May, 2006 News (continued)
Unspoken Injustice: Your Neighbor The Sex Offender
Stephen Webster
19 May 2006 12:00 am
Part one in a series.
Over the next several weeks, TNC will be running a series of investigative reports detailing the widespread leniency being dolled out to sex criminals, and the cycle of abuse that turns their victims into tomorrow’s offenders. There are several judges in Denton County who have records of giving these criminals probation, even after repeat offenses and multiple convictions. Furthermore, during our own research we noticed that dockets detailing the trials of several area sex criminals have simply vanished from the court’s archives.
The goal of this series of reports is to break our community’s silence on this unspoken injustice. We will be joining with Building B.L.O.C.K. to raise awareness of this important topic, and we encourage our readers to write in and get involved with this cumulative effort to shine a light on a most painful topic.
Also archived at:
Truants to spend the weekend in jail
19 May 2006
Five Kern County juveniles will spend this weekend behind bars for skipping school.
District Attorney Ed Jagels says he hopes a new program that sends habitual school skippers to Juvenile Hall will scare students across Kern County into going to school.
Jagels says he believes Kern County is the second county in the state to implement this program.
Former molestation defendant to get $700,000
18 May 2006 12:00 am
A man who spent 20 years of his life in prison on charges of child molestation has been awarded $700,000 by the state.
John Stoll has always maintained he was wrongly convicted even prior to his release from prison two years ago.
On April 30, 2004, Stoll was released from prison after five of the six children, now grown men, who said Stoll sexually molested them, recanted their testimony.
The men claimed they were coerced into accusing Stoll.
On Thursday, the CaliforniaVictim Compensation and Government Claims Board approved Stolls claim.
Confront real issues facing law enforcement
TERRY O'NEILL
18 May 2006 12:00 am
Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina have forced a fundamental reordering of public security priorities. If ever there was a simple economic incentive to rethink our reliance on long and expensive prison terms for nonviolent drug offenders, it is this. Savings there add to the resources available to protect us from terrorism and disaster.
Investigators: Tracking sex offenders
16 May 2006 4:41 pm
What are the chances a sex offender is living near your child’s school? CBS 47 checked the Megan’s Law website and found some startling results.
Sex offender coached youth
JULIAN WALKER
16 May 2006 12:00 am
A convicted sex offender who was coaching in a Chesterfield County youth softball league obtained his credentials because of a software glitch, county officials say.
The man, Robert L. White, was given a coaching permit in spring 2002.
About the same time, he was also sent a letter notifying him that his application to coach had been rejected, Department of Parks and Recreation officials said yesterday.
"It looks like this one slipped through the cracks," said Phil Innis, assistant director of Chesterfield's Department of Parks and Recreation.
Couey's Attorneys Want His Statements Thrown Out
16 May 2006 12:00 am
Attorneys for a convicted sex offender accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford last year want a judge to throw out his statements of guilt to authorities and bar the media from pretrial coverage.
In a motion to suppress the statements of John Evander Couey, 47, the defense said Couey was denied access to a lawyer before he told detectives in March 2005 that he raped and buried the third-grader alive.
Molestation arrest in Justin Berry case
16 May 2006 12:00 am
A Michigan man has been arrested for allegedly molesting a Bakersfield teen several years ago.
Justin Berry, 19, testified before Congress about sexual exploitation in April.
During the hearing Berry identified his alleged abuser as Ken Gourlay. He said that Gourlay molested him when he was 13 years old.
Berry said Gourlay led him into a life of accepting gifts for sexual favors and pornography.
Longview man pleads guilty to child pornography charges
JIMMY ISAAC
16 May 2006 12:00 am
A 29-year-old Longview man, Pedro Barron Zuniga, facing a federal drug charge received the maximum sentence Monday after he pleaded guilty of having nearly a dozen images of child pornography on his computer.
"There is no excuse, no justification or whatever," District Judge Alvin Khoury told Zuniga before assessing a 10-year prison sentence.
Zuniga will make an initial appearance before a federal judge Wednesday on charges of possession with intent to distribute at least 1.5 kilograms and as much as 15 kilograms of methamphetamine. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison and as much as $4 million in fines.
Police Say Ill. Pastor Spanked Girl
15 May 2006 12:00 am
A pastor was charged with spanking a 12-year-old girl with a piece of wood because he thought she was lying when she said she was sexually abused by a relative.
Police said the Rev. Daryl Bujak struck the girl, now 13, hard enough to cause bruises and welts after she was brought to him for counseling because her mother doubted the claims.
Officials said they believe the girl's allegations of sexual abuse, and this week authorities in McHenry County charged a 33-year-old man with abusing her from September 2003 until March 2005.
"It's unbelievable," said Lt. Mike Turner. "It's a sad case for this girl."
The mother said Bujak, pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Chicago, told her the girl had acknowledged lying when they met between March and May.
"I feel terrible," said the mother. "I feel like a heel. I didn't know."
Bujak, who was charged with misdemeanor battery, surrendered to police Wednesday and was released after posting $500 bail. A message left Friday at the Elgin home of a Daryl Bujak was not immediately returned.
Groups Fight Rule on Aid to Students
Seema Mehta
15 May 2006 12:00 am
Under the Higher Education Act, students with any drug conviction occurring after 18 are denied federal aid, such as Pell grants and Stafford loans, for at least a year.
A drug conviction is the only crime that triggers a denial in student aid.
"Murderers and rapists are eligible to receive aid, but a student caught with a single marijuana cigarette is automatically denied," Angell said.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation that would eliminate the drug-conviction provision.
"It's kind of symptomatic of people treating drugs in an excessive, almost histrionic fashion, where drugs are treated worse than murder and rape," Frank said. "Why single drugs out as worse? Why penalize poor people as opposed to rich people?"
Lawrence Man Accused Of Sodomy Of Child
15 May 2006 8:43 pm
A 34-year-old man on the Kansas Sex Offender's Registry has been accused of new crimes against a child.
Joseph Schwartz, of Lawrence, was charged last week with aggravated criminal sodomy and indecent liberties with a child.
According to the district attorney's office, the alleged incidents took place in 2000 and 2001.
Schwartz was previously found guilty of child abduction.
Kan. Doesn't Ban Sex Offenders Living Near Schools
15 May 2006 1:49 pm
There is no law on the books in Kansas that prohibits sexual offenders from living next [to] schools.
Lisa Fleming monitors 70 sexual offenders.
Fleming took her concerns to the Kansas Legislature. But in Senate bill 506, a section requiring that offenders live at least 2,000 feet away from places like schools and day cares was crossed out.
"If you're going to err on any side at all, we have to err on the protection of the community," Fleming said.
But what passed was a measure that actually delays residential restrictions on sex offenders for a couple of years. The Department of Corrections made the request because it wants time to study the issue.
There is research out of places like Iowa indicating no correlation between residency restrictions and reducing sex offenses against children, and that up to 90 percent of crimes against children are committed by a relative or acquaintance with access to the child not impeded by residency restrictions.
Experts in Minnesota are concerned that restrictions could force sexual offenders to move to rural areas and be even more isolated with fewer job and treatment options.
Missouri is one of more that a dozens states with residency restrictions for sexual offenders. They must live at least 1,000 feet from a school.
Former Firefighter Admits Having Child Porn
15 May 2006 12:00 am
A former Cabot firefighter admits having child pornography in his work locker, but won't serve any jail time.
Mike Spaller pleaded guilty on Monday. Spaller was sentenced to five years probation, 90 hours community service and $1000.00 fine. He'll also have to register as a sex offender, give a DNA sample and he can’t have Internet service in his home for five years.
State cracks down on sex offenders
KGET
15 May 2006 12:00 am
The California Department of Corrections has called for a statewide audit of sex offender placement.
The Corrections Department will start using Global Positioning System (GPS) to map and measure sex offender housing, to make sure parolees aren't placed too close to parks and schools.
Similar to the current situation in Bakersfield where there are sex offenders stacked by the dozen in east Bakersfield.
State Assemblywoman Nicole Parra says, “they should not be stacking, and we should have a bigger, statewide task force, which unfortunately Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed last year.”
On Monday, the governor changed his mind, ordering the formation of a task force consisting of state lawmakers and law enforcement to track where paroled sex offenders are placed.
The Corrections Department will also start using the GPS technology to map out sex offender housing to make sure it's not too close to schools.
If passed, Jessica’s Law would also prevent all sex offenders, not just those on parole, from living within a half mile of a school.
But the proposal could leave sex offenders in big cities with no place to go, [according to] State Sen. Dean Florez.
“There are too many plea bargains for sexual predators,” Florez said. “We lead the nation in the number of plea bargains we give sexual predators.”
Criminal Child Sex Predators Congregating Near Schools
KGET
15 May 2006 12:00 am
Video News Link
Blind Eye to Culture of Abuse
David Kelly and Gary Cohn
12 May 2006 10:17 am
For half a century, while polygamous members of this remote enclave engaged in widespread sexual abuse and child exploitation, government authorities on all levels did little to intervene or protect generations of victims.
Ohio priest found guilty of 1980 murder of nun
Bill Frogameni
11 May 2006 6:18 pm
A 68-year-old Catholic priest was found guilty in the 1980 murder of an elderly nun, a crime that prosecutors said had Satanic undertones and may have been covered up by church leaders.
Pedophile gets 14-20 months
MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN
11 May 2006 12:00 am
A 23-year-old Henderson man will spend the next 14 to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to one charge of taking indecent liberties with a child and another of seeking child pornography.
Erwin Rommel Faulkner had two computers that contained graphic movies of young children having sex with each other and with adults, prosecutor Kathy Burnette said. One showed a child who was apparently just 5 years old.
He need only serve his suspended sentences if he is found violating the terms of his probation. They require him to register as a sex offender, get treatment for that condition, avoid all contact with minors and avoid all contact with computers and other electronic devices that would allow him access to sexual images on the Internet.
The judge made one exception to the ban on contact with children. Faulkner will be allowed to interact with his 5-year-old son and 3- year-old daughter in supervised settings.
Teacher, 28, is arrested on two counts of sex abuse
Thelma Guerrero
11 May 2006 12:00 am
A 28-year-old parochial school teacher was being held in the Linn County jail on allegations that he sexually abused an 8-year-old female student, Albany police said.
Man gets more than 22 years for raping woman
Dan de Carbonel
11 May 2006 12:00 am
A career criminal will spend nearly 23 years in prison after a DNA match led to his conviction for the 2003 rape of a 62-year-old Salem woman.
