SC – Cope man arrested in internet predator sting

Article

(Columbia) December 1, 2006 – An internet sting has ended with the capture of a 27-year-old man who officials say was trying to convince a person who he thought was a 12-year-old girl to have sex with him.

Frank Albert Schoonover, II, 27, of Cope, was arrested on November 30 on two counts of criminal solicitation of a minor.

Officials with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office say Schoonover began soliciting sex on June 18 from the person who he thought was a 12-year-old girl. In reality, he was communicating with an undercover Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Deputy.

WA – Well-known GOP activist held in sex-predator sting

Article
By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

Larry Corrigan, a well-known activist in local Republican politics as a backer of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, was arrested Wednesday in an Internet sting for allegedly trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Corrigan was the director of financial operations at the prosecutor’s office for more than 25 years and was deputy treasurer in Reichert’s 1997 and 2001 runs for King County sheriff. He was also a supporter without an official role in Reichert’s congressional campaigns.

According to the Seattle Police Department, Corrigan, 54, of Seattle, was chatting online with an undercover police officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl when he agreed to meet the minor at a Capitol Hill video store on Broadway for sex.

India – Concern Expressed over Growing Girl Child Abuse

DEC 1 2006 HINDUSTAN TIMES
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1857217,0008.htm

Congress Member of Rajya Sabha Prema Cariappa on Friday expressing concern at the growing menace of girl child abuse and drug abuse under the garb of tourism wanted the government to come out with a stringent law to curb these activities. Members of other political parties also associated with her concern.

In a special mention she said despite tourism being an upcoming industry and the government supporting the tourism sector, one should be aware of its “dark side”.

According to media reports girl child abuse and drug abuse are going on in several tourist destinations in Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

I am so damn smart (haha!!!)

Just for fun…. lol

MO – Discrepancies found in state Web site and county sex offender list

Article
By: Emily Callaway, CCR editor emilyc@cpimo.com

STOCKTON-A search of Cedar County of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Web site for registered sex offenders may have some disconcerting results. Recently, the Web site has begun showing most of Cedar County’s offenders as “noncompliant” to the registry law. In addition, several names on the Web site are labeled as “exempt” and do not have any information with them.

What does this mean for Cedar County residents wanting to learn more about their community?

According to Cedar County Sheriff Aaron Spillman, his office has a current list of county offenders.

“Everyone on our list is up-to-date and compliant,” he said, adding the same information has been forwarded to the state patrol.

VA – Bell plans sex offender bill

Article
By Bob Gibson  / bgibson@dailyprogress.com | 978-7243
December 1, 2006

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, is planning to introduce legislation to ban sex offenders from schools and day-care facilities across Virginia.

Bell, a former assistant prosecutor in Orange County, said he is working with the Virginia State Crime Commission to craft a bill that would put sex offenders on notice that schools and day-care centers are off limits.

“The recidivism rate is very high for this group of offenders,” Bell said. He said the commission might approve his measure at a meeting Dec. 12.

MD – Baltimore mother denies role in son’s killing by sex offender

Article
The Associated Press
Dec 1, 2006 5:26 PM (7 hrs ago)

 BALTIMORE – The mother of an 11-year-old boy slain, allegedly by a convicted child sex offender who was caring for him pleaded, not guilty in court Friday to failing to protect her son, the state’s attorney’s office.

Shanda Harris, 41, of Baltimore, is charged with reckless endangerment and contributing to the condition of a child for allowing Melvin Jones Jr., 52, to be around Irvin Harris, even after Jones threatened his life.

From July 1, 2005 to July 30 of this year, court documents show, Harris allegedly permitted Jones to be around her children even after she was informed he was a registered child sex offender. Jones’ criminal record dates to 1970 and includes convictions for child sexual abuse, indecent exposure, harassment and battery, according to prosecutors. His most recent conviction came in 2002 for a third-degree sex offense involving a 15-year-old boy.

Irvin Harris’ decomposed body was found July 31 in a heavily wooded area at Clifton Park Golf Course near his home. He had been missing for three days.

Jones is charged with first-degree murder and other charges in Irvin Harris’ death.

The judge scheduled Shanda Harris’ jury trial for Feb. 15. She remains held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Baltimore Detention Center.

IA – County leaders want repeal of sex offender residency rules

Article
by Stella Shaffer The Iowa State Association of Counties is calling on state lawmakers to repeal the state’s residency requirement for sex offenders. Convicted offenders done serving their prison sentences must reside at least two-thousand feet away from any school or daycare, but ISAC Director Bill Peterson says that doesn’t make it easier to monitor the offenders.

Peterson says because of the two-thousand-foot rule, there are places in the state where sexual predators have no place to live. He says, “it turns them loose into areas where no one can keep track of them.” He says counties want lawmakers to replace the law with one establishing “No Loitering” or safe zones.

PA – W-B’s proposed sex offender ordinance tabled

Article

WILKES-BARRE — City council tabled a proposed ordinance Thursday restricting where sex offenders can live until a map is prepared.

Councilman Jim McCarthy proposed convicted sex offenders be prohibited from living 1,500 feet from a school, child care facility, park, playground and recreational facility. He is getting a map ready to move forward with the ordinance, he said.

Wilkes-Barre resident Sam Troy urged council to vote against the ordinance, saying convicted sex offenders “have served their time and paid their debt.” He called the proposed ordinance “immoral and unconstitutional.” Similar ordinances in other cities have been declared unconstitutional, he said.

U.N. Says Scores Of Peacekeepers Ousted for Abuse

Article
Associated Press
Friday, December 1, 2006; A23

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 30 — Nearly 180 soldiers, civilians and police officers in U.N. peacekeeping missions have been targeted for disciplinary action for sexual abuse since the beginning of 2004, the chief U.N. spokesman said Thursday.

Despite the U.N.’s “zero tolerance,” said St?phane Dujarric, “acts of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. peacekeeping personnel continue to occur.”

Since January 2004, the United Nations has investigated 319 peacekeeping personnel in all U.N. missions, Dujarric said.

“These resulted in the summary dismissal of 18 civilians and the repatriation on disciplinary grounds of 17 police and 144 military personnel,” he said.

England – Man guilty of sexual abuse avoids prison term

Article
by Court reporter
01/12/2006

A CITY man who sexually abused a young Coventry girl has escaped being jailed because he has a condition arising from an extra X chromosome.
Simon Storey, 22, of Grantham Street, Hillfields, had denied three charges of sexually assaulting the girl when she was eight and nine.
But he was found guilty by a jury in October.
And at Warwick Crown Court, Storey was given a community order with three years supervision and a condition that he takes part in a sex offender programme.
The judge had heard that treatment for the extra X chromosome may have contributed to the offences.
Judge Richard Cole, who also banned Storey from having unsupervised contact with young girls and ordered him to register as a sex offender for five years, told him: “I am prepared to take a chance with you.”

CA – Sex abuse by priests costs L.A. church $60M

Article

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — The nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese said Friday it has agreed to pay $60 million to settle 45 lawsuits alleging sex abuse by priests.

The deal is the most significant step to date toward resolving extensive litigation against the archdiocese that has dragged on for years.

“I pray that the settlement of the initial group of cases will help the victims involved to move forward with their lives and to build a brighter future for themselves and their families,” Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a news release.

Negotiations for the settlement of the uninsured cases have been in progress for at least a year.