Lost In Lima Ohio - A true crime blog

It won't be long before the kids are all rushing home to climb into costumes and grabbing their candy bags while envisioning the piles of candy they'll be handed as they go door to door declaring 'Trick or Treat' to all their neighbors. Which means, it also won't be too long before sex offenders start their own ritual preparations. Sex offenders in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and a handful of other states must stay inside their homes on Halloween and post a sign that says 'no candy or treats at this residence,' in an effort to protect children. Signs mailed to 1,200 violent and child-sex offenders included a picture of a pumpkin and the words, "No candy at this residence." If sex offenders don't put the signs up they face charges of parole violation. I'm sure there will be the normal complaints about these laws and how unfair they are. And, while I would like to attempt to keep an open mind while they spew their 'it's unfair...

Alan Woe, which by the way isn't his real name but just a name given to him so he can remain unknown in the court papers, thinks that sex offender registration is a punishment, rather than a 'tool for community safety'. So, he filed suit against the state of New York, based upon his claims. The offender, a Brookhaven resident who was given the pseudonym "Alan Woe" in court papers and who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, had sued over a 2006 change that extended the length of time sex offenders must register. The change, the suit argued, unfairly deprived them of due process. The registration time for Level 1 offenders was increased from 10 to 20 years, while Level 2 and 3 offenders are now registered for life. Level 2 offenders may petition for removal from the registry after 30 years. The changes were enacted three days before the man, a Level 1 offender, would have reached 10 years on the registry, according to the lawsuit. Aww... poor sex offender. No...

It seems that Vermont, home to the judge who sentenced a man to 60 days in jail for molesting a child over a span of years- on the pretense that the man needed 'therapy' rather than prison, the same state that allowed a man who repeated sexually abused a boy to go free , the state that is really sex offender friendly - is about to get a little tougher. Maybe. When a state Senate committee begins deliberating later this summer on how to respond to the kidnap and killing of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, it also will be under pressure to deal with a new federal law named for another slain child. Vermont to Deal with New Sex Offender Laws The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 establishes new mandates for the way states set up their sex offender registries -- mandates Vermont currently does not meet. Lets hope that after years of failing the victims of sexual abuse, the leaders of Vermont can pony up the courage to actually do approve something that resembles justic...

16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and 15-year-old Jennifer Ertman did not deserve to die in 1993. At around 11:15 on June 24 the two girls, who had been best friends in school, left another friends home and headed back to their homes. Because the city curfew was at 11:30, and they wanted to make it home as quickly as possible, they took a shortcut. The path they followed went down railroad tracks and through a neighborhood park close to Elizabeth's home, but neither of the girls ever made it home. Four days after the girls disappeared, a person identifying himself as 'Gonzalez' called the Crimestoppers Tips number. He told the call taker that the missing girls' bodies could be found near T.C. Jester Park at White Oak bayou. The police were sent to the scene and searched the park without finding anything. The police helicopter was flying over the park and this apparently prompted Mr. 'Gonzalez' to make a 911 call, directing the search to move to the other side of the b...

It started with me just reading one article about a woman in Ohio who works at a 'sex shop', which I can only assume is an adult related store. Anyway, it seems that the woman, who is a mother of some odd number of children has decided to sue the state of Ohio because she doesn't like Ohio's new sex offender laws. How they actually effect her is confusing, at least to me, but the article says she fears she'll be arrested for pandering obscenity because of her job as manager of the sex shop. And, evidently if she does get arrested- she faces the prospect of being labeled a sex offender which then in turn would " mean her daughters could no longer go to Catholic school because the school conducts background checks ." Honestly- I think she's putting a lot of pressure on the 'what if' aspect of this all. It's not like working in a sex shop really makes her all that great of a Catholic to begin with, but that's just my two cents. After th...

Perhaps we've all jumped the gun, and maybe just maybe, the Sub prime* Court is right about sentencing rapists to death. After all, there is always the option of sentencing these sexual deviants to long prison terms where they are monitored and unable to continue carrying out heinous crimes. Or, not. One thing most of us have learned by now is that regardless of the best attempts by society to restrain these freaks from tainting society with their vile acts, it's impossible to ever 'stop them forever' without the assistance of their death. Even locking them up behind bars and guarding them doesn't really stop them, if it's there intent to persist in their perversions. Take Enoch Hall, of the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Florida. He's currently serving two life sentences for sexual battery with a weapon and kidnapping convictions from a 1993 case . But being in prison didn't do much to stop him from taking another victim. An inmate raped and murde...

Patrick Kennedy walked into the bedroom of his 8 year old daughter, and raped her so severely that the child required surgery. Richard Davis prostituted a 16 year old girl before getting her pregnant, then sexually abused the child they conceived- before spending nearing a year raping another child who was five at the time. For their crimes, they faced a trial by their peers in which they were found guilty. They were given the max sentence allowed by the law of the state (Louisiana), the death penalty. Until yesterday, they were sitting rightfully on death row- the only two death row inmates in the United States sentenced to death for the crime of raping a child. But the Supreme Court of the United States has said their sentences are beyond was is allowable- that child isn't bad enough to make the punishment fitting of the crime. That the death penalty should be saved for crimes that take a life- rather than just damaging the life to the most extreme extent. Oh- wait. Except for tr...

Just what constitutes cruel and unusual? I suppose, it depends on who you ask these days. Promoting a 16-year-old for prostitution in 1996- an example of cruel and unusual, getting that 16 year old pregnant, and then sexually abusing the child when he's four years old- even more 'cruel and unusual'. Moving on to repeatedly rape a five year old girl for nearly a year- let's just say now that this man is in line with the worst of the worst. And for his crimes, Louisiana jurors sentenced him to death in line with a state law that allows them to do so. But, that's wasn't the end of Richard Davis, formerly of Ohio. No, he appealed the sentence calling IT 'cruel and unusual' punishment for his crimes. The man that sexually abused children, including his own, and who cried during the trial had the gull to think that the death penalty was 'unfair'. Even worse- an appeal court agreed with him today. In another appeal dealing with child rapists, LA Justic...

I'm going to let some people in on a not so little secret about child abuse, because it seems that James Fagan isn't exactly aware of it and should be told. Victims of sexual abuse often deal with the emotional and often times physical results of that abuse all of their lives. Counseling may help, a loving environment helps, in fact a lot of things help- but the sad truth is that the effects are always there to some degree. No child victim of rape needs someone to remind them of it- it's there in their head every day of their life. They will feel it at 8, feel it at 12, and guess what? At 19 they still feel it. It's stays with them their entire life, they'll go through the throwing up, the not sleeping, the difficult relationships- not because of some half witted lawyer who decided it was a good idea to run them through the ringer during the criminal trial of their attacker- but because they had an attacker to begin with. James Fagan doesn't get that though. In...

Or state I suppose. Yesterday I commented that Tennessee is working on a new law that will require sex offenders to carry a special drivers license which will alert law enforcement officials to their registration status. Those sex offenders without a current license will be required to obtain a state identification card with the special identifying capabilities. Now, it seems that the Governor has been busy signing yet another law- this time dealing directly with the registry itself. Knoxville Senator Jamie Woodson says, "It's one thing to have an individual's name and home address, but when an abuser can go under the cloak of anonymity, approach a child, get to know that child, and gain some trust with that child it's very alarming." That's why Senator Jamie Woodson says she decided to sponsor a bill requiring sex offenders to give the state their e-mail addresses and screen names. That information will be included on the registry beginning July 1. A local p...

Licenses in Tennessee might be carrying a little more personal information than some people are used to if things go right. The state of Tennessee is set to issue a new kind of driver's license that will have a special marking signifying that the carrier is a sex offender. Video: Sex Offenders To Get Special Driver's Licenses Some lawmakers said the idea is so simple that they don't know why they came up with the idea earlier. Police said the new license will go a long way toward protecting children. Works for me.

Here's a new one for you. Legislators make laws, then look confused when huge gapping loopholes in them cause problems. Maryland law requires sex offenders convicted of offenses that occurred after September 1995 to register with the state. Also, offenders convicted of earlier crimes are required to register - if they were in prison or on probation in October 2001. Toohey is among a small number of sex offenders who fit neither of those two descriptions. The manager of the state's sex offender registry said his case is troubling. "Eventually the problem won't exist, as you move further and further away" from the 1995 cutoff date, said Elizabeth Bartholomew, the registry's manager. "But right now it does exist, and it's not a good loophole to have, and we would like to see it corrected. Individuals like Mr. Toohey have hurt a child and have been convicted, but, because of this loophole, get out of that particular part of his obligation. Even one person...

Phillip Trembley would like you to believe that most sex offenders are like him. I'd like you to believe that too- so I don't have a disagreement with him in that area. But- when we get to defining him, then his opinion begins to clash a little with mine. Trembley served a few years in jail, and was sentenced to spend some time checking in with the police every so often as part of his registration as a sex offender. Backing up a little, Trembleys comments come in response to a story by channel 49 news out of Topeka, KS. The article ponders over whether just a sexual offender registry list is enough, or if the state needs to follow the lead of others and adopt tougher laws- including residency restrictions. People like Phillip Trembley are on the state's registered offenders list. He committed a sex crime. "Did I touch her? Yes," he said. The KBI's registered offender Web site includes photos, addresses and the types of crimes committed, but is keeping a list ...

Ted Jensen thinks things are unfair. Not all things-after all the convicted sex offender had no issues at all when it came to the 'fairness' of him molesting a child, for which he was convicted of one count of vicarious sexual gratification and one count of child molesting and spent a few years in jail, and a few years on probation. Nope, he had no qualms about the fairness, or lack of, when it comes to his own actions. And, Richard Wallace, who plead guilty in 1989 to child molesting clearly didn't stop to ponder the fairness of his crime on behalf of the victim. Now, years later- fairness seems to be top dog in their list of things to start bitching about, and their lawyer is pleading their cries of 'this ain't fair' all the way up the courthouse steps. A man convicted of sex crimes against a child is challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that retroactively broadened a law regarding Indiana's sex offender registry. [...] Attorneys for Jense...

The Union Leader of New Hampshire has been so kind as to offer the perfect case which proves the importance of Civil Confinement - except that it doesn't. Let me explain the case a little, and then we'll get on with the reasons it doesn't prove the need for civil confinement over the need for judges who will sentence properly. From the time Lawrence Woodard was 19, he's spent a good deal of time in prison- 33 years in fact- all stemming from violent crimes committed against women- rape, kidnapping, assault. From the time he was 19 years old, any time Woodard was free, he preyed on women. He had been sentenced to life in the state psychiatric hospital, but after seven escapes and numerous crimes he finally was found competent to stand trial and was locked up for 33 years, the Concord Monitor reported this week. When he was released two years ago, "I knew damn well he was going to do it again," Thomas Winn, a retired state police trooper, told the Monitor. But N...

All Gary Detrick wanted to do was get a teeny little library card. What he didn't want to do was fulfill his requirement to register and update his status as a sexual offender in Albuquerque. Detrick had been convicted for molesting three children in another area prior to his move to Albuquerque. He had however failed to update his registry information as required by law. SOURCE- Gary Detrick had been under the watch of deputies after moving to Albuquerque after molesting three children in Silver City, but he hasn’t updated his sex offender registration in recent months. None of this would have anything to do with getting a library card, except that Albuquerque has a law banning registered sex offender from city libraries. And, when Detrick applied to get his library card, officials cross checked his name with the state sex offender registry- and upon finding his information there, along with a notice that he was considered 'an absconder', they notified police. While Detri...

Not being an expert in laws regarding certain adult entertainment establishments, I can't tell you whether Dallas Texas has restricted stripping to those over 18 or over 21. But- it really shouldn't matter either way, as the particular 'dancer' in question wasn't even 18 yet. In fact, she wasn't even old enough to drive a car. Dallas police are investigating how it turned out that a 12 year old girl (yes I said 12) ended up working at Diamonds Cabaret, a nude strip club. The girl, a runaway, met 22 year old David Bell who first took her to the club. According to court documents, the 12-year-old said that before giving her the job, a club employee asked her to "take off her clothes to see if she was too shy to dance nude." "You know, she looks like an adult body-wise, but she's 12," the girl's mother said. The court records say the girl gave a fake name, said she forgot her birthday, and the club didn't get an ID. As if that isn...

Well, maybe it's not really the kiss of death, but it very well could be the 'kiss of amisdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine". It seems the Virginia has had enough of pedophiles bending the laws in order to prey on children, so they have opted to settle the matter of the 'french kiss' once and for all- by making it illegal to french kiss anyone under the age of 13. State legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender. Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0. The bill now heads to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who said he supports the legislation. Delagate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, introduced the bill on behalf of a woman whose 10-year-old daughter was French-kissed by the 62-year-old husband of her ba...

Your sitting in your living room, petting one of the two dogs that roam the place you call home while taking in the refreshing smell of dinner cooking in the kitchen, and exhaust fumes bellowing in from up on the roof. Suddenly you're confronted with someone telling you you must leave the only home you now have, and move both yourself and your possessions elsewhere. Even though you might be willing to bow to this demand, you find that you'll have to jump through hoops in order to do so- you can't live in certain areas, can't be within a given distance of particular building structures, and you can't even reside with some of your current roommates. And no one is telling you just how you are suppose to fund this move, pay for this new place- or even find it... rather they just tell you you have to do it. Your objections to this treatment, to this life of being an outcast go unheard... and you resent it. Well buddy, don't feel too bad- there is a good life lesson ...

There is currently being proposed a new Ohio law, HB430 by State Representative Jennifer Garrison. Rep. Garrison said the new legislation would ban the most serious, or Tier III, sex offenders from being in or around schools, pre-schools, and child day-care facilities in the state of Ohio. At least 12 other states have similar laws, said Rep. Garrison, and she hoped the same will be brought to Ohio. SOURCE Thanks to the webmistress at SafeatSchools.com - you can now sneak a peek at the proposed law here .