Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Sex Offenders

No attempt made to override veto of sex offender legislation

By

Legislation that would have given some sex offenders an opportunity to get off the state’s registry has died in the House without an attempt to override its veto.

Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications

Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) Photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications

The sex offender registry language was attached to a bill sponsored by Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington). He says there are problems with the registry that must be addressed, but says too many people were not comfortable with the way the bill was written.

He used the opportunity to criticize the Governor for not working with the legislature on the bill during the session.

“We finally got the second floor to admit there is a problem. I would challenge the Governor to work with this body to come up with a bill that we can introduce this December that will address the problem. You need to lead from the front, not from the rear.”

Representative Mike Colona (R-St. Louis City) says he is encouraged that the Governor has reached out to lawmakers about working with them on the issue. He says the registry as it stands denies a second chance to young offenders that is supposed to be afforded by the juvenile justice system.

“You’re no longer moving to reforming. Instead … no rehabilitation … instead it’s more like retribution. You’re telling those kids that they can’t go forward and succeed because their name is always going to be there on that registry for something … for the most part … something stupid that they did years ago. Granted there are some of those egregious crimes but those are the exception more than the rule.”

Some groups that had supported other versions of sex offender registry changes agreed with the Governor in opposing this bill, calling it too broad.

Sixth man arrested, sexual abuse investigation continues

By

A sixth man has been charged and more victims have stepped forward as the investigation into a sexual molestation case in west-central Missouri continues.

Police have arrested 55-year-old Larry Kidd, identified by the State Highway Patrol as an associate of 77-year-old Burrell Mohler, Sr. who is accused of presiding over the sexual abuse of young girls in the family, at times using mock marriage ceremonies prior to the abuse of the young girls. Kidd has been arrested on suspicion of rape of a child younger than 14. Allegations made against Mohler and four of his sons are that they repeatedly abused girls younger than 12. [Read more…]

Father of priest abuse victim calls for more victims to come forward

By

The parents of a Virginia man who recently went public with information that he was the victim in a $600,000 pedophile priest cover up case are urging other victims to come forward.

L-R: Don Asbee (SNAP), Mary McAllister, David Clohessy (SNAP), Steve McAllister Doctor Mark McAllister came forward to say that he, while a resident of Boonville, was molested by a Father Gerry Howard, who changed his name from Father Carmine Sita after being convicted of criminal activity in New Jersey and ended up in Missouri.

Steve McAllister, the father of the victim, urges others who might have been molested by this priest to report the crimes.

“We strongly would urge any other victims of Howard that have not made their abuse public to do so to the proper authorities,” said Steve McAllister during a sidewalk news conference outside the Jefferson City Diocesan Headquarters.

The McAllister family has been working with David Clohessy, Executive Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), hoping for more openness from the Catholic Church.

“We are terribly worried that Father Howard may literally be molesting a kid as we speak,” said Clohessy, himself a victim of priest abuse.

Steve McAllister believes the Church was complicit in hiding the priest and his deeds.

“I suspect, and I really have no basis for saying this, but I suspect Gerry Howard was not the only such priest that was moved around in this fashion,” said McAllister.

He would like to see the Catholic Church come clean.

“Looking at the sacrament of confession within the Catholic Church, where us mortals are encouraged to come in and tell our tales of misdeeds and so on to a priest and receive absolution, could, I think, very advisedly, be turned around so that the Church, itself, in these cases, goes to confession.”

That, he says, could be done by having the Catholic Church open up its archives regarding sexual abuse by priests.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)
SNAP Jefferson City news conference (38:00 MP3)

Nixon announces $1.5M for cyber crimes units

By

Governor Nixon is visiting cyber crimes task forces today to announce grant awards for law enforcement throughout the state.

Gov. Nixon and Ofcr. Mike Lederle 13 multi-jurisdictional departments will receive $1.5 million in funding.

Nixon says as technology grows, it’s important to provide funding to keep up with the crimes that come with it.

Nixon made the announcement at the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force in Boone County, which covers seven surrounding counties. Then he traveled to Southeast Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force in Poplar Bluff.

The Boone County task force says the money will hopefully go to hire additional investigators to follow up on cell phone crimes against children, which is on the rise as cell phones become more advanced, and more prevalent among youth.

The federal funds will be allocated to regional law enforcement agencies through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Justice Assistance Grant Program.

The money will be distributed as such:

Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force in Boone County (also serves Audrain, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard and Randolph counties) — $194,479.

Regional Computer Crime Education & Enforcement Group in Clayton — $178,270.

South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force in Dent County — $5,759.

Northeastern Jackson County Cyber Crimes Working Group in Independence — $138,066.

Southwestern Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force in Joplin — $182,319.

Multi-jurisdictional Cyber Crime Unit in Kirksville — $49,035.

Operation Cyber-safe at the Missouri Department of Social Services — $97,411.

The Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force in Platte County — $208,591.

2010 Internet Cyber Crime Initiative in Springfield — $82,323.

St. Charles County Internet Crimes Against Children program — $128,600.

Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Computer Forensic Unit — $56,245.

Tri-lakes Regional Internet Crimes Task Force in Taney County — $115,617.

Photo by Jessica Machetta

Gov. Nixon announces grant to help fight cyber crime [Listen/download Mp3 – 7:07 min.]

Senate sponsor pleased child protection legislation signed into law

By

The fight against child sexual predators gets some help with additional resources that will soon be available now that Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO) has signed legislation aimed at better protecting children. Senator John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) sponsored Senate Bill 714 – which strengthens laws to allow police to more easily go after predators. But it also commits additional funding to help law enforcement in the effort.

The current law, which is being replaced, only provides for an attempt charge to be filed against anyone trying to use the Internet to set up a sexual encounter with a minor. The big advantage of this new law is that it will provide $3-million annually to fully fund the cyber crimes grant program, with the money spent throughout the state.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)

Governor tours state to call for death penalty for sexual offenders who attack children

By

Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO) is renewing his call for the state’s worst sexual predators to be death penalty eligible. The Governor is asking the General Assembly to send him legislation that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases of forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is younger than 12-years of age.

In issuing his call, Blunt noted a recent child rape case in Springfield where a 36-year-old man has been charged with kidnapping and forcibly raping and sodomizing a 7-year-old girl and leaving her for dead in a burning house. Blunt strongly believes death should be an optional penalty for child rape.

Currently Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas have laws that allow capital punishment for a violent offender convicted of child rape. Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi and Tennessee also are considering similar laws.

Sex offender from Georgia wants anonymity in Missouri

By

A registered sex offender who served time in prison in Georgia does not want to sign up in Missouri. The individual, who now lives in southwest Missouir, has filed a lawsuit in southwest Missouri’s Webster County against the sheriff, the county prosecutor, and the superintendent of the State Highway Patrol. He says he was convicted before Missouri’s registry law was passed and therefore should not have to abide by the law.

The man is not identified in the lawsuit. He served three years in prison in the 1990s for two counts of child molestation.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Sex Offender Law

By

The Missouri State Supreme Court has ruled a law banning certain sex offenders from living within one-thousand feet of a school or child-care facility cannot apply to an offender who was already living there before the law was passed.

The Court says the Constitution bans retrospective laws – laws that make something a crime that was not a crime until the law was passed.

Chilling Story Moves Lawmakers to Action

By

A chilling story told by a 40-year-old Columbia woman about her experiences in junior high has prompted lawmakers to consider ways to crack down on the sexual abuse of teachers.

Amy Hester Davis has recounted her story before the House Education Committee. Davis painfully recalls a consensual affair she entered into with a male teacher in north-central Missouri’s Randolph County. The sexual relationship began when she entered 7 th grade and ended as she graduated 8 th grade.

Davis says she never came forward to authorities, because she was ashamed. She also says the teacher used various means to convince her to keep it secret. He told her that what they had was special and would be destroyed if shared. He said that revealing the affair would hurt her family and his. Ultimately, Davis says she felt too ashamed to come forward.

That changed after Davis read a series of articles published by the Associated Press that detailed what appears to be a growing problem:  teachers preying on their students for sexual gratification. Davis says that convinced her she wasn’t alone and convinced her that perhaps her difficult past could help save other young people.

Davis says when she attempted to end the affair after about a year, her teacher raped her. After that incident, she went home and took a shower until the water ran cold. She says she got dressed and went down to have supper with her family and pretended as if nothing had ever happened to her. She says that’s how she lived the rest of her life, until now.

The committee has approved HB1341 , which would require annual background checks on teachers, add offenses to the list for which a teacher can lose certification and remove the statute of limitations for certain sex crimes.

Download/listen Amy Hester Davis testimony (11 min MP3)
Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:75 MP3)