104 sex offenders sue Idaho over its registry laws

See also: New federal lawsuit says Idaho’s sex offender registry law is unconstitutional, applies retroactive punishment by Betsy Z. Russell: See also: Sex Offenders Say Idaho's Retroactive Registration Requirements Are Unconstitutional by Jacob Sullum see also: Lawsuit over Idaho’s sex-offender registry laws expands to 134 plaintiffs

9-23-16 Idaho:

A lawsuit challenging Idaho’s laws governing registration and community notification of sex offenders seeks a permanent injunction to stop the state and counties from enforcing portions of the law.

The lawsuit (PDF Complaint), filed Thursday in Boise federal court on behalf of 104 unnamed sexual offenders, identified as Does 1-104, argues that Idaho’s sex offender registry laws violate the U.S. and Idaho constitutions.

The plaintiffs come from across the state and the country. Most were convicted of a sexual offense in the 1980s and 1990s and say amendments since then to Idaho’s sex offender registry laws amount to retroactive punishment, which is unconstitutional.

One plaintiff, identified as Doe 100 of Bannock County, was convicted of a misdemeanor sexual offense in Montana in 1996. His offense did not require registration in Montana. He moved to Idaho in 2005 and was not required to register until 2007, 11 years after his conviction, when Idaho authorities reclassified his offense as a felony rather than the original misdemeanor.

Another plaintiff, Doe 80 of Lemhi County, was convicted of a sexual offense in Lemhi County in 1989. He was released from state prison in 1993. In 2013, 20 years after being released from custody, he was informed he must register for life as an aggravated offender in the Idaho sex offender registry.

Doe 5, a resident of Texas, was convicted of a sexual offense in Jerome County in 1988. His offense was not considered aggravated until 2009, 21 years after the date of conviction. He is now required to register for life as an aggravated offender in the Idaho sex offender registry.

The plaintiffs also allege Idaho’s sex offender registry laws violate the due process, equal protection, double jeopardy, contracts and takings clauses of the U.S. and Idaho constitutions.

The 73-page complaint, filed by Twin Falls attorney Greg Fuller, names more than 35 defendants including Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Idaho Department of Correction Director Kevin Kempf, Idaho State Police Director Col. Ralph Powell, and the sheriffs of the 21 counties in which the plaintiffs reside.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden would not comment on the lawsuit. ..Source.. by Cynthia Sewell

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

E-mail Notifications Feature Added to Idaho State Sex Offender Registry System

12-27-2013 Idaho:

Citizens can now elect to receive e-mail notifications when a sex offender in their neighborhood moves to a new location.

When interested persons register for this new service, they can specify the given radius of the area they desire to keep tabs on.

Additionally, if a person is interested in being notified when a particular registrant moves, there is a link provided under the picture on each registrant's page that reads, "Track Registrant." When the user clicks on the link, they will be asked to provide the e-mail address where notifications can be sent.

The link to subscribe to the service is located on the Idaho State Police website.

The sex offender website already allows people to look up neighbors in their area who are on the Idaho Sex Offender Registry list. Their address and criminal convictions can also be viewed.

The upgrade to the system that includes e-mail notifications was made possible due funding from federal grants.

The Bureau of Criminal Identification has been responsible for Idaho's sex offender registration since it began operation on July 1, 1993.

The Idaho Legislature expanded the public's right to access the information on the registry in 1998 with the passage of the "Sexual Offenders Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act."

Users of the information in the Idaho Sex Offender Registry are reminded that the information is provided only for the purpose of protecting the public. It is not to be used for the purpose of harassing or intimidating anyone.

A person who uses registry information to commit a criminal act against another person is subject to arrest and prosecution under sections 18-8326 or 18-8413, Idaho Code. ..Source.. by Journal Staff

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Idaho State Police Releases Email Notification Program Identifying Sex Offenders

12-18-2013 Idaho:

The notification system indicating when a sex offender has moved into your neighborhood just got a little tech savvier.

Idaho State Bureau of Criminal Identification announced Dec. 16 that it has developed an email notification program that does just that. Those interested in receiving the notifications fill out a brief form that requires physical and email addresses, and a radius—one, three or five miles—and voila! The Idaho State Police pass along an email alert any time a registered sex offender moves within the circle with the provided address at its center.

The system also has an option whereby subscribers can receive email alerts when a specific registrant changes location.

The alert program draws from the Idaho Sex Offender Registry. Convicted sex offenders must update their information on the registry every time it changes, so the information is up to date. Previous alert systems used mail to tell interested parties, including schools and other organizations that deal with children, when an offender has become a neighbor.

According to ISP Public Information Officer Teresa Baker, the notification system enhances services used only sporadically by the public.

"People don't check the [Idaho Sex Offender Registry] all the time. This is a more proactive solution," she said.

The new alert system moves Idaho closer to compliance with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Before the state has fulfilled its obligation to the law, however, it must still enact changes to the notification system, including requiring Tier III sex offenders—those legally obligated to register their locations and places of work in perpetuity—to register more frequently than is required by Idaho law. Full compliance with the Adam Walsh Act would also obligate the workplaces of registered sex offenders to be searchable, as well as their home residences. ..Source.. by Harrison Berry

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Female sex offenders viewed differently than men

7-27-2013 Idaho:

When Jean Fisher took on the prosecution of a 35-year-old Kuna woman accused of having sex with eight underage boys, the veteran prosecutor knew she faced a daunting challenge regarding public perception.

Fisher, who has handled hundreds of sex abuse cases during her 24 years with the Ada County prosecutor's office, says people view a woman sexually abusing a boy as less serious than when a man abuses an underage girl. In most instances, the boys don't want to get the woman in trouble and are reluctant to tell authorities what happened. They may also view what happened as a rite of passage into manhood and see themselves as "lucky," Fisher said.

In her view, though, the punishment handed out should be the same.

"If a 35-year-old man did this to 10 adolescent girls, we would have had an uproar in this community," Fisher told 4th District Judge Ron Wilper during a hearing in late June.

Fisher was asking for a 25-year sentence for Courtney Sue Reschke, 35, who earlier pleaded guilty to six counts of lewd conduct with a child and pleaded no contest to seven counts of providing alcohol to minors.

In the U.S., 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is abused, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. The percentage is even higher among teenagers 14 to 17; 28 percent are victimized sexually, the center said.

The eight boys Reschke abused fall into that age range.

According to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, cases involving women who abuse girls account for about 6 percent of all cases.

In Idaho, 110 of the 3,838 people currently listed on the Idaho Sex Offender Registry — 2.9 percent — are women, according to a count by the Idaho Statesman. Since 1993, adults convicted of sex crimes have had to register with their local sheriff. Registration requirements for convicted juveniles were added in 1998.

In a 2008 report to the Idaho Legislature, females represented 4.4 percent of the suspects charged with child sexual abuse in the 12 previous years. That percentage was consistent with past studies, the report said.

"Simply, we did not see an increase in women sex offenders," one of the study's authors, Boise State University criminology professor Robert Marsh, wrote in an email to the Statesman.

The breakdown between male and female offenders has not been provided in the annual report to the Legislature since 2008.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, 389 adults and 106 juveniles were charged with sex offenses in Idaho.

Child sexual abuse committed by a woman came to the public's attention in the Northwest when Seattle area middle school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau was arrested in March 1997 for having sex with student Vili Fualaau. She spent nearly seven years in prison and gave birth to two children fathered by Fualaau. The couple married after Letourneau was released from prison.

When he sentenced Reschke, Judge Wilper disagreed with the prosecutor's assertion that women who sexually abuse boys should be treated as harshly as men who abuse girls. He said he couldn't articulate the reasons why, only that it was different.

"I know that you know that you did wrong and that you'll be punished," he said, before giving Reschke a 20-year sentence that could be shortened to three years if she's granted parole.

Last year, Wilper, who declined to comment for this story, sentenced Todd D. Kerr to a sentence of 10 to 15 years for lewd conduct with two girls who were under 16.

Meridian middle school teacher Ashley Jo Beach was convicted of lewd conduct after carrying on a monthslong relationship with a 13-year-old boy in 2009. Wilper sentenced her to 20 years in prison, but gave her an opportunity for parole after serving four years. The Idaho Parole Board has tentatively set a release date for Beach of Dec. 19, 2014.

The sentences in recent cases of women abusing children elsewhere in Idaho have varied. Twin Falls resident Kandi Mohr was sentenced in April to life in prison for sexually abusing a girl from the time she was 2 or 3 until she was 11. Mohr and co-defendant David M. Myers will each be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

Caldwell resident Robin Hackney served four months in jail last year for lewd conduct with a 15-year-old. She was initially sentenced to eight years in prison, but the sentence was suspended.

Burley resident Tara Bagley pleaded guilty earlier this year to sexual battery of a child 16 to 17. The former vice principal at Burley High School, she was accused of committing lewd acts with two underage girls and was ordered to serve at least eight years in prison earlier this month.

Michael Johnston, a Boise psychologist who testified for the prosecution in Reschke's case, said female sex offenders are more likely to regret their behavior than men. That could make them more amenable to treatment — and more sympathetic to judges deciding whether to show leniency or impose a long prison sentence.

Dr. Camille Lacroix, a Boise forensic psychiatrist called by Reschke's defense attorney, said female sex offenders have a better track record than men in changing their behavior. Women who were sexually abused are more likely to reoffend, she said.

Lacroix said women also are less likely to harbor long-term sexual attraction to children. In Reschke's case, she also had adult sexual partners during the time she was abusing the teenage boys.

A 2009 study authored by Marsh, the criminology professor, and Steven Patrick, a Boise State sociology professor who died last year, tracked 447 Idaho sex offenders for 13 years and found that only 9 percent committed new sex crimes in that time. The professors cautioned, however, that 13 years was a moderate amount of time to track such data.

Fisher has heard the argument that boys who are victims of sexual abuse suffer less than girls. She doesn't buy that — one reason she wants to throw the book at both female and male offenders.

Johnston testified that boy victims may feel flattered at first and experience intense exhilaration while having a sexual relationship with an adult woman. Eventually, most come to feel they were victimized, he said. They often blame themselves when the woman finds herself in trouble criminally, and they also can find it hard to trust women when engaging in appropriate romantic relationships.

"This may take days, months or even longer. It may happen when they start dating or when they get married," Johnston said.

It doesn't matter if an underage boy agrees to sexual contact, Johnston said. The reason it's a crime to engage in sexual behavior with a minor of either gender is because he or she lacks the maturity to make decisions that are in his or her best interest.

"Even if the 14- or 15-year-old boy consents to it or asks for it, it's not OK," Johnston said.

Many abusers don't understand the long-term harm they can inflict on their victims, Fisher said. She noted that Reschke wrote in a statement that she didn't feel her actions were as bad as someone who abused young children.

A 1997 study authored by Shanta Dube of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that men and women who were sexually abused as children suffered similar health, behavioral, mental and social problems.

Former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy said men and women should be treated the same when convicted of sex crimes against children.

"I don't believe there's any difference between a woman committing these crimes and a man," Leroy said. "I think judges would hold a woman offender to the same standards as a man." ..Source.. by JOHN SOWELL

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Is Idaho's Sex Offender Registry effective?

5-16-2013 Idaho:

BOISE -- This year marks the 20th year of Idaho's Sex Offender Registry, so KTVB looked at what's changed in those two decades and whether the registry is serving its intended purpose 'to protect communities'.

Since its creation and adoption in 1993, the registry has become more controversial, mostly for two reasons: The high level of public access to the information, and because every offender is listed, without classifications.

Changes in laws prompted changes in the registry

"Back then it was different. There was a different mentality, and it wasn't a big deal," Dawn Peck, Manger of ISP Bureau of Criminal Identification, said.

Peck has been involved with the registry since it began on July 1, 1993.

"At that time, it was just a little half page form that the offender filled out that said where they were living and what they were convicted of. And it was an honor system," Peck said.

Since then, a lot of changes have been made. In 1998, registration became mandatory for convictions for crimes from rape to enticing a child over the Internet. In 1998, there were around 1,800 registered offenders, and now there are nearly 4,000 registered offenders statewide. In the mid-2000s, ISP put every offender online, making it simple to find who's on the list and where they live.

"Back in the initial days of the registry and clear up until the late 2000s, [if you wanted information on an offender] you had to fill out a form and you had to give your address and your drivers license number to get the information," Peck explained.

Offender: 'I really feel that the system, other than the list, was good to me'

Larry Robinson lives with his wife outside of Boise. He's been on the registry since it began. He was registered because he was still under Corrections supervision (probation) when the list was created in 1993.

"You have this mark of Cain on your forehead and you just can't get away from it," Robinson said. "People from my church found that I was on that up here. I went out with this outdoor group for nine years. Somebody found I was on it, and boom, I was out of the group."

Robinson offended three decades ago. He admits sexually abusing a young female family member off and on for years.

"Aside from the fact that I am truly, completely repentant for my past deed, I don't want to get into the system again," Robinson said.

Robinson says jail time, treatment and religion changed him years ago, and his victim has forgiven him. But he says forever, his neighbors will know, and sometimes judge, him, by his old actions.

"I richly deserved to face my issues. I absolutely believe that the jail time was a good thing for me because it brought me to my knees, and that brought me to Jesus Christ," Robinson said. "[But] If you have a proven track record of socially and legally acceptable behavior, I don't believe that should go on indefinitely like it does."

ACLU: Registries punish people unconstitutionally

"Rather than have an assessment on the front end of whether or not they're going to reoffend, they just go into this blanket registry," ACLU of Idaho's Executive Director Monica Hopkins said.

The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees with having sex offender registries in general, and particularly disagrees with public registries with no differentiation of severity of crime. They say the registries deny offenders due process rights.

"You have everything from you know minor sex crimes to very egregious sex crimes and they all go in the same registry," Hopkins said. "Something that started as a regulatory thing so law enforcement could know where individuals were is now a punitive thing that lasts way beyond someone paying their debt to society back."

Prosecutors, police still use registry for enforcement and monitoring

"We use it quite frequently," Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor said. "The registry helps, but the registry only tells you where they're supposed to be. You need the boots on the street to actually enforce it and make that compliance."

Taylor's office has a unique set-up with an investigator in the office helping deputies track down non-compliant offenders and helping with prosecution.

"Over the last two years since we implemented this procedure, a lot of them now know that we're looking and watching and monitoring them, so they're becoming much more compliant than they had been in the past," Taylor said. "About two years ago, we had a number of failure to register cases, and now that number has dropped because people are actually being where they're supposed to be."

Does the registry prevent sexual abuse from happening?

While some justice experts believe the registry ups awareness, and cuts re-offending, many say it doesn't do much to curb first-time offenses. Critics say the amount of violent sexual crimes are as high or higher than before the registry. KTVB found forcible rape rates (accounting for population growth) in Idaho, for example, fell the first few years of the registry but haven't been that low again.

"That's what we need to focus on, is not just being aware of who an offender is, but let's really focus on how to not have a victim," Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney said.

Raney believes the registry responds well to the public demand for access to the information, especially after a north Idaho murder, kidnapping, and sexual abuse case shocked the state. The victims were strangers to now-convicted killer Joseph Duncan.

"I think the highlight was around the time of the Joseph Duncan offense in northern Idaho when everybody realized, you could be there, not doing anything. You're child's just fine and suddenly your world changes in a flash," Raney said. "That can happen, and I think the sex offender registry offers people just a little bit of comfort about knowing who their neighbors are."

Sheriff: Keeping a public registry is a balancing act

Raney says monitoring and awareness is likely the best deterrent to offenders from committing another abusive act, but says there is more to consider with the registry.

"On the flip side of it, there have been cases when this sort of vigilantism, if you will. Of people trying to push a sex offender out of the neighborhood. We know that research says when sex offenders are socially destabilized, they're actually more likely to recidivate, so we try to find the balance between the two," Raney said.

And while Raney says the registry points out who's been caught before and monitoring them helps prevent re-offending, he says the real concern needs to be on who's likely to really be a danger initially or again. For example, victims are much more likely to know their abuser, than not.

"That's the difference that I think is often misleading to people is who should we really be concerned about? Who just happens to be on the registry because of something in the past? We really need in the criminal justice system and in the legislature to be able to solve that and make a more clear distinction," Raney said.

Raney and the Idaho Sheriff's Association work with legislators on this very issue. In fact because of their work, this summer, you'll start seeing more changes to the registry statewide to increase public access. You'll be able to sign-up for notifications of when a particular offender moves -- or if someone moves into your neighborhood. ..Source.. by Jamie Grey

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Home News Local News State's top court: Sex offender not exempt from registering

2-26-2013 Idaho:

The Idaho Supreme Court upheld a 1st District Court ruling from Kootenai County that said a 2009 amendment to the state's sex offender registration law does apply to a Coeur d'Alene man, according to a Monday opinion.

Randall P. Bottum, 55, was sentenced in July 1991 to 10 years in prison for felony lewd conduct with a minor, but the sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for five years. His probation ended in July 1996, and the case was dismissed in February 2011.

At the time Bottum was sentenced, Idaho didn't have a sex offender registration statute.

But in 1993, the Idaho Legislature passed the Sex Offender Registration Act. The act applied retroactively to people convicted prior to July 1993, and those who were still on probation.

The act required sex offenders to register while on probation and "for a period of 10 years after the date of discharge from probation, parole or release from incarceration, whichever is greater."

In 1998, the Legislature repealed the Sex Offender Registration Act, and enacted the Sexual Offender Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act.

The new act applied retroactively to people convicted of crimes before the statute was enacted. It also applied to those on probation.

So, because Bottum was still on probation, the statute applied to him and he had to register as a sex offender.

Bottum sought an exemption, but his offense, lewd conduct, is considered an aggravated offense so he wasn't eligible. The District Court in Kootenai County denied his petition for an exemption.

"When a legislative act is expressly stated to be retroactive, subsequent amendments to that act are also retroactive, as long as retroactive application would not violate the Constitution," according to the Supreme Court opinion.

The justices added, "Mr. Bottum does not contend that applying the amendment to him would violate any constitutional provision. Therefore, the district court did not err in dismissing Mr. Bottum's petition." ..Source.. by CDA Press.com

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Idaho judge has power to seal sex offender's case, appellate court rules

10-5-2012 Idaho:

BOISE -- A judge has the discretion to seal a convicted sex offender's case because his criminal record is hurting his finances, the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

But the appellate judges made clear in their ruling that they weren't recommending a Bonner County judge actually seal the case -- only deciding he has the power to do so, if he chooses.

The appeal was brought by a man calling himself John Doe, who was convicted in 1990 after pleading guilty to felony battery with intent to commit rape. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped another felony sex crime charge. After he served four years in prison, Doe was released on parole.

A few years later, a judge found Doe wasn't at risk of re-offending and said the man no longer would have to register as a sex offender.

Two years ago, Doe asked 1st District Court Judge Steven Verby to seal his criminal case, saying public access to the information was causing him economic harm. Doe contended he hoped to become a fire marshal in his community, but a background check disclosing his conviction might hurt his chances. He also said some of his current employer's clients refused to let him work on their projects when they discovered he was a felon.

The state's attorneys didn't oppose Doe's motion. But the lower court judge turned him down, saying a rule that allows judges to seal some cases to prevent financial harm wasn't designed to protect criminals from their own histories. Verby said he therefore lacked the discretion to seal the case.

Simply put, the "consequences of having committed a felony may include financial or economic loss," The judge said.

In his appeal, Doe argued the lower court was wrong in finding the economic harm rule didn't apply to criminal defendants. The Idaho attorney general's office opposed Doe in the appellate case, with Deputy Attorney General Russell Spencer contending the economic harm rule was designed to protect businesses and other parties with financial interests, not felons.

Doe was correct, the appellate judges found: The rules are broadly written and don't specifically bar a criminal defendant from asking for their history to be sealed, and lower court judges do have the authority to decide such matters.

"That is not to suggest, however, that the motion must be granted here or in any similar case," Judge Karen Lansing wrote for the majority. "On remand, the district court will have broad discretion to determine whether Doe's claim of economic harm is so compelling as to outweigh the overarching public interest in disclosure."

Chief Judge David Gratton agreed with the majority, but wrote that he believed the rule was designed to seal records to protect businesses, not criminals, from suffering economic harm. ..Source.. by Oregon Live

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Idaho court overturns sex offender conviction

7-5-2012 Idaho:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Supreme Court has overturned a man's conviction on failing to register as a sex offender because the high court found that Idaho's sex offender laws didn't apply to people who moved to foreign countries.

David Leroy Lee was ordered to register as a sex offender in 2001 after he was convicted of lewd conduct with a minor under the age of 16. As part of his parole, he was ordered to register as a sex offender once a year and confirm his residence twice a year. He also was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device on his ankle.

Lee registered as a sex offender early that year, and in March, he confirmed his Boise address, according to the ruling. But in October, he cut off his ankle bracelet and left his home, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Lee was eventually arrested in Belize in 2009 in connection with an ongoing explosives investigation. He was extradited to Idaho, where he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender. An Ada County jury found him guilty of the charge.

Lee appealed, and on Thursday, the Idaho Supreme Court ordered his conviction overturned.

The unanimous high court found that the sex offender registration law, as it existed in 2001, didn't require sex offenders to update their addresses if they left the country, though it did require updates for sex offenders moving to new addresses within U.S. borders.

"If the legislature intended the statute to apply to changes of address or actual residences to other countries, it would have been easy for it to do so by simply using the word 'country' in the statute," Justice Jim Jones wrote for the court. "... Lee cannot be convicted based upon an unexpressed intent of the legislature."

Kris Bivens-Cloyd with the Idaho Attorney General's office said the office had no comment on the ruling.

Idaho's sex offender registration law has been significantly updated since 2001. Among other changes, it now requires sex offenders to notify the registry if they plan to move to another country. ..Source.. by REBECCA BOONE

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Federal grant will fund sex offender tracking, prosecution across state lines

The theory that SORNA will make all state laws the same, is a complete farce, given that each state is able to pick and chose which portions of SORNA it will follow, permitted by the use of Guidelines. And to erroneously believe that, knowing where a person sleeps for a few hours of the day/night somehow makes the public more safe, is an even bigger farce, a ruse played on the public by politicians. Registries are designed to protect lawmaker jobs, grow law enforcement and further punish registrants in a way that gets around constitutional protections, and nothing more.

9-22-2011 Idaho:

Law enforcement agencies in Idaho’s five northern counties will use a two-year federal grant to join a nationwide computer network that makes monitoring of sex offenders across state lines more seamless.

In addition, the $494,000 grant will enable Kootenai County’s prosecutor to hire both a special prosecutor and an investigator whose sole jobs will be to track sex offenders and prosecute them when they commit crimes.

Following the lead of Canyon County in southern Idaho, which received the same grant last year, Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh applied for the money with assistance from the U.S. attorney’s office and the U.S. Marshals Service and the support of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors throughout North Idaho.

“The primary goal is to protect children,” McHugh said at a news conference Thursday. “To investigate and prosecute child victim crimes, including child enticement, child pornography and other crimes related to child victims.”

The partnership with the U.S. attorney’s office and the U.S. Marshals Service means the special prosecutor will be able to prosecute crimes in both state and federal courts. The investigator will be cross-designated as a special deputy U.S. marshal.

The cross-deputizing and training of the prosecutor and investigator to handle cases in federal or state courts “really eliminates these jurisdictional boundaries that these child sexual predators have used in the past,” said Rafael Gonzalez Jr., first assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Idaho.

“We just want to make sure for child sexual predators in Idaho, no town is safe for them to be without registering, no county, no state, no federal jurisdiction,” Gonzalez said. This money “gives us the tools to make sure that those who have to register, register, and that their registration is vigorously, vigorously monitored.”

There’s no guarantee of funding for the two positions after the two-year grant expires, McHugh said.

Kevin Platts, a Boise-based chief deputy U.S. marshal, said the software system that tracks the sex offenders should be operational within 45 days. In Southern Idaho, he said, the grant has allowed law enforcement agencies to check all sex offender registrations and find people who were not in compliance. He said they’ve identified sex offenders living too close to schools and have been able to educate the public about a website they can check to see where sex offenders live, as well as be notified when they move.

In Idaho, sex offender registries, by law, are handled by each county sheriff, said Kootenai County sheriff’s Maj. Ben Wolfinger. That information then is downloaded to the state’s system, which is monitored by the Idaho State Police.

“The beauty of this program here,” Wolfinger said of the new system, is “we’ll be able to track these people beyond our state borders. We’ll know if a sex offender in Spokane moves to Coeur d’Alene. We wouldn’t necessarily know that in the past. There’s a certain amount of self-reporting that has to be done (but) we’ll be able to follow up on those people and monitor them now.” ..Source.. by Alison Boggs The Spokesman-Review

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Grant will help prosecute sex crimes against children

It appears states are getting grants from many sources and using them for SORNA purposes.

9-3-2011 Idaho:

The Kootenai County prosecutor’s office received a $494,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute people who sexually abuse and exploit children and to enforce sex offender registration laws.

The two-year grant will be used to set up a task force to investigate and prosecute child-victim crimes in Idaho’s five northern counties, said Prosecutor Barry McHugh.

The grant from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is through the Child Sexual Predator Program, a news release said. McHugh wrote the grant as a cooperative venture among law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Other agencies that are partners in the proposal include the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police, the Rathdrum, Spirit Lake and Post Falls police departments, and the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices from Shoshone, Boundary, Benewah and Bonner counties. ..Source.. by The Spokesman-Review

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

More Money to Track Sex Offenders

10-19-2010 Idaho:

Caldwell, Idaho -- Canyon County is taking the lead on a three-county task force with a sole purpose finding people who fail to register as sex offenders and those who target kids over the Internet for sex.

Debbie McRae is the supervisor for Canyon County's sex offender registration unit. She's about to get a lot more help to catch people who have committed sex crimes. That's because Canyon County was just awarded a $493,000 federal COPS grant to share with Ada and Bannock Counties.

"We had support of law enforcement personnel from three separate counties who indicated a desire to make this a priority in their counties," said Interim Canyon County Prosecutor Tim Fleming.

The focus is on non-compliant sex offenders who should be registered and people who solicit children for sex on the Internet. With several counties and agencies working together, that cooperative approach caught the eye of the people handing out the federal funds.

"The grant that was put together and chaired by the Canyon County Prosecutor's office, was the best. I was absolutely the number one applicant that they got for this," said Kevin Platts, with the U.S. Marshal's service.

The 2-year grant will go towards hiring an investigator and a prosecutor, providing training and buying technological equipment. A program called Offender Watch went online in Canyon County about six weeks ago. It tells you exactly where sex offenders live and it also tracks them.

And now Ada County will be getting the same system. That means more people in the Treasure Valley will know if their neighbors have a sex crime past.

"What you're seeing here is just what's available to the public. There's a whole other side to the offender watch that law enforcement can use and share information between each agency," said McRae.

It's hoped that a bigger collaborative effort will result in a drastic drop in sex crimes against children here in the Gem State.

"Idaho citizens are best-served when law enforcement resources and prosecuting attorney resources work together to make sure that the offenders are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson. ..Source.. by KTRV.TV

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...