Category: National

Meta cracks down on teen “sextortion” on Facebook, Instagram

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Source: arstechnica.com 11/21/22 Teens will finally have a way to proactively stop the spread of intimate images. Last year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) released data showing that it received overwhelmingly more reports of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) from Facebook than any other web service it tracked. Where other popular social platforms like Twitter and TikTok had tens of thousands of reports, Facebook had 22 million. Today, Facebook announced new efforts to limit the spread of some of that CSAM on its platforms. Partnering with…

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FBI finds sharp rise in online extortion of teens tricked into sending sexually explicit photos

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Source: pbs.org 12/19/22 WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI sounded the alarm Monday about an explosive increase in teenage boys being targeted online and extorted for money after being tricked into sending sexually explicit pictures. At least 3,000 children, mostly teenage boys, have been victims of the schemes that are connected to more than a dozen suicides this year, a scale that U.S. authorities have not seen before, Justice Department officials said. Many think they are chatting online with kids around their own age but are quickly manipulated into sending explicit…

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NE: Dodge County sex offenders face challenges in registering

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Source: fremonttribune.com 12/20/22 Convicted sex offenders in Fremont and Dodge County are required to register with law enforcement when they move, attend a new school or take a new job, however a recent incident at the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office highlighted the difficulties offenders face in complying with the law. A local convicted sex offender — Ronald Eugene ____ Jr., 38, of Fremont — contacted the Fremont Tribune after his repeated efforts to comply with Nebraska’s sex offender registration requirements under his sentencing were unsuccessful. ____ Jr. said he twice…

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Federally funded police task forces carry out thousands of online stings each year, despite little evidence that they prevent abuse

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Source: theappeal.org 12/19/22 On July 8, 2018, Norman Achin, then a 50 year-old public school teacher living in Northern Virginia, signed up for the adults-only dating app Grindr. Two days later, he was contacted by someone calling himself AlexVA. Soon after they started talking, AlexVA told Achin that he was 14 years old. “I was looking for adult fun. Did not expect to run into your age,” Achin responded through the app on July 12. “Not interested in that kind of relationship with a boy.” The next day, he reported…

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OH: Sex offender, homicide suspect killing in Columbus sees no charges for SWAT deputies

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Source: nbc4i.com 12/16/22 COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The officers involved in the fatal shooting of a double homicide suspect in northeast Columbus will not be indicted, the county prosecutor said Thursday. A grand jury voted against prosecuting two Franklin County Sheriff’s Office SWAT deputies, according to the office of Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack. The pair were attempting on June 7 to serve an arrest warrant on 20-year-old Pozz Striblin. At around 7 p.m. that evening, the two SWAT deputies went to a Sunoco gas station at Stelzer and…

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PA: Scranton ordinance on where registered sex offenders can live remains contrary to court decision

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Source: wfmz.com 12/17/22 SCRANTON — At 17, Zachary Pluko saw his future in the military or law enforcement. At 29, the vision is a memory. Pluko works at a Turkey Hill store to cover the monthly $600 rent he pays for a room on Moir Court. He and six other residents of 839-841 Moir Court mostly keep to themselves but they all share something in common: they’re registered sex offenders. Their residence, about 940 feet from a school, is contrary to an unenforced Scranton ordinance that remains part of the…

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OR: Thousands of Oregon sex offenders still waiting for risk evaluation

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Source: koin.com 12/15/22 There are 32,472 convicted sex offenders in Oregon. About 100 more sex offenders are added every month. Now, even after 7 years of work, the Oregon Parole Board has more than 20,000 sex offenders that remain unclassified at risk levels. The parole board simply can’t keep up with the thousands of sex offenders who need to be classified as low, moderate or high risk. … “At our current staffing levels you would see we would finish in approximatley 43-and-a-half years,” Oregon Parole Board Executive Director Dylan Arthur…

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Opinion: Sexual assault allegations should always be taken seriously, but don’t rush to judgment

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Source: sandiegouniontribune.com 12/15/22 In former SDSU football player Matt Araiza’s case, too many people seemed to automatically believe his accuser from the very beginning. The harsh reality of being a suspect in a criminal case, especially in a case where the potential penalties include spending multiple years in prison and having to register as a sex offender for life, weighs differently on different types of people. For Matt Araiza, it weighed especially heavy. In a very short span of time, he went from winning college football’s highest award for a…

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VA: ‘Enough is enough’: Rock Church pastor previously accused in prostitution case speaks out

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Source: wric.com 12/6/22 A Virginia Beach pastor previously accused of soliciting sex from a minor says “enough is enough.” During a recent service, Rev. John Blanchard returned to the pulpit to address his congregation. Blanchard was among 17 men accused of solicitation of prostitution after an online sting operation by law enforcement. Blanchard was the senior pastor at Rock Church International in Virginia Beach at the time of his arrest. The Chesterfield County Police Special Victims Unit said the suspects believed they were soliciting sex from minors through online and…

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UT: Utah woman says justice system failed to protect her from an accused serial predator

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Source: ksltv.com 12/13/22 Vanessa Clark is in disbelief. “I can’t believe that he was able to do what he did,” she told the KSL Investigators. On Nov. 7, Clark reported to law enforcement that she was raped by Joshua Homer, 26, after he invited her over to his home in Vineyard. Clark said the two initially connected through an online dating app and were meeting up for the first time. “It’s something that lives with you every single day now,” she said. “It’s just kind of hard to go forward.”…

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‘A living hell’: Former federal inmates describe years of sexual abuse by prison officers

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Source: usatoday.com 12/13/22 Three survivors of sexual assault in federal prison described years of horrific abuse by prison staffers who used their unfettered access to vulnerable inmates and threatened them with retaliation if they reported the attacks. All three former inmates, their voices cracking with emotion, told a Senate investigative panel Tuesday that the federal Bureau of Prisons had failed them and often shielded their attackers from accountability. One of the victims, Linda De La Rosa, told the committee, which has been investigating the sexual abuse of federal inmates for the…

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PA: After a registered sex offender moves near the Hampton Township school, the mother wants to change state laws

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Source: localtoday.news 12/7/22 Flyers distributed by Hampton Township Police Department informed parents and people living in the Central Elementary School area that a registered sex offender had moved nearby. Community notification is required under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law, but the law does not limit where an offender may live. After learning that this individual lived less than 1,200 feet from where her three children study and play during recess, Katie Wymard set to work to try to change the law. “They’re on break every day and it’s literally in his backyard,”…

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CT: Connecticut woman sentenced to year in jail for voyeurism

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Source: apnews.com 11/29/22 A wealthy Connecticut woman whose criminal case file was sealed from public view was sentenced Tuesday to one year in jail for secretly recording three people, including a minor, in a manner involving sexual desire. Hadley _____, 54, of Greenwich, was led out of the state courtroom in Stamford in handcuffs by judicial marshals. She declined to make a statement on her behalf during the hearing, only answering several yes or no questions by the judge. Judge John Blawie, who sealed _____’s case file earlier this year…

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TX: Online child predators: The rise of these criminals, the vigilantes trying to catch them and the legal battle that follows

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Source: wfaa.com 12/11/22 As many aspects of Americans’ everyday lives continue to move more online, criminals are shifting their focus as well. That includes child predators, and the people trying to stop them — both police officers and civilians. According to data from multiple agencies, there has been a rise in reports of child sexual exploitation online in recent years. While different local, state and federal agencies are trying to protect families and stop these criminals, many social media influencers are also changing the focus of their videos to try…

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VA: Former Radford Police Captain arrested Courtesy: Carroll Co. Sheriff’s Office

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Source: wdbj7.com 12/10/22 The Virginia State Police has charged a former Radford Police Captain with “one felony count of “use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children” in violation of Virginia Code 18.2-374.3. Christopher L. ____, 47, of Pulaski, Va. turned himself in on Saturday. The Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Office had requested that State Police begin looking into an allegation against ____ in early September. The Radford City Police Department says they were made aware of this on September 4, 2022. ____ was informed on September 6 and…

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Supported by lawmakers, opposed by reformers, youth sex offender registries have a long history

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Source: jjie.org 12/8/22 In Wisconsin, two 15-year-olds whose foster parent caught them having consensual sex were charged with felony sexual assault and put on the sex offender registry for at least 15 years. In Arizona, it’s possible for a minor who streaks nude at a football game to be charged with a sex offense and put on a registry. In Massachusetts, teens caught sending a nude photo of themselves could end up on a registry. Existing in every state, registries list children as young as elementary school age; a small…

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GA: How Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry Traps People in Debt and Homelessness

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Source: theappeal.org 12/8/22 In 2010, at age 20, after six years of engaging in sex work to survive, I was arrested and charged with pimping, pandering, and exploiting a minor who was over 16 years old. In 2012, I was convicted and sentenced to 30 years, with 14 to be served in custody, and forced to register as a sex offender. As my public defender so appropriately described it, I was depicted by the media as a sort of Guido the Killer Pimp and accused—I maintain falsely—of terrible acts befitting…

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