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Posted by: kwflatbed

Four Articles First Part Of Each


RIGHT NEXT DOOR: Unlike many states, Massachusetts does not legislate where sex offenders can live



Carol Willoughby, of Southboro, who runs a day care at her home on Parkerville Road, talks with her granddaughter, Skye, 2. (LISA CASSIDY/GateHouse News Service)

By LAUREN FITZPATRICK
Gatehouse News Service

First in a two-part series - SOUTHBORO - Carol Willoughby was minding her own business - a small day care in her central Massachusetts home - when a repeat sex offender moved in two doors away in the spring of 2005.

She knew the man had moved to her wooded Southboro neighborhood. She sometimes saw him walk past her driveway, marked by a painted day care sign.

Willoughby would not find out her neighbor, Robert Gorczyca, was a sex offender until a year later when he was arrested one town over. There, two little girls told police they were waiting for the morning school bus when a man committed a lewd act in his car with his pants down. They ran away, screaming for help.

Gorczyca is one of more than half a million convicted sex offenders living in the United States, the same population as Boston or the entire state of Wyoming.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news01.txt


Experts: Education best defense against predators

By JULIE JETTE
The Patriot Ledger

First in a two-part series - QUINCY - Regardless of how comprehensive a state’s sex offender registry is, experts worry that parents may draw a false sense of security, thinking that their children will be safe if they avoid the offenders listed.

Educators and child advocates say the best way to protect children is to educate them and their parents about sexual abuse - how to recognize it, avoid it and stop it.

But experts say Massachusetts schools are having a tougher time funding and finding time for the programs - putting more of the onus on parents and community groups.

The state doesn’t have any requirements for teaching children about personal safety.

‘‘It’s really up to districts what they’re able to teach,’’ said Heidi Guarino, spokeswoman for the Department of Education.

Suzin Bartley, executive director of the Massachusetts Children’s Trust Fund, said the quality of such programs in Massachusetts schools ‘‘is all over the map.’’

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news02.txt


BACK ON THE STREET: Mom of three molested children pushes for stricter sex offender sentencing (video in story)

By LAUREN FITZPATRICK
Gatehouse News Service

First in a two-part series - WINCHENDON - ‘Jane’’ stayed home in her small town to raise her kids, cooked a family meal every night - even bothered with cloth diapers. And she and her husband taught their children about bad touching.

Still, her kids were three of seven children molested for years by their friend’s father. The man, Glen Wheeler, served four years in prison, bucked the system by refusing to register as a sex offender, then violated probation by, among other things, fleeing to Florida.

And yet Wheeler, who has since taken the name Shareef Qadeer, is free. And Jane and her family are horrified that the man who hurt them so much served so little time behind bars.

‘‘It was his own choice to break the rules, and yet, we don’t hold him accountable,’’ Jane said.

In 1998, on the way home from one of many doctors’ appointments for her 10-year-old daughter’s mysterious yearlong heart palpitations, acid reflux and insomnia, Jane learned the awful truth.

‘‘All of a sudden she said to me ... ‘Mom, I have to tell you something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time. Every time I go to (my friend’s) house, Glen makes me take my clothes off. He likes to see me naked.’’’

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news03.txt


Violent crime drives U.S. offender laws

By LAUREN FITZPATRICK
GateHouse News Service

First in a two-part series - California began tracking sex offenders as early as 1944, but it took a series of terrible crimes in the late 1980s to get the legislative ball rolling in the rest of the country. Each of these publicized stranger-danger cases led to new state legislation, which in turn led to federal laws.

How tough is each state on sex offenders? For an interactive look, click here: gov.e-rockford.com/sex_offenders/sex_offenders.html.

1994: Jacob Wetterling

The ‘‘Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Act’’ requires states to maintain a registry of everyone convicted of crimes against children - or lose 10 percent of federal money for local and state law enforcement.

Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted near his St. Joseph, Minn., home by a masked gunman in October 1989. Neighbors and strangers alike rallied to look for him and formed a foundation dedicated to searching for missing children. Jacob was never found.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news04.txt

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Posted by: kwflatbed

SEX OFFENDERS: A FLAWED LAW — Banishment not always the best option


By Lauren FitzPatrick, Gatehouse News Service

Second in two-part series - As if he were still 9 years old, Steven Levy recalls the kidnapping and brutal sexual assault of a childhood friend who was left for dead.
“Fortunately he did survive,” Levy said of his friend, “but clearly it impacted me and the world that I lived in. I'm going to do anything I can to make sure we protect children.”

As a councilor in Marlborough, Levy proposed an ordinance to bar dangerous sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a host of places where children gather. If passed, it would have limited sex offenders to about 5 percent of the city, mostly along highways and wetlands.

Levy had to settle for a 1,000-foot loop around parks, schools, daycare centers and homes for the elderly and mentally retarded, a compromise that skipped his own street. But he wanted Marlborough on the growing list of municipalities and states to act in the name of keeping children safe, even if it means outdoing neighbors and banishing registered sex offenders from their borders.

“It keeps them away from temptation,” Levy said of offenders. “Yes, they have to live somewhere, but they don't need to be living near a playground where children congregate where they have the opportunity to interact.”

Fearing they'll become the “somewhere,” Marlborough's neighbors now are lining up to take a stab at keeping offenders out, scared that if they don't, they could become a haven for predators.

Carol Willoughby, a home daycare provider in bordering Southborough, has written letters and spoken out at meetings — happy to play the squeaky wheel. She's scared another sex offender will move onto her block as one did in 2005, scaring away her clients.

Full Story:
http://enterprise.southofboston.com/...ews/news06.txt


SEX OFFENDERS: A FLAWED LAW - Right cop helps sex offender registry work; Police choose their officers carefully



Walsh

By DON CONKEY
The Patriot Ledger

Second in a two-part series - An important part of keeping registered sex offenders on a straight and narrow path involves having the right police officer keeping track.

‘‘The mechanisms are in place to subject them to arrest if they do not keep themselves in check, but a unique individual has to be in charge of the sex offender registry,’’ Quincy Detective Lt. Patrick Glynn said.

Level 3 and Level 2 sex offenders - those considered at high or moderate risk of re-offending - are required to register with police departments where they work, live and go to school.

In Quincy, the person in charge of the registry is Detective Cindy Walsh, whose responsibilities include reviewing registrations, calling individuals about situations such as job changes and doing spot checks at their homes.

Full Story: http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news03.txt

SEX OFFENDERS: A FLAWED LAW - Not all equal: State sex registries can be unforgiving; Some will pay the rest of their lives for mistakes in youth



By LAUREN FITZPATRICK
Gatehouse News Service
Second in a two-part series -

Registered sex offender. Predator. Rapist. Pedophile.

They sound the same to most ears.

But many state-run registry Web sites showcase people who never touched a child - and who must register for decades or even life after being convicted of sex crimes few would consider dangerous.

Once a person is placed on the registry, residence laws in some states kick in, pushing public urinators, flashers and misguided parents away from schools and churches and, offenders say, out of stable homes.

‘‘It’s the label the system has put on people like me,’’ said Bennie W., a recovering alcoholic and married grandfather in Colorado who pleaded guilty to indecent exposure - a sex crime in Colorado - after a backyard bout of drunken nudity in 2002.

At least, Bennie said, he can stay on that property, since Colorado's legislators have shot down residence restrictions. He considers himself lucky.

Full Story: http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news07.txt

SEX OFFENDERS: A FLAWED LAW - State struggles with registry




Interim Boston Police Commissioner James Hussey, left, speaks at a news conference in Boston in 2003 concerning the Massachusetts sex offender registry, Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Edward Flynn looks on. (File photo)

By The Patriot Ledger

Second in a two-part series - Massachusetts was the last state in the country to create a sex-offender registry. It has consistently struggled amid criticisms, counter-lawsuits and setbacks in its efforts to inform residents of the now nearly 8,000 people on the list.

Legislators were foiled at nearly every turn in their bids to meet national standards for public disclosure, and several state supreme court decisions revealed massive flaws and loopholes that officials argued either compromised the safety of local citizens or trespassed on the constitutional rights of the accused.

Here are important dates in the state’s efforts to create and maintain a stable registry:

Full Story: http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news05.txt

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