Sex offender takes action against deputy who wrongfully arrested him

Maybe CLEET is not the correct course of action. Sounds more like a complaint for Police Internal Affairs is needed. i.e., Who Controls Local Police?

11-19-2013 Oklahoma:

A man from Hulbert convicted of rape 19 years ago spent nearly two decades on the sex offender registry.

This summer a state Supreme Court ruling got James Center Jr. off the list, but now he says he's being harassed by at least one investigator who is disregarding the law.

When Center was 19 he dated a girl four years younger. "We had just went out once or twice and wound up sleeping together and that was you know that was basically it," he said.

But that wasn't it. The 15-year-old girl's parents pressed charges for statutory rape and Center became a sex offender. He registered as one for 19 years.

"It has basically ruined my life," he said.

Since then a lot's changed. He has a girlfriend now, and a family. And this summer the Supreme Court ruling struck down the law that would make him register for life. Instead, he's responsible for just 10 years.

"He registered nine more years than the law required," said Center's attorney David Slane.

Center says Cherokee County Investigator James Brown, who keeps up with sex offenders in the county, constantly follows him or has other officers following him whenever he goes into town. And despite the ruling, on November 2, Brown arrested Center.

"He had moved and changed his address he hadn't notified us of the change of address so that's why he was arrested," said Undersheriff Jason Chennault.

Center says he showed Brown his official court order, proving he was off the registry since early October. He keeps it on him at all times.

"I had it in my back pocket, I pulled it out, handed it to Mr. Brown, he laughed at me, told me it was no good...and also told me he was my God and I would answer to him," Center said.

Chennault says his investigator can't just take a possible criminal's word at face value.

"He said that, but we hadn't gotten any notification about that, there was nothing in the database about that," Chennault said.

Center's attorney thinks Brown should lose his job over the wrongful arrest. He's filing an official complaint with CLEET.

"Officers have got to understand that if people have a court order like this they need to stop and they need to use those investigative tools that they've been trained with to see if this is valid," said Slane.

Meanwhile the county maintains it's people did their jobs. "So as far as you know everything happened the way it was supposed to happen?" asked reporter Rebecca Schleicher. "Correct," Chennault responded.

Center says he doesn't care whether or not Brown loses his job, he just wants the unwanted attention to stop.

"I feel I've been cheated...this has been going on for 19 years, I would like the chance to live my life." ..Source.. by Rebecca Schleicher, Primetime Reporter

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Sex offender list in the middle of a showdown

No one has yet to prove, that, any registry makes communities safer nor that child deaths will be reduced if enacted. Registries are a political ploy to keep lawmakers in office.

3-7-2011 Texas:

Federal mandate costs too much to implement, Texas officials argue

WASHINGTON — The latest battleground between Texas officials and the federal government is an unlikely clash over the Adam Walsh Act, a federal law to protect children from sexual predators by creating a national sex offender registry that local law enforcement agencies could tap.

The state - which has the second-largest sex offender database in the nation, with 63,000 men and women registered - is balking at the law's requirements, citing unacceptably high costs of implementing the law's provisions.

The Legislature has not yet passed the changes, saying the cost for Texas to comply would be $38.8 million, a significant amount with the state facing a budget crisis.

Following two highly publicized showdowns with the federal government over Texas pollution-control efforts and education funding, this low-key standoff is yet another issue in Gov. Rick Perry's ballyhooed war on Washington.

But unlike the previous battles, the governor's office has downplayed the sexual predator issue and has been coy about whether the governor ultimately will support compliance with the federal mandate.

"We support efforts to increase the monitoring of and penalties for these criminals," said Katherine Cesinger, Perry's spokeswoman. "We will continue working with lawmakers this session to make sure Texas implements measures that will have the greatest impact in protecting our citizens from these violent offenders."

$2.2 million penalty
If Texas does not comply with the federal mandate by July 26, the state will lose 10 percent of its federal funding under the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, which provides assistance to crime victims and witnesses. The penalty would amount to an estimated $2.2 million in 2012.

The crux of the dispute is a difference in approach to the same problem. Texas' current sexual offender registry is based on risk assessment; the federal law requires registration based on offenses committed.

The federal law divides offenders into three tiers based on the crimes they committed and has different registration requirements for each tier. For example, the most severe offenders would have to renew their registration in person every three months.

Under current Texas law, sex offenders register either for 10 years or for life based on offense and risk level.

Because of the change in requirements, the number of people on the registry would "increase greatly," according to a report by the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, which recommended that the state not comply with the federal law.

"There will be an enormous amount of cost to the state without enhancing public safety," said Allison Taylor, executive director for the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, a state agency that develops and implements policies regarding sex offendersbudget shortfall or for much else.

"What is more important and more precious than our children?" Jackson Lee asked.

If the impasse can't be broken, she says she'll push the Obama administration to delay penalties against Texas rather than forfeit federal victim assistance funds.

"I think it's more important to get states to comply than to meet arbitrary deadlines," said Jackson Lee, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

"The cost for Texas is considerable, but the impact on saving the lives of children warrants that kind of investment," Jackson Lee said. ..Source.. by HEATHER CAYGLE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

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Sex offender registries ruin many lives

1-2-2011 Washington:

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. -- Ed Gonda and his family moved to Bainbridge Island upon hearing it was a pastoral "laid back, forgiving" kind of place.

After finding a rental, he and his wife enrolled their daughter in school. As Christians, they found a local church they liked. They made friends with neighbors and island residents.

But eventually, word got out.

Gonda had a criminal past. And not for burglary or drug possession, but for a sex offense.

The news traveled fast, and people who they thought they knew well acted swiftly. His daughter could no longer play with friends down the street, he said. The church pews around them were vacant on Sundays. They more or less stopped going out anywhere on the island.
"We're treated like we're diseased," his wife said.

Having a daughter, Gonda can empathize with islanders. He would never want a pedophile around her, and he has family members who were the victims of sexual abuse.

Gonda didn't go to prison for being a pedophile. In 1995, when he was in his early 30s, he had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl he lived with at the time.

Gonda pleaded guilty to his charges and did about four years in state prison. He participated in and paid more than $10,000 for sex-offender treatment. He has committed no new crimes since he got out of prison about a decade ago, according to a check of his criminal history. As sex offenders go, he is considered a "Level 1" by law enforcement, the level least likely to re-offend. He said that just to be safe, he avoids places where teens close to his victim's age congregate.

"I admit, I was wrong," Gonda said. "But I've changed. Why are people still looking at me for something I did 15 years ago?"

Law enforcement makes a determination of how likely a sex offender is to re-offend and rates them on a scale of 1 to 3.

But the public often fails to see any nuance.

"People look at them in a bucket," said Bainbridge Island Police Commander Sue Shultz. "They say 'Any kind of sex offender is a sex offender, and always will be a sex offender.' "

The registration of sex offenders in Washington state was one of three components of the Community Protection Act of 1990, passed in the wake of two tragic and brutal killings. It's a popular measure with the public, and the Legislature has strengthened and spent more money on the laws surrounding sex offenses. Lawmakers have also bolstered penalties for failing to register as a sex offender.

There is also a national registry for sex offenders.

The subject of debate is who is included in the registries, who is not and how often should they be checked on.

While extremely rare, recent horrifying crimes committed by sex offenders have galvanized lawmakers to act.

Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge uses the analogy of an airplane crash.

"It doesn't happen very often," he said. "But when it does, it's a tragedy."

Hauge chaired a task force convened by Gov. Chris Gregoire in the wake of the killing of Zina Linnik, a 12-year-old girl abducted and murdered by Terapon Adhahn, a Level 1 sex offender. A result of that task force was the creation of a sex-offender policy board that reports to the governor, and the creation of a pot of grant money awarded to local law enforcement to make face-to-face contact with every sex offender in the state.

"Nobody knows how much of a safety factor it adds," Hauge said. "But a murder of a young girl damages the community in an incalculable way."

Thomas Weaver, a defense attorney who handles sex cases, questions the indiscriminate nature of a sex offender registry. While lower-level sex offenders might not have their pictures in the paper like Level 3 offenders do, they're still on the list, he said.

Weaver also wonders about a slippery slope in registration. For example, why not enact a burglary offender registration to notify the public when such convicts are released, he wonders.

A kidnapping registry was created in the wake of Washington's sex offender registry, he said. Nevada has a registry for convicts of many different crimes. And there have also been calls in some states for a registry of arson offenders, a crime that also often involves an underlying psychological component.

Where to draw the line?

As a sex offender, Ed Gonda can understand why people would be afraid of Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders. His family's few options of places to live are apartments and houses that accommodate sex offenders. But he doesn't want to go to those places out of fear for his wife and daughter. Other landlords, however, won't rent to him because of his status.

"So where can we live?" he wonders.

While in prison, he changed his name. He still feels blessed to have found a family and for the neighbors on Bainbridge Island that do accept him.

"God gave me a family, a wife and a new start," he said. "I just wish someone would give us a chance." ..Source.. by Josh Farley, The Sun

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