuritysource.com, shares safety tips in training programs sponsored by employers, and has trained some large clients in the Kansas City area.
What do you think?
Should Virginia castrate sex offenders?
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The subject is distasteful, but the reason for it is even more so. Virginia has begun to debate the subject of castration, and the reason is that it is sometimes advanced as a way to treat people who are repeat sex offenders, whether of women or children.
There's undoubtedly more discussion to come, so:
What do you think? Should Virginia castrate sex offenders?
Send us your comments by Monday, and the Editorial Board will consider them as it prepares an editorial position on the question. We'll print as many comments as we can along with the editorial.
Judge sets deadline for rapist's castration
Bruce Hamilton
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A child rapist who volunteered more than a year go to undergo surgical castration must have the procedure done by Oct. 3 or his case will proceed to trial, a judge ordered last week.
He has not changed his mind about his punishment, according to Rick Wood, a spokesman for the St. Tammany Parish district attorney. "The delays have got nothing to do with the defendant's willingness to follow through," he said.
Keith Raymond Fremin, 53, pleaded guilty last year to forcible rape and molestation in a case involving an 11-year-old girl and her 13-year-old sister who lived near him in Mandeville in 1999.
Fremin, whose most recent address was in Covington, had faced four counts of aggravated rape, more severe charges punishable by a life sentence. But as part of a plea agreement, Fremin agreed to undergo castration and to serve 25 years in jail instead.
Former day-care worker booked in rape
Mary Swerczek
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A former employee of a Kenner day-care center has been booked with aggravated rape of a 2½-year-old girl at the center.
Police say the incidents happened between August and December 2004. They say the girl, now 4, told a social worker about incidents involving "Mr. Ronald," whom she identified as a teacher at her school. In April, the social worker reported her information to police, according to the report.
Bizarre Death Four Years After Trial Leads To Tossed Conviction
Associated Press
07 Aug 2006 8:32 am
When Timothy Smith was convicted five years ago of sexually abusing his daughter Katie, his pleas of innocence largely went ignored.
Testimony by an expert witness who said Katie suffered from "repressed memory syndrome" and was just then remembering incidents that allegedly happened five to ten years before helped convince the jury to lock up her father for 20 years.
With no physical evidence in the case, Smith could only keep denying his daughter's claims.
But the bizarre circumstances leading to Katie's death last year put Smith's case -- for which he had already served four years in prison -- back in the spotlight. A Chicago lawyer and the Kentucky Innocence Project questioned whether Smith received a fair trial, leading to a judge's decision this week to overturn his conviction.
More felon records erased
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
07 Aug 2006 12:00 am
More than 1,100 Michigan ex-cons had their criminal records erased in the first six months of this year, an almost 60 percent increase that coincided with heightened scrutiny of school and health employees statewide.
With their records expunged by judges, former criminals escape detection of background checks that might have banned them from sensitive jobs or made it harder for them to find work. They also can legally tell potential employers that they have no convictions.
The growing practice amplifies the divide between those who believe that former convicts deserve a chance at redemption and those who want access to the criminal histories of educators, coaches, maids, nannies, neighbors, health care workers, other employees -- or virtually anyone else.
"It's a fine line. Should an applicant have the right to a clean start? But shouldn't an employer have the right to protect its business, its assets and the general public?" said Kevin Klimas, president and founder of Clarifacts, a Phoenix-based employment screening firm. "There is an argument on both sides of the fence."
Panel discusses new felons' voting rights law
Associated Press
07 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A panel discussion on restoring the voting rights of felons has brought out that a new law to make that easier may discriminate against poor people.
Some members of the panel in Knoxville said Monday a provision that people who were convicted of felonies must be current on child support payments is harder on poor inmates.
Critics of the former restoration system said the process was cumbersome because it depended on the circumstances of each individual and the year the crime was committed.
The panel discussion was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union, Tennessee's Right to Vote Campaign and the Race Relations Center of East Tennessee. It's one of eight town hall meetings scheduled across the state to explain the new law.
Mental health professionals to learn about children's treatments
Associated Press
07 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Early and more consistent treatment for children who have experienced abuse, neglect and other trauma could reduce problems for them later, says the director of a project to train mental health professionals.
Fargo's Neuropsychiatric Research Institute and the University of North Dakota medical school will offer training this fall in new treatments for children who have been through trauma.
"If you can get to these kids early, you can help them reclaim the person they were before the trauma happened," said Steve Wonderlich, the project's director and associate chairman of clinical neuroscience at the medical school's Fargo campus.
Loss of funding may mean end for at-risk youth help program
RANDY BOYER
07 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Drugs, statutory rape, criminal activity and suicide are a few of the choices confronted by Springville youth more often than the community would care to admit, Claudia Jensen says.
Jensen, the director of Springville City Out Reach to Students has been helping at-risk youth deal with these issues for four years, but waning support and the school year approaching, she wonders if the doors will open at all.
The program supports teens with academic, social or behavioral problems through a system of allotted mandatory homework time, tutoring, social interaction with positive role models and enrichment activities ranging from theatrical performances to CPR instruction
Both the school district and Springville city said that they too were looking for new locations, but with school starting at the end of this month the future of SCORS remains in doubt.
"I'm fighting all by myself," Jensen said. "These kids need somebody who cares, and I'm feeling like I'm losing the fight for them. The people who have cut support have no idea what SCORS has done for the youth of this city."
Hearing begins in Iraq rape-slaying case
RYAN LENZ
06 Aug 2006 7:48 am
An Iraqi army medic told a U.S. military hearing Sunday he was sick for weeks after finding the naked and burned body of a 14-year-old girl allegedly raped and murdered by American soldiers south of Baghdad
The medic gave his testimony on the opening day of a hearing to determine whether five U.S. soldiers must stand trial in the March 12 rape-slaying of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the killing of her parents and sister.
The medic, whose name was withheld for security reasons, told the hearing that he was the first responder to enter the house and found the girl sprawled naked in the house, her torso and head burned by flames. She had a single bullet wound under her left eye, he said.
He testified that he found Abeer's 5-year-old sister, Hadeel, in an adjacent room. She was shot in the head and the bullet had blown out the back of her head, he said. The children's father, Qassim, and their mother, Fikhriya — had suffered similar deaths: the mother's abdomen and chest were riddled with bullets, he said.
After witnessing the scene, the medic said he was ill for weeks.
Pedophile Says Sex with Kids is a Sacred Civil Right
Jim Kouri
06 Aug 2006 4:32 am
An admitted pedophile accused of having sex with young boys told the judge during a pre-trial hearing that having sex with children is a "sacred ritual protected by civil rights laws." The predator allegedly chose victims who suffered from physical or mental disabilities.
Phillip Distasio, an avowed pedophile, claims he's the pastor of the church called Arcadian Fields Ministries. Distasio is charged with over 70 counts including rape and giving drugs to minors.
"I'm a pedophile. I've been a pedophile for 20 years," he announced in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Wednesday. "The only reason I'm charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms."
Sicko has nation in rage
ALAN FINDLAY
06 Aug 2006 2:01 am
In Montana, they castrate 'em. Chemical or surgical castration on pedophiles and rapists has been used of late in a number of jurisdictions, including Sweden, Denmark and several American states.
The prospect hasn't gotten a lot of attention in Canada this past week, but the debate has raged once more over what to do with serial, predator pedophiles who molest, go to jail and walk right back into the community to look for their next victim.
"It's just a revolving door," says the Police Association of Ontario's Bruce Miller. "It's just one after another."
Capitol Cop, Coach Charged in Sex Case
Associated Press
06 Aug 2006 1:05 am
A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been charged with sexual abuse after he allegedly made videotapes of himself having sex with a 15-year-old girl who said she was working as a prostitute for a Maryland high school football coach.
According to court documents, Sgt. Michael Malloy told authorities he and Arron Burroughs videotaped themselves engaging in sexual acts at Malloy's home in Charles County. Malloy has been charged with first- degree child sex abuse while armed.
Malloy's attorney, Steven McCool, says his client has been a Capitol Police officer for 15 years and has an "unblemished record." U.S. Capitol Police could not be reached for comment late Saturday.
The shadowy world of sex tours
PETE ALFANO
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
He lives at an undisclosed location in Tarrant County.
His mail is delivered to a post office box at a UPS Store in a cookie-cutter strip mall on South Hulen Street.
The 64-year-old is not a fugitive. Well, at least, not in his estimation.
He keeps a low profile, he says, to avoid harassment by women's groups and human rights organizations.
They say he is a sex tour operator, shepherding men to Southeast Asia for trysts with young, subservient women.
AN UNTOLD CRIME: Reports of boys molested by women on rise, experts say
L.L. BRASIER
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
It began in the spring, innocently enough at first. He was 15, her 14-year-old son's classmate. She was 41, a neighborhood mom, married with three children.
But after a few weeks, she began to e-mail him. Then came calls to his cell phone.
And then one day she took him on an outing and they ended up at a cemetery in Farmington Hills. There they had sex in the family's Dodge Durango, according to police. A few days later, they had sex in the parking lot of a Southfield church. Over the next few months the sex would continue, more than 20 encounters, with both keeping the trysts secret.
Police say that is the relationship that developed between Jami Lee Knox, now facing charges, and her teenage victim.
"It's rape," said Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer.
Jailer arrested for sex with inmate
MICHAEL NEWSOM
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A municipal jailer has been arrested for having sex with an inmate and now faces felony charges.
A female inmate who had been in the city jail for about a week claims the two had consensual sex Monday night while Martin was on duty. Sex between jailers and their captives is a felony offense in Mississippi.
Law-enforcement officers face a different judicial process than the average citizen, Pascagoula Police Department Lt. Davey Davis said. He said the process is designed to minimize frivolous charges levied against law enforcement.
Letter: Not all sex offenders put on Internet list
Wendy Bowles
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The Big Horn County listing of Wyoming sex offenders on the Internet does not list any offenders living within the county. I am shocked because I am aware that this county does, indeed, have sex offenders. One I am aware of lives across the street from the new elementary school building site.
Wyoming has three degrees of sexual offense. Only the high-risk cases are posted at the Web site. This makes no sense to me. Who has the right to determine how high (or low) a sexual offense is? I was a victim of a predator as a child (duration of four years) and again as an adult-rape victim. Either act is extremely emotionally debilitating, no high or "low" about it.
Laws on sex offenders should be even tighter for our children's sake
John DiMambro
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
I am certain that many of you noticed the Nevada Appeal published an article informing readers of the release of a tier 3 sex offender in Carson City. A tier 3 classification is like a yearbook honor roll dedicated exclusively to sex offenders who are most likely to succeed - most likely to succeed at sadistically raping our children, again, and again, and again.
Last year, I wrote a series of columns about these modern day black plague vermin. Sen. Dina Titus used those columns as reference in her pursuit of legislation that would tighten the reins on sex offenders in Nevada. She was one of the few who had the bravery to impose her will on the Legislature to pass such a bill (SB 341) of restraint.
Victim slams predator
IAN FAIRCLOUGH
06 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The victim of a sexual predator, kept under his thumb for years by monetary support for the child born of his assault, says young girls and their parents need to be aware of social interaction between them and older people.
Parents should watch out for their children keeping company with men, says the victim, now a 20-year-old woman with three children by her attacker.
"Young girls hanging out with older males or coming home with expensive clothes and saying the male bought them for them or going to older males’ homes," she said when asked to describe what parents need to be aware of.
"It could be anybody," the young woman told The Chronicle Herald in an interview Thursday. "It could be a doctor, a lawyer, a member of the community, someone you trust, someone you trust your children with. They don’t have to be known pedophiles."
She said young girls who find themselves in circumstances similar to hers need to come forward.
"If it has happened, it’s not your fault," she said. "If anyone does anything to make you uncomfortable sexually, you should tell a teacher, counsellor or your friends."
