News Archives, Page 5
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Why sex offenders are allowed to register hotels as homes
You may think to check online for sex offenders where you live, but what about at your next vacation location?
6 News uncovers sex offender registry details that could make you think twice about your next getaway.
Sex abuse bill on a roll
The least controversial of three proposed sex abuse bills, HB 1088 passed the House in February. If it passes the Senate, it must be reconciled with the House version.
Starting July 1, when the bill would take effect, it would eliminate the 10-year statute of limitations for prosecuting felony sex abuse crimes against children, including crimes that date back to July 1, 1996.
Sex Abuse Victims Plan Capitol Rally Monday
Victims of sexual abuse are expected to rally at the state Capitol today in support of legislation that would make it easier to sue and prosecute child molesters.
State senators plan to hold a hearing on one of those measures today -- House Bill 1090 (ten-90).
"Facts About Sex Offenders"
Each year in Colorado, approximately 65% of convicted sex offenders are placed on probation, approximately 20% are sentenced to prison and approximately 15% to community corrections programs.
"Dad Gets 200 Years In Prison For Sexual Abuse"
A 60-year-old father will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting his own children over the course of several years.
Former FBI Agent Sued by Two Daughters for Molesting Them As Children
19 May 1990
EDWARD RODGERS, the ex-FBI agent who lost a $2.3 million judgment in Denver district court, must have been astonished when two of his grown-up daughters sued him for molesting them as children.
Man accused of sex with runaway girl is out of jail
A man accused of sex crimes with a girl who ran away from home 10 years ago was released from jail Tuesday after posting $10,000 bond.
Hose was charged with statutory sexual assault and three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. A judge has ordered that Hose wear an electronic monitor and that he have no contact with Kach.
Kach told police Hose kept her in a bedroom in the small, two-story home in McKeesport. She told police that soon after she moved in, Hose threatened to kill her if she attempted to leave, according to a police affidavit.
Hose is a security guard at the middle school Kach attended, but he was suspended last week.
Granite wants to look at sex offenders' leases
Registered sex offenders who rent houses and apartments fewer than 1,000 feet from schools and playgrounds in Granite City will not be allowed to renew their leases, police said.
Aldermen who recently passed the tougher local law -- state law requires only 500 feet distance -- cited concern for child safety.
But Madison County's chief public defender said he thinks the law is unconstitutional and does little to shield children from molesters.
Sex Offender Arrested In Alleged Kidnapping Attempt
A Greenfield man is in Allegheny County jail after he allegedly was planning to kidnap and drug a female from Philadelphia and use her as a sex slave.
Hairdresser Charged in McKeesport Captive Case
For more than a decade, young runaway Tanya Kach lived as a virtual prisoner, she has claimed, held against her will in the home of a much older school security guard, 48-year-old Thomas John Hose, fed little more than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, taught to tread softly in her bedroom prison so that creaking floorboard would not give away her presence, and forced to submit almost daily to her captor's sexual whims.
Authorities in Allegheny County on Monday arrested Judy Sokol, a 57-year-old hairdresser, who according to court papers, had not only known about Hose and the girl, but had even allowed the man to have sex with the young girl then a middle school student in her home.
Parents urged to guide kids in Net use
The horror stories include children being lured away for sexual exploitation and even death by predators who connect with them through chat rooms and blogs.
Ross man pleads guilty to child porn charge
A Ross man, who federal prosecutors believe traveled across the state to have sex with a 2-year-old, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of receiving child pornography.
Police Officers Shoot Unarmed Man Five Times, Killing Him In Front Of Girlfriend and His 2 Year Old Daughter
28 Feb 1992
John Fellin was 34 years old when he was shot five times and killed by a special drug task force in his home on February 28, 1992 in West Hazleton, PA. He died in front of his live-in girlfriend and one of his three children, two-year old Vanessa.
Ill. Seeks to Commit Sex Offender
A Catholic priest who was scheduled for parole Tuesday after serving two years in prison for molesting boys will instead be sent to a state treatment center for sexually violent criminals, where he could be committed indefinitely.
Suspect Pleads Guilty in 1998 Ill. Slaying
A convicted sex offender pleaded guilty Monday to the 1998 murder of an 11-year-old girl whose death drew national headlines when two young boys were accused of the crime.
Floyd Durr, already serving a 125-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting other girls, was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for the murder and sexual assault of Ryan Harris.
Authorities initially said two boys, then 7 and 8, confessed to the crime. It took almost a month before testing on the girl's clothing showed the boys couldn't have been responsible.
One alderman called the case "one of the most shameful episodes in our city's history."
Attorneys for the two boys claimed that police framed the children and ignored evidence of their innocence, but police have long denied that, and the city did not admit any wrongdoing in its settlements with the families.
House OKs easing youth sex offender rules
Illinois youths who commit sex crimes could avoid having to register with the state under a plan that narrowly cleared half the Legislature.
For young women, old rules of partying still apply
One day you wake up and realize you survived your youth. Despite the risks you took, you landed in middle age reasonably intact. Still, you can't help worrying when the young people in your own lives take similar risks. For instance, next week my niece and three of her friends will fly off for a sun-filled week in the Bahamas.
Suburban Family Terrorized as Cops Raid Wrong House
28 Mar 1998
LaDana Ford said she was awakened early Friday morning when more than a dozen police officers kicked in the front and back doors of her Robbins home, stormed inside and “stuck flashlights and guns in my face.”
Then Harvey police and Illinois state troopers ignited a “flash-bang” device in the family’s hallway for diversion, searched closets for drugs, handcuffed her 13-year-old son and peppered her 7-year-old daughter with questions, Ford said.
Then they realized they were at the wrong address.
House committee supports strengthening sex predator laws
A panel of legislators has given initial approval to a bill that would strengthen New Hampshire's laws dealing with child-sex offenders.
But legislators got rid of a section forbidding sex offenders from living near schools, day-care centers and parks. They also removed a provision allowing prosecutors the option of seeking a 25-year sentence for a first offense, which Gov. John Lynch and Attorney General Kelly Ayotte supported.
It's time to get tough with child molesters
Too often these predators get off much too lightly with sentences that allow them to roam the streets of our towns and cities in search of other innocent victims.
Motive for Maine sex offender killings probably stems from Nova Scotia suspect’s youth in U.S.
Even those who loved and helped raise Stephen Marshall say they can only guess at what transformed the soft-spoken dishwasher from Cape Breton into the man who police believe gunned down two sex offenders in Maine before turning the gun on himself.
Investigators in Canada and the United States still don’t know what link, if any, Marshall had with the two victims — one of whom was listed on the public registry for having sex with a girlfriend when he was 19 and she was just days shy of her 16th birthday.
“My son was not a pedophile,” Shirley Turner told the Boston Globe. “He’d be alive today,” were it not for the registry, she said.
Maine Killings Raise Vigilantism Fears
The Maine Department of Public Safety has no plans to change the state's Web-based sex offender registry despite the killings of two sex offenders whose addresses were apparently obtained online.
A Canadian man used the registry to obtain personal information about the victims, authorities said, renewing fears that such lists expose ex-convicts to vigilante violence.
Police find no links between sex offenders, shooting suspect
A day after two sex offenders were found shot to death in separate towns in Maine and a suspect killed himself on a bus in Boston, investigators said Monday they still didn't know how or if the three men were connected.
After the killings, Maine State Police removed a list of 2,200 sex offenders from the Web site as a precaution.
A sex offender registry Web site in Washington state was cited in the deaths of two convicted child rapists last summer. Michael Anthony Mullen, 35, said he targeted the pair after finding them on Whatcom County's online list. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to more than 44 years in prison.
Sexual assault: victim’s father speaks out
“I don’t think Coffin’s sentence was nearly high enough for how he traumatized this little boy and changed his life, most likely, forever,” Diamond said. “There is a mandatory five-year sentence for lying on an application to buy a handgun and yet he only gets eight years for what he did. These guys – they know the system: if I fess up then I get to cut my sentence in half. There’s a clear strategy.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “Maine has the most lenient range of penalties available in New England for gross sexual assaults against children less than 12 years of age.” It also reports that Maine is ranked among the top eight states with the weakest penalty ranges for sex crimes against children.
Frustration rising as Binghamton sex offender population grows
A Binghamton city councilman says "enough is enough."
Anthony Massar (MUH'-sar) -- who chairs a city council committee -- says he's going to seek subpoenas to get answers from state officials as to why more convicted sex offenders are being sent to Binghamton.
Massar says the city has more sex offenders per capita than any other city in New York.
Medicaid Paid for Sex Offenders' Viagra
Nearly 800 convicted sex offenders in 14 states got Medicaid-funded prescriptions for Viagra and other impotence drugs, according to a survey by The Associated Press. The majority of the cases were in New York, Florida and Texas.
Meet Your Neighborhood Sex Offenders
198 of New York State's Level 3 (or high-risk) sex offenders are getting Viagra through Medicaid. Giving erection-inducing meds to people who may have sexually assaulted someone seems, well, dumb.
Uncle jailed in baby killing
A Stark County man was jailed Saturday on charges that he raped and murdered his 7 ½-month-old niece.
Investigators said Henry Sunderman cared for Zoey, her 7-year-old brother and 5-year-old and 2-year-old sisters in their Waynesburg home while the children's 26-year-old mother, Leslie Sunderman, was at work.
Father Of Murdered Child Supports Ohio Sex Offender Bill
Dayton native Mark Lunsford testified in support of a bill that would require judges to sentence defendants convicted of raping children under 13 to at least 25 years in prison.
Lunsford says it's important to look past the expense of longer prison terms and think about the value of saving even one life.
Ohio Stepfather in Syringe Rape Convicted
Grimm, now 23, told reporters that she was pleased with the verdict and that she hoped her case would help other victims.
"Just speak out," she said. "Someone will help."
