By Eric Swedlund A convicted sex offender attempted to abduct a 4-year-old girl from Santa Cruz Catholic Church Sunday morning but was stopped by alert...read more: Attempted abduction of girl, 4, thwarted
There, according to allegations in a lawsuit, Presenti masturbated and had oral sex with boys who stayed overnight in the infirmary...read more: Abuse was common in religious orders
Tehama County Supervisor Ron Warner is a member of the California State Association of Counties' sex offender working group that monitors legislative bills regarding sex offenders...read more: Sex offenders moving to rural counties
The California Supreme Court ruled last week that a SVP (sexually violent predator) could avoid civil commitment otherwise required by Welfare & Institutions Code section 6600 et seq. under certain circumstances.
Under People v. Smith (2004) 32 Cal.4th 792, 796-799 (Smith), a person can be civilly committed as a SVP after serving his full prison term if he has been convicted of certain crimes and a jury finds he may engage in sexually violent behavior in the future.
In this case the defendant had been convicted in 1982 of four counts of oral copulation on a child under 14 and one count of sodomy of a child under 14; again, in 1988 he was convicted of 15 counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14.
Seven years later he was released on parole and three years later, in 1998, he completed parole. When he moved away from California to New York the following year he sent a change of address card to the Long Beach police, but it was not received (?!).
Failing to keep California authorities informed led to his arrest in New York and his return to the Golden State for five years in state prison. At this point the Los Angeles D.A. (for the first time) decided the defendant should be placed into civil custody as a SVP when he completed the five years.
However, meanwhile, Smith was appealing the conviction and he won! The Supremes apparently decided the police might have received that change of address card after all, or at least it was a close enough question to make the court wonder if five years in state prison was the appropriate consequence of a mail mishap.
So Smith won—but the D.A. STILL DEMANDED HE BE PUT INTO CIVIL CUSTODY AS A SVP immediately because the D.A. could demand it. By that I mean this: the D.A. “could” because, incredibly, the operative language reads: “An SVP petition shall not be dismissed on the basis of a later judicial or administrative determination that the individual’s custody was unlawful, if the unlawful custody was the result of a good faith mistake of fact or law.”
In this case our California Supreme Court made a decision that may lack political correctness but it absolutely was the right decision. The court concluded that, despite the above italicized language, it was not going to let the People (the D.A.’s office) twist the meaning of the language into something different than what the legislators must have intended (or what the Supremes thought was fair).
Accordingly, the court held an SVP commitment in this case was not authorized, reversing the Court of Appeal.
Alex Kern, 39, former San Mateo County auditor in Redwood City, CA, who was caught with over 4,000 child pornography images on a county-issued laptop, is going to prison.
This office has received two FBI Internet porn cases recently, and this works is how it seems to work: The FBI the initiates the matter by use of Internet technology such as Internet “cookies.” They turn over the evidence to a locals0, such as the San Mateo DA, and let him do the work. Or, more commonly lately, the FBI turns the evidence over to Homeland Security or other enforcement branch with financial resources and then brings the case(s) before a federal grand jury .
Kerr had no criminal record and had pleaded for probation or at least county jail time, as opposed to prison time. He has a 14-year old daughter and an 11-year old son, he has expressed severe remorse, he is at low risk to re-offend according to is probation report, and he has just been served with divorce papers by his long-term wife.
Still, this being San Mateo County—the man got 16 months in state prison. Plus, he has the certainty of a very difficult time when he is released, as permitted by California’s sex predator laws, aside from his likely life-long federal obligations.
One of my clients, a registered sex offender and probationer, formerly an active member of a San Francisco community church who is negotiating his way back into the flock, found something on the Internet entitled, “Church Attendance Safety Plan,” which he wanted to share with me. I do not know its providence but it may be useful to others.
The cut and pasted document begins: “The purpose of this safety plan is to support the probationer in . . . exercising his religious freedom while assuring the safety of the community . . . while minors are present.”
A 13 item check list follows, including:
* Church services without children present do not require supervision.
* Church services with children present require a "supervisor" to be present
* Supervisor accompanies probationer throughout the church except the bathroom where the supervisor must enter first and confirm that no children are present. Must precede probationer to confirm no boys are inside
* Attendance at other church functions must be approved in advance and monitored as appropriate (as above)
Continue reading "Sex Offenders in Church/Safety Plan" »
A former Wells Fargo vice president, Kenneth Gibson, was sentenced to 135 months by U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins in an Oakland courtroom yesterday for exchanging more than 600 images of child porn over a two year period.
Gibson choked back tears and apologized to the court, after the judge said to him, “ . . . there are real children significantly impacted by this.” Gibson’s lawyer, Robert Beles, said, “You’ve basically got a good man who went into a fantasy world. Other than that, he’s never done anything wrong in his life. There is no indication his is a pedophile. [italics mine].”
Gibson’s lawyer said that his client is “still searching for reasons why he entered that subterranean, perverted world of child-porn Internet.”
This case (Kenneth Gibson) is another illustration that we have entered a new age of thought police. No harm to another person need be proven. All the government has to show is that a person’s thoughts and fantasies involve children and sex, and that person was on the Internet. This case is similar to one I had last year in Hayward where a middle-aged man merely LOOKED at pictures of young girls on files he had downloaded, for which he was charged with several felonies. In that case, the FBI electronically traced the gentleman back to his computer and turned the evidence over to the Alameda DA, who sent the sheriff to make the arrest.
An East Bay physician must stand trial for attempting to engage in a sex act with a minor, according to an article appearing today in The Press Democrat. Doctor must stand trial in sex sting case
Dr. Maurice Wolin was one of 29 men arrested in August 2006 for engaging in lewd Internet chat conversations followed by attempts to meet under aged boys for sex purposes, as filmed by TV cameras. After arriving at a Petaluma home, Dr. Wolin and the other 28 men were confronted by a NBC reporter before they were arrested
The Sonoma Superior Court held that the DA has enough evidence to bring a case for attempted child molestation.
Dr. Wolin has chosen to fight the charges while at least 12 other defendants (presumably with less ready cash to pay for a defense) have already settled with plea bargains with terms that include 9 months in the county jail and life registration as a sex offender.
The FBI arrested a Novato, CA. school bus driver and den leader for the Boy Scouts as he entered a Marin County courtroom on state charges relating to the same crimes. Novato school bus driver facing federal pornography charges
The man, McGinnis Benedict, 52, was making a required appearance at a preliminary hearing for state charges brought for his having downloaded child porn on his lunch break at work and when his wife was asleep at night at home.
Benedict was already facing 25 felony counts for possessing child pornography in the state court when the Feds stepped in.
Use of the Internet for child porn is both a state crime and a Federal crime, carrying heavy penalties.
After the FBI arrested Benedict they asked Marin County to hold him in its jail until they can get him before a Federal judge in San Francisco. Then the feds will let him come back to Marin to face the state charges.
Benedict’s Boy Scout membership has been revoked.
Terry Franklin drove into Miguel Gomez’s Antioch, CA home, causing a fire to both car and home that led to Gomez, with burns, running out the front door of his house. Franklin tried to leave the scene of the accident but was apprehended. Drunken Driver Crashed Into an Antioch Home
The Marin County DA is taking GI Jane back to trial. Army reservist 'G.I. Jane' going back to court
Jane Parkhurst, the Army reservist who inspired the movie, G.I. Jane, ran her Hummer H2 off a West Marin highway and was arrested for a DUI in late 2006. The matter was tried and the jury deadlocked on one count while acquitted on the other.
In California, all DUIs are charged as two counts, one for driving while intoxicating and the other for driving with a BAC of .08% or over. In this case, the jury concluded it could not decide whether or not Ms. Parkhurst was driving drunk, but that she was not driving with an over-the-limit BAC.
The acquittal on the second count might be due to the fact that the jury believed Ms. Parkhurst claim that she did all her drinking after the accident, before being tested!
The Marin DA wants to re-try her on the first count only in that double jeopardy rules out a re-trial on the count for which she was acquitted.
What a difference two years make! A teenager’s recent arrest last Tuesday, February 19, 2008, in Novato, CA illustrates the significance of the age of the accused in sex crimes. Novato teen held in molest case The teenager’s name is being withheld until his age is determined. Initially he claimed he was 18; after being arrested he remembered he was only 16.
Marin County District Attorney appeared personally at the arraignment (highly unusual) and stated that the accused had admitted to engaging in sexual activities with the victim, following notice from the Novato Community Hospital of sexual assault injuries.
As is frequently the case, the accused was a friend of the family. In addition to a $1 million bail, the suspect is being detained on a federal immigration hold.
The age of the accused issue in this case highlights an issue being debated fiercely by prosecutors, the defense bar, and the academic community in California and other states: should a 16 or 17 year old guilty of sexual abuse or assault be treated wholly differently than an 18 year old guilty of the same thing?
In this case, if a minor, the suspect faces several years of incarceration in a youth facility as well as some rehabilitation facility time. If an adult, the suspect faces at least an 18-year mandatory minimum in state prison and life-long registration as a violent sexual predator.
The Marin County DA has decided to drop drug charges against a 19 year-old student who complained about a sheriff’s deputy sexually harassing her. Marin Independent Journal: "Drug case dropped; deputy's action blamed"
The student, Sarah Rawlins, was charged with selling drugs to an undercover task force detective on several occasions. Subsequently, a detective, Tyrone Williams, told her if she “cooperated,” her case might get dismissed. She cooperated. Then Officer Williams started bringing her flowers and making sexual advances.
Only days after Ms. Rawlins’ defense attorney filed a motion citing Officer Williams' sexual advances, the DA dropped the case.
This case will prompt legal challenges from other Marin County defendants investigated by Williams. Under California law, the DA must provide defense attorneys with any unfavorable information and that includes personnel information that might cast doubt on a police officer’s credibility.
This is not the first time Marin’s County’s Major Crimes Task Force, a drug unit, has been involved with sex on the job. The last time, the accuser took away $300,000 in damages from the Sheriff’s office—following accusations of improper sexual advances.
Charges filed against radio talk show host Bernie Ward resulted from his obeying the dominatrix’ command to, “Send me some [pictures]; why haven’t I gotten any pics, slave?” Judge unseals indictment against Bernie Ward
In response, the popular talk show host promptly obeyed with a picture of a naked boy sitting between a topless woman and a clothed young girl. This picture prompted the dominatrix to contact the Oakdale, CA. police, telling them that the former priest had also emailed her messages about group sex at a San Mateo porn theater.
The Oakdale police contacted the FBI and a federal grand jury indicted Ward on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet.
Ward’s business attorney, Jeannette Boudreau, said, “The authorities have been in possession of these messages for three years. Bernie was only just indicted in December [2007]. There is no doubt in my mind that they would have allowed Bernie to conduct his family and work life as usual for all that time if they believed the content of the messages to be factual.”
This is just another illustration that you are completely, 100% exposing yourself to any possible claim on the Internet. Remember, when it comes to child porn and the Internet you do not have the same rights and privileges under the law as defendants do for other crimes. I write more about this at www.sexcrimescounsel.com
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