Archive for October, 2011

Utah Study Documents Frequent Police Sex Crimes

Oct 31

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fact Check, Legal, Reality Check, Research | No Comments

Utah police officers most frequently lose their certification or are suspended from their jobs after sexual misconduct offenses.

Officers from agencies small and large commit sex offenses more often than any other offense, including excessive force, falsifying reports or driving under the influence, according to data from the state’s Peace Officers Standards and Training Council (POST).

Among the offenses: rape, attempted sodomy; child sex abuse; and having sex with inmates, parolees or people on probation. Read more.

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Omaha Channel 7 and County Sheriff Whip Up Fake News to Scare You on Halloween

Oct 31

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fact Check, News Stories | 3 Comments

Omaha’s KETV-Channel 7 and the Douglas County Sheriff are again pulling the old Halloween sex-offender trick.

They magically produce “news” out of nothing.

This Halloween, you see a story on KETV-Channel 7 about Douglas County increasing sex-offender patrols on trick-or-treat night. Seriously?

FACTS asserts this is phony news and law enforcement fakery.

Where is the reporting on the evidence that such beefed-up patrols are justified by some true risk to public safety? Oh. That’s right. This is not reporting. Where former sex offenders are concerned, neither law enforcement nor news media are interested in the scientific data. Too boring. The facts won’t keep the public frightened.

Where research has been conducted, it has been shown that children are at no greater risk from former sex offenders on Halloween than at any other time. And everyone should remember that 93 percent of child molestations are committed by someone within the family or the family network. Only 7 percent are committed by strangers. These numbers are supported by research. So on Halloween and every other day, the risk to children from former sex offenders who live in their own homes is really very, very low.

FACTS publicly challenges KETV-Channel 7 and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department to produce the scientific information — the crime statistics — that show former sex offenders commit more crimes on Halloween. That line about recent increased patrols preventing such crimes is bull. Look at the evidence over the last 30 or 40 years, and prove to us that using precious law enforcement resources to patrol sex offenders has a valid basis in reality.

FACTS also will seek out any information that proves there is a higher risk from former offenders on Halloween and we will publish followup reports.

And it is possible that the last people we want out checking on children are law enforcement officers.

For example:

Former Lansing officer pleads no contest to attempted sex with minor
Kansas City, Mo. — 

A former Lansing police officer pleaded no contest Monday in federal court to attempting to entice a minor for illicit sex, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

William Brian Duncan, 40, of Leavenworth, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs in Kansas City, Mo. Duncan pleaded to the charges contained in a Jan. 4 federal indictment. He was taken into federal custody at the conclusion of Monday’s hearing.

Duncan was charged with using the Internet to attempt to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and with crossing the state line to attempt to engage in a sexual act with a minor, according to the release.

Duncan acknowledged that he communicated online with a person he believed to be 14 years old. In reality, Duncan was communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer. Duncan corresponded with the undercover officer on multiple occasions in December; many of the conversations were sexual in nature, according to the news release.

According to the government’s factual basis for Monday’s plea, Duncan began making arrangements to meet with the minor in person during an online chat Dec. 28. Duncan drove from his residence in Kansas to the meeting location in Missouri the next day with the intent to engage in sex with the 14-year-old minor. When Duncan approached the location, he was pulled over by a Kansas City, Mo., police officer and arrested.

Duncan was an officer with the Lansing Police Department until November. He had been a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer and coordinator of the Safe Kids program. He was named Officer of the Year in 2008. Duncan also served on the Lansing school board. He resigned from the board in November, according to the release.

Duncan also previously served with the Leavenworth Police Department.

Under federal statutes, Duncan is subject to a mandatory sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole and up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole, plus a fine of up to $500,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
Copyright 2011 Leavenworth Times. Some rights reserved

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lancasteronline.com/article/local/477587_Ex-cop-bound-for-trial.html 

By BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Staff Writer

A former Chester County police officer was ordered Wednesday to stand trial here for alleged sex assaults against three preteen girls.

Michael A. Archacki, locked up at Lancaster County Prison on $900,000 bail, likely will go to trial next year on numerous sex crimes that allegedly occurred earlier this year.

The three Quarryville girls were under the age of 13, investigators said. Archacki had befriended their families.

District Judge Stuart Mylin ruled Wednesday that enough evidence had been presented at a preliminary hearing to warrant charges and a trial.

Archacki is a former officer with the South Coatesville police and an ex-member of the Chester City Fire Department, prosecutors said.

The offenses all occurred at Archacki’s home in the 200 block of Greystone Lane in Quarryville, police reported.

But that wasn’t the limit of Archacki’s criminal behavior, police contend. He was indicted this week by Delaware officials for a sexual assault against another girl, according to Lancaster County Assistant District Attorney Daniel Dye.

Dye presented evidence at Wednesday’s hearing, including testimony of the three girls. According to Dye, the girls testified about the alleged abuse, which included touching and other sex acts.

At least one of the offenses happened while a girl was asleep, according to charging documents.

Archacki also took photographs of the girls, those documents contend.

Mylin ordered Archacki to trial on 18 charges, including several first-degree felonies. The offenses, upon conviction, carry potential prison penalties that would span Archacki’s life.

Delaware Deputy Attorney General Casey Ewart is handling prosecution on the out-of-state charges. Further details on those allegations weren’t immediately available.

Lancaster attorney Alan Goldberg is defending Archacki.

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Police in four states say they’re the victims of what amounts to a cybersex sting in reverse, the latest in a string of Internet pornography cases getting …
www.wired.com/topics/Georgia?position=6
and
Topic Page for Federal Bureau of Investigation
Police in four states say they’re the victims of what amounts to a cybersex sting in reverse, the latest in a string of Internet pornography cases getting …
www.wired.com/topics/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation?position…
Girl of Seventeen Traps Pedophile Police in Reverse Sex Sting 

The story excerpt quoted below is from Wired News.

16 Feb 1998

Police in four states, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas, say they’re the victims of what amounts to a cybersex sting in reverse.

The chain of events – which included one North Carolina deputy sending the seventeen year old girl a photograph of his genitals – led an attorney for one of the officers to decry what he suggests was a setup.

“This young woman has gone around the country, as best we can determine, and made contact with a very vulnerable element of our society – police officers – and then drawn them in and alleged some type of sexual misconduct,” said Troy Spencer, the attorney for one suspended Virginia officer. “She’s a cyberspider.”

 

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www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/officer-sex-car_n_942051.html 

A photo of what appears to be a police officer having sex with a woman on the hood of a car has caused an uproar in New Mexico.

The Huffington Post could not confirm independently that the man in question is a law enforcement officer, but Albuquerque, N.M. TV station KOB 4 and the Albuquerque Journal both identify the man as a uniformed officer.

The Santa Fe Sheriff’s office released pictures to KOB in response to a public records request. The photos were taken from security footage at the Santa Fe Canyon Ranch.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia told the Journal that the photos were taken by a camera set up to catch graffiti taggers or other crimes.

An email and phone call to the New Mexico State Police were not immediately returned to HuffPost.

Other uniformed policeman have been caught having sex on the job. Earlier this month, a Louisiana state public safety officer was suspended for reportedly having sex in his patrol car.

In January, a veteran officer resigned after he allegedly did the deed in his cruiser.

New Mexico State Police have not said whether the man pictured on the hood of the car will face any disciplinary measures, according to the Journal.

WATCH video with the GRAPHIC PHOTO:

www.kob.com/article/11687/?vid=2800205&v=1

<iframe frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” src=”eplayer.clipsyndicate.com/cs_api/iframe?pl_id=13637&wpid=1295&page_count=6&windows=1&tags=default&show_title=0&va_id=2800205&auto_start=0&auto_next=0″ width=”425″ height=”330″></iframe>

The embed codes aren’t working, so hit the link.

 

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Smithton officer not charged for alleged affair with 16-year-old
Investigated by State Police for alleged relationship
BY BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat 

A Smithton officer investigated by Illinois State Police for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl did not face criminal charges because the victim’s father
agreed to let the city discipline him, but that never happened.

The city did not discipline the officer because he wasn’t charged.

The investigation report was recently released by the Illinois State Police to the Belleville News-Democrat under the Freedom of Information Act. The request was initially denied,
but an appeal was later approved by ISP Director Jonathan Monken, a 29-year-old former Army captain and Iraq war veteran who took over the State Police in March.

Requests for these and other investigation reports were routinely denied under former director Larry Trent.

The investigation into the Smithton officer began in June 2007. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave while detectives conducted the investigation.

“We decided to wait until the investigation was completed, to wait for the outcome,” said Carmen Durso, village attorney.

Illinois State Police Public Integrity Unit investigation revealed the 16-year-old’s father would not allow her to be interviewed by investigators and did not want to press charges.
During the interview, the girl’s father told investigators that he believes what took place between his daughter and (the officer) is a private family matter, and that his daughter was a
willing participant.

The father also told investigators that if the criminal investigation was stopped, he would call the Smithton police chief and make an appointment to file an administrative complaint.

Two months earlier, Investigators Jo Kasheimer and Kenneth Mahan interviewed the officer, who signed the Miranda form, then asked for his lawyer.

The interview lasted 25 minutes.
Smithton Police Chief Brian Vielweber also did not return calls for comment.

“The Illinois State Police were asked to conduct an investigation, but declined to issue charges,” Durso said. “As far as we were concerned, that was the end of the issue.”

The officer, who has a relative who is a village trustee, continues to work for the Smithton Police Department, Durso said.
Contact reporter Beth Hundsdorfer at 239-2570 or at bhundsdorfer@bnd.com.

© 2007 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. www.belleville.com

 

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A woman who was assaulted as a teenager by a police officer under the supervision of a current Republican Massachusetts House candidate is speaking out. 

”He had to hear me screaming and crying. Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened,” said Lisa Allen, in a statement to the Boston Globe.

Perry is the GOP hopeful in Massachusetts’ 10th Congressional District. Almost 20 years ago, an officer under his command named Scott Flanagan confessed to and was convicted of assaulting Allen and another girl. Perry initially denied that any assault occurred, but thereafter quickly disappeared from the force.
“Perry did not care about protecting teenaged girls in Wareham from police officer Flanagan,” Allen said. ”Jeff Perry cared only about protecting police officer Flanagan.”

 

” href=”https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=058007c27c&view=att&th=1335cea24b5ecd94&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&zw” target=”_blank”>

”I cannot stand by silently any longer while what happened to me is discussed in the press,” Allen added. ”It upsets me that Jeff Perry can run for Congress after what he did to me when I was 14 years old.”

Perry demurred when the Globe asked for comment, saying only that he sympathized with Allen for her suffering.

”What happened to Lisa Allen was wrong and should never happen to anyone,” Perry said in a statement. ”Scott Flanagan’s actions were despicable and a betrayal of the oath he took as a police officer. My heart goes out to Ms. Allen for what she was put through by Scott Flanagan that night.”

The incident has become a major campaign issue, and the source of one of the most brutal ads of the 2010 cycle.

Allen’s father is quoted in the ad, urging Perry to skip town. Perry’s running against Democrat Bill Keating to fill a seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Delahunt. tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/victim-of-illegal-strip-search-publicly-castigates-gop-candidate.php

 

And check these links:

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Journalist Exposes Lies About Halloween and Former Offenders

Oct 24

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fact Check, News Stories | No Comments

 

Investigative journalist Diane Dimond debunks the lie about former sex offenders and Halloween:

“The spookiest time of the year is fast approaching, and you have likely already heard about local law enforcement officers preparing to keep your area free of danger on Halloween night.

“This has become an annual ritual between cops and ex-cons. But you know what? It’s a waste of time.

“You read that right. There has never been a concrete reason given that explains why a sex offender would choose the very public holiday of Halloween to re-offend. More importantly, I couldn’t find a single report of a child being sexually attacked by a stranger during a Halloween party or during door-to-door trick-or-treating.” Read Dimond’s column.

 

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Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Study: Nebraska Has It Wrong

Oct 20

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Punishment, Research | No Comments

A new research study on how to prevent the sexual abuse of children concludes that systems like Nebraska’s LB 285 of 2009 are failures.

The 2011 study,  A Reasoned Approach: Reshaping Sex Offender Policy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse,  was conducted by two female researchers, Joan Tabachnick and Alisa Klein, for the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.

Tabachnick is nationally recognized for her expertise in sexual violence prevention and social marketing. Over the past 20 years, she has developed award–winning educational materials and innovative programs for a wide variety of national, state, and local organizations.  Her most recent work includes a National Sexual Violence Resource publication titled Engaging Bystanders in Sexual Violence Prevention and a blog by the same name.  Visit www.joantabachnick.com for more information.

Klein serves as the Public Policy Consultant to the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. Her areas of expertise include the development of public policy approaches and strategic plans for the prevention of, and response to, sexual violence; public health prevention of interpersonal violence; sex offender policy; and preventing and responding to sexual violence in disasters. She has served as a consultant to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other local and state-based victim advocacy organizations. She can be contacted at alisaklein@comcast.net.

Here are Tabachnick and Klein’s recommendations for policies that prevent sexual abuse:

  • Design and implement evidence-informed policy.
  • Develop successful community policies that expand the notion of what constitutes abuser accountability; encourage community responsibility and healing; and provide safety, restitution, healing, and avenues for input for victims.
  • Integrate what is known about perpetration into prevention programs, victim services, and public education.

The broad application of legislative policies to adults, adolescents, and even children convicted of sexual abuse has created unintended negative consequences.

  • Since those who abuse are often portrayed publicly as “monsters,” people may be less likely to recognize the warning signs of a sexual behavior problem in siblings, parents, children, cousins, or others to whom they are close because they do not see them as “monsters.”
  • Someone who suspects abuse within the family may be less likely to ask for help and subject family members, including victims, to public exposure.
  • When a convicted abuser returns to the community, he/she is subjected to many of the current legislative policies. The resulting housing and job instability, loss of income, and isolation may increase the risk to re-offend. The instability may also reduce the system’s ability to monitor the offender and hold him/her accountable. As a result of these unintended consequences, it is clear that the broad application of these laws does not make communities safer places for children, protect victims, or encourage the prevention of child sexual abuse.

The unintended consequences of Broad Legislative Policies, specifically public notification and sex offender residence restrictions are:

  • When community members are notified of sex offenders’ presence in their communities, there are likely to be barriers erected to full and successful integration into the community.
  • When stripped of a sense of connectedness to family and community support systems, offenders may be more likely to return to the harmful behaviors that these policies are attempting to deter.
  • Multiple studies have shown that sex offenders who are subject to public notification and residence restrictions suffer from significant stress factors, such as the loss of a job or home, harassment, and physical assault.
  • A majority of offenders experience chronic difficulty finding a place to live and are frequently forced to move far away from the support and resources that may keep them stable.
  • Research has consistently shown that offenders who have positive support systems, social bonds to the community, and stable housing and jobs, and who basic human needs are met, have significantly lower recidivism rates.
  • It is well documented that the family members of sexual abusers often struggle with the stress, shame, and stigma associated with having someone close to them exposed as a sex offender.
  • As offenders’ families and communities experience the anger that is often behind sex offender policies, they may be unwilling to come forward when they suspect that people they know and care about are committing abuse or are at risk to sexually abuse.
  • As sex offender policy causes offender despair, isolation, and stigmatization, offenders may feel they have increasingly less to lose. Current policy reinforces the belief that there is no help available and that prevention and intervention efforts will result only in incarceration, punishment without rehabilitation, ostracization, and shame for everyone involved.

 

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Missouri Lawmaker: Registry Creates Unemployment

Oct 20

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fiscal, Legal, News Stories, Punishment | No Comments

 

From today’s Missouri News Horizon:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Major changes could be on the horizon for Missouri’s sex offender registry.

The state representative leading a committee that is looking into ways of cutting down the size of the state’s sex offender registry says it may make sense for the state to detach itself from federal sex registry rules.

Rep. Rodney Schad, R-Versailles, said Wednesday that large numbers of people on the state sex offenders registry are there due to federal rules that are more stringent than state laws. Schad said the result is hundreds, maybe thousands, of people on the sex registry do not have to be on that list. Schad said people on the list for less serious crimes aren’t able to find jobs and wind up costing the state through public assistance.

“We have some people that are absolutely no risk to society, to children, or to anyone else that are burdened with this label of ‘sex offender’”, Schad said.

Read the story here.

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Another Story from the Nebraska Gulag

Oct 20

Posted by NEBFACTS in Legal, Punishment | No Comments

A registrant — former Level 1 (low risk) — tells the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee how his family’s world came apart when his information was posted to the state’s public shaming website as a result of LB 285 of 2009. This person, like many many others, went from low-risk Level 1 under the previous system to Tier III lifetime registrant under LB 285.

Here is the testimony.

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A Recap of Hearing Coverage

Oct 17

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fact Check, Fiscal, Legal, Punishment | 2 Comments

Recapping coverage of the recent interim study hearing held by the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee showing the flaws in the Nebraska version of the Adam Walsh Act:

Demonstrably, Nebraska’s LB 285 of 2009 has resulted in higher expenditure of taxpayer dollars and less community safety.

State officials are still using inaccurate information to justify LB 285 of 2009. And they are they are distorting the fact that there is a nationwide trend against similar laws.

Local-level law enforcement supports the fact that LB 285 of 2009 has resulted in a blizzard of paperwork and busywork that draws down resources that could be put to better use in keeping our communities safe.

A prominent criminal justice expert has first-hand experience of the damage inflicted on non-dangerous former offenders under LB 285 of 2009.

Registrants no longer will remain silent about the state-sanctioned hatred that drives LB 285 of 2009.

Keep track of developments in Nebraska public policymaking on this issue at Nebraskans Unafraid.

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Walk on Washington?

Oct 16

Posted by NEBFACTS in Solidarity | No Comments

National organizers want to know if you would like to be involved in a Walk on Washington next year to raise awareness of damage done to you, your family and community by laws like Nebraska’s LB 285 of 2009. For more information, click here.

 

Accountability Comes to Nebraska Discussion of Former Sex Offender Law

Oct 15

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety, Fact Check, Fiscal, Legal, Punishment | No Comments

Nebraskans Unafraid spokesman Eric Baird tells the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee about just a few of the many flaws in Nebraska’s LB 285 of 2009. He also corrects erroneous testimony from state officials. See the video here.

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Healing Spirit Alive in Nebraska, Even Though the Constitution is Dead

Oct 13

Posted by NEBFACTS in Child Safety | No Comments

Have to call attention to comments on the previous post: Especially the 13-year-old’s response to the father who worries about his own 5-year-old daughter. See them here. Shame on the teacher and the school and the Nebraska Sex Offender registry that harmed this child.

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