NY - Top cop (Matthew Taggard) in Town of Ulster arrested, suspended on suspicion of sexual misconduct involving underage individuals

Matthew Taggard

Original Article

06/29/2012

By Jeremiah Horrigan

LAKE KATRINE — Town of Ulster police Chief Matthew Taggard has been arrested on a charge of official misconduct and relieved of his duties as a police officer by the Town Board.

Taggard was arrested Thursday after a three-month investigation by the Ulster County District Attorney's Office.

District Attorney Holley Carnright said Taggard failed to report a criminal, nonconsensual sexual act involving an underage male in the Village of Saugerties in mid-March.

"He was aware of criminal conduct as a police officer, and he took no action," Carnright said.

Carnright emphasized that while Taggard is not accused of sexual misconduct, he was the target of a state police investigation several years ago, before he was appointed chief, into sexual misconduct involving underage individuals.

Although that investigation did not result in Taggard's arrest, Carnright said he felt the previous investigation was "germane" to Thursday's charge but declined to specify why.

Carnright also said that the alleged sexual crime in Saugerties did not involve another police officer.

Taggard was arraigned before Saugerties Justice Robert Rightmyer and freed on $1,000 bail. Rightmyer ordered Taggard to surrender his firearms and to remain in Ulster County.

Carnright said he met with the Town Board to explain the charge against Taggard. The board voted unanimously to place Taggard on administrative leave with pay at a special meeting Thursday evening. The exact amount of his salary was not available.

Supervisor Jim Quigley said shortly before the meeting that Taggard "is held in high esteem" by other officers in the department. Reading from a prepared statement, he said it had been "a difficult day" for the town, but assured residents he and the board are "closely monitoring this fluid situation" and will take any "appropriate steps" once the investigation is completed.

Town police Lt. Anthony Cruise was named the officer in charge of the department at that same special meeting. Quigley said the town's police contract is still being researched to see if Cruise is entitled to additional pay while he is running the department.

A request for comment left on Taggard's voice mail went unanswered Thursday.

NY - It's not okay to hurt my family

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The sex offender registry puts millions of family and children in danger - WITHOUT actually preventing sexual abuse. It's NOT okay with me, is it okay with you?

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NY - Teens' Online Activity A Secret From Parents: U.S. Survey

Original Article

06/26/2012

By Gianna Palmer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More and more teenagers are hiding their online activity from their parents, according to a U.S. survey of teen internet behavior released on Monday.

The survey (PDF), sponsored by the online security company McAfee, found that 70 percent of teens had hidden their online behavior from their parents in 2012, up from 45 percent of teens in 2010, when McAfee conducted the same survey.

"There's a lot more to do on the Internet today, which ultimately means there's a lot more to hide," said McAfee spokesman Robert Siciliano.

Siciliano cited the explosion of social media and the wider availability of ad-supported pornography as two factors that have led teens to hide their online habits. The increased popularity of phones with Internet capabilities also means that teens have more opportunities to hide their online habits, he said.

"They have full Internet access wherever they are at this point," Siciliano said.

The survey found that 43 percent of teens have accessed simulated violence online, 36 percent have read about sex online, and 32 percent went online to see nude photos or pornography.

The survey reported that teens use a variety of tactics to avoid being monitored by their parents. Over half of teens surveyed said that they had cleared their browser history, while 46 percent had closed or minimized browser windows when a parent walked into the room. Other strategies for keeping online habits from parents included hiding or deleting instant messages or videos and using a computer they knew their parents wouldn't check.

Meanwhile, the survey found that 73.5 percent of parents trust their teens not to access age-inappropriate content online. Nearly one quarter of the surveyed parents (23 percent) reported that they are not monitoring their children's online behaviors because they are overwhelmed by technology.

Siciliano said that is no excuse.

"Parents can put their foot down and they can get educated," he said.

"They can learn about the technology at hand. They can learn about their children's lives," Siciliano said.

Many of the parents surveyed were already doing just that, with 49 percent of parents using parental controls and 44 percent obtaining their children's email and social network passwords. Additionally, three in four parents said they've had a conversation about online safety with their kids.

The results were drawn from a nationwide online survey completed by 1,004 teens aged 13-17 and 1,013 parents, conducted May 4-29 by TRU of Chicago, a youth research company. Its margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.

NY - Homeless Sex Offender Trailers At Center Of Controversy (Police Harassment)

Original Article

05/23/2012

By Colleen Reynolds

A dustup involving Southampton Town’s homeless sex offenders has flared over the past week, with the Suffolk County Department of Social Services accusing police officers of harassing those staying at a pair of county-owned trailers by conducting multiple predawn identity checks over the past three months.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Gregory J. Blass, in a phone interview last week, criticized Town Police for intimidating the sex offenders who take shelter in the county trailers in Westhampton and Riverside by arriving at the unreasonably early hours of 2 and 4 a.m., for example, and rousing the offenders to check their IDs.

Continued intimidation, he warned, will lead to a breach in the county’s ability to track the homeless sex offenders.

“Checking for identification at the predawn hours may be their way of monitoring where they are, but if they persist in this unwarranted excess by doing it in the predawn hours, they will discourage the homeless registered sex offenders from using these emergency shelter trailers,” Mr. Blass said. “And if they do that, we will not know where the homeless sex offenders spend the night.”

Town Police Chief William Wilson Jr. said this week that his officers are not bullying or harassing anyone, but are simply fulfilling their responsibility to verify the residency of the homeless sex offenders for public safety purposes.

Mr. Blass, whose department is responsible for providing emergency housing to all of the county’s homeless, said his department cooperates fully with the police and that the trailer security guards share with officers the logs that document which offenders are present each night and what incidents, if any, occur. He said the police have made one too many predawn ID checks, saying they have done this about six to eight times since about February.

“If the police wake them up all the time just for the sake of checking their IDs and not relying on the security guards and the logs they have prepared, which are done honestly and professionally, then the system we have starts to fall apart, and they will avoid these trailers,” Mr. Blass said.

He added that his department recently enacted a new policy because of what he views as pre-dawn raids. The new policy, Mr. Blass said, requires police to have a warrant before entering the trailers. He said one officer ignored the policy last week.

The county is required by law to provide shelter to homeless sex offenders, while the Town Police are required to verify that the homeless sex offenders are living where they say they are living. If sex offenders do not register a change of address within 10 days of a move, they can be charged with a felony. The Westhampton trailer, located near the Suffolk County Police shooting range on Old Country Road, currently houses about eight offenders, while the Riverside trailer, which sits just outside the Suffolk County Jail, houses about 18.

Town Police Detective Sergeant Lisa Costa this week defended the police department’s recent action, adding that she was surprised by Mr. Blass’s stance. She explained that the police usually refer to a list of names provided by a trailer security guard.

“That did not suffice on its face for us conducting our felony investigations,” she said, adding that if police have to press charges against the homeless sexual offenders, they must have firsthand knowledge of where they are living and officers cannot rely on the lists provided by the guards.

Two recent arrests involving convicted sex offenders led to the recent instances, Det. Sgt. Costa said.

In one case, a Level 3 sex offender—the most severe classification leveled on sex offenders, which indicates high risk of repeat offense—living in Flanders, [name withheld], 56, was arrested in Riverside on May 12 after police said he forced a woman into the woods at knife point and attempted to assault her. Mr. [name withheld] was convicted of first-degree rape in 1983, according to the State Division of Criminal Justice Services sex offender registry.

In the other case, a 52-year-old sex offender, [name withheld], was arrested on May 9 through a joint investigation of the Southampton Town Police, Suffolk County Police and the U.S. Marshals. Mr. [name withheld], a Level 2 sex offender—a classification that denotes a moderate risk of repeat offense—had registered his address as the Riverside trailer, but authorities said he was not living there. Det. Sgt. Costa said his actual place of residence was undetermined, but that he was located and arrested in Amityville. Mr. [name withheld] was convicted of second-degree rape in 2003, the registry states.

“An occasional verification of an address for the common good and safety for the surrounding community clearly outweighs an inconvenience of waking someone up,” she said. “We are not trying to bully. We are not trying to infringe upon their sleep or their rights. We are simply trying to just get the job done.”

None of the homeless sex offenders living in the trailer could be reached for comment this week.

Mr. Blass said all of the recent attention on the Southampton Town Police Department, pointing to the Suffolk County district attorney office’s ongoing investigation of department record-keeping and other internal issues, have prompted the pre-dawn identification checks at the trailers. He said police officials are simply trying to deflect attention away from them.

“It seems a stretch to call the grand jury investigation and this upsurge in these predawn raids to monitor those already being monitored a coincidence,” Mr. Blass said.

NY - Ex-chief (Thomas Levandowski) listed as sex offender for raping a 10-year-old girl, and child porn

Original Article

05/24/2012

By Bob Gardinier

Cambridge's ex-top cop on sex crimes list after ouster of rape conviction

TROY — A former Washington County town police chief whose 50-year prison term for rape was thrown out by a higher court because of prosecutorial misconduct is now a Level 1 sex offender.

Thomas Levandowski appeared before Judge Robert Jacon for a hearing Wednesday on what sex offender level he will be assigned and was given the lowest level for those deemed least likely to re-offend. He is eligible for parole in February 2014.

Assistant District Attorney Michele Poole argued that the former Cambridge police chief should be given the more stringent Level 2.

William Roberts, Levandowski's attorney, argued that Jacon's ruling should reflect a state review board determination that Levandowski should get Level 1 status. Level 1 offenders are not publicly listed.

Levandowski was convicted by a jury Aug. 23, 2002, of raping a girl between September 1996 and June 2001 when she was between the ages of 10 and 15.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court threw out 38 of 43 counts and the sentence and ordered a new trial on the remaining charges. The appellate justices cited several trial errors by the prosecutor, Patricia DeAngelis. DeAngelis prosecuted the case before she became Rensselaer County district attorney.

Levandowski, who also worked as a Hoosick Falls police officer and Washington County sheriff's deputy, pleaded guilty in May 2004 as the new trial date approached. He is serving a four- to 12-year sentence on three counts of possessing Internet photos of a sexual performance of a child under the age of 16. The photos were not of his original victim but came to light during the investigation of that case. He also pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of criminal contempt regarding his original victim, charges the higher court left intact. Those counts deal with Levandowski grabbing the girl by the arm and going to her school four times in violation of an order of protection to stay away from her.

The appellate justices faulted DeAngelis for repeatedly questioning a witness after the judge sustained objections by Levandowski's lawyer.

The justices also found improper that family members and friends of the victim as well as employees of the district attorney's office had seated themselves up front by the jury wearing ribbons of support during summations. The justices noted an instance in which DeAngelis had cross-examined the girl's mother, who testified the girl fabricated her accusations. DeAngelis said, ''The grand jury thought otherwise, didn't they?'' With the jury out of the courtroom, the judge ''severely reprimanded the prosecutor for pursuing such a line of questioning,'' the justices wrote.

Levandowski's wife, Sharon Levandowski, was charged with endangering for knowing about her husband's alleged abuse but doing nothing to stop it. She also faced additional charges for threatening the girl to keep her quiet and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of endangering and got three years probation.

NY - Ultra-Orthodox Jews Rally to Discuss Risks of Internet

Original Article

05/20/2012

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

It was an incongruous sight for a baseball stadium: tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, all dressed in black suits and white shirts, filing through the gates of Citi Field on Sunday, wearing not blue-and-orange Mets caps but tall, big-brim black hats.

There was no ballgame scheduled, only a religious rally to discuss the dangers of the Internet.

More than 40,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews were expected to attend — a sellout in a season where the average attendance at a Mets game has been barely half that. The organizers had to rent Arthur Ashe Stadium nearby, which has 20,000 seats, to accommodate all the interested ticket buyers.

The organizers had allowed only men to buy tickets, in keeping with ultra-Orthodox tradition of separating the sexes. Viewing parties had been arranged in Orthodox neighborhoods of Brooklyn and New Jersey so that women could watch, too.

For the attendees, many of whom said they came at the instructions of their rabbis, it was a chance to hear about a moral topic considered gravely important in their community: the potential problems that can stem from access to pornography and other explicit content on the uncensored, often incendiary Web.

Inside the stadium, a dais was set up by the back wall of center field, where rabbis led the packed stadium in evening prayers and offered heated exhortations to avoid the “filth” that can be found on the Internet. English translations of the speeches appeared on a jumbo digital screen, beneath an enormous “Let’s Go Mets!” sign.

Still, many attendees readily conceded that the Internet played a big role in their lives.

Shlomo Cohen, 24, of Toronto, said he used the Internet for shopping, business and staying in touch with friends — “Everyone needs e-mail,” he said.

Mr. Cohen said he came to Citi Field on Sunday because the rally was a good way to remind his community to keep temptation at bay.

“Desires are out there,” Mr. Cohen said, adding that men could be particularly susceptible. “We have to learn how to control ourselves.”

For an event billed as taking aim at the Internet, signs of the digital age seemed to pop up everywhere.

On a No. 7 train headed toward the stadium, several men wearing the clothing of the ultra-Orthodox whipped out smartphones as soon as the subway emerged from the East River tunnel, poking at e-mail in-boxes and checking voice mail messages.

Several opponents of the rally gathered outside the stadium, including a crowd that stood by police barricades holding signs that read, “The Internet Is Not the Problem.”

Many of the protesters said they shared the religious beliefs of the attendees but wanted to show support for victims of child sexual abuse, some of whom in ultra-Orthodox communities have been discouraged from calling the police and have been shunned after the crimes against them were reported.

The rally in Citi Field on Sunday was sponsored by a rabbinical group, Ichud Hakehillos Letohar Hamachane, that is linked to a software company that sells Internet filtering software to Orthodox Jews. Those in attendance were handed fliers that advertised services like a “kosher GPS App” for iPhone and Android phones, which helps users locate synagogues and kosher restaurants.

Nat Levy, 25, who traveled from Lakewood, N.J., to attend, said he frequently surfed the Web at a cafe, overseen by a local rabbi, that filtered out certain types of online content and monitored which Web sites he visited.

He said he often used the Internet to deal with customers for his company. “You get to do business the same way,” he said. “I have unlimited access, but it’s done in a kosher manner.”

Eytan Kobre, a spokesman for the event, delivered a more intense message to reporters outside the stadium. “The siren song of the Internet entices us!” he pronounced in a booming voice. “It brings out the worst of us!”

Still, Mr. Kobre confirmed that the event would be broadcast live on the Internet, via a stream available to homes and synagogues in Orthodox communities around the New York area. He said the general public would not be able to gain access, but several unauthorized streams appeared soon after the rally began.

The rally was also a hot topic on many Twitter feeds on Sunday evening.

The gathering had the feel of a gigantic family reunion — or perhaps, given the single-sex attendance, the religious version of a scouts’ jamboree — but many guests had arrived with only a friend or two.

“It may look like a community because we all look the same,” said Mr. Cohen, of Toronto. “But I don’t know almost any of the people here.”

For some attendees, the dangers of the Internet seemed more in line with the usual complaints voiced by any New Yorker tethered to a BlackBerry or besieged with Twitter messages.

Raphael Hess, 29, of New Jersey, pointed at his LG phone and said he found peace in simply keeping its Internet connection turned off.

“Life is more pleasant without it sometimes,” he said with a shrug.

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NY - Ex-Sex offender shot in broad daylight at a park in front of kids

Original Article

05/21/2012

By Solomon Syed

ALBANY - This now the fourth shooting in eight days in Albany, but this one comes with a bit of a twist, one that has neighbors scared and police wondering if this shooting wasn't random.

On Monday, Swinburne Park looked much like it did Sunday afternoon when a man was shot in broad daylight as kids played nearby.

"This world is just going to pieces right now. I'm just shocked," said Albany resident Jamaica Harris.

The victim, [name withheld], 26, sustained three gunshot wounds. One of the bullets is now lodged in his spinal cord. But [name withheld]' own criminal history's raising some questions about why he was near the park in the first place and why he may have been targeted: He's a level three sex offender out on parole since April 13th for the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl.
- So, is the reporter trying to justify the shooting?  A man was shot, his past should not have anything to do with it, except to prove motive in court.

"It's very frustrating. We can't be in this fight alone. This is our city, our neighborhoods, too, and we need everybody to work together," said Albany Police PIO Steve Smith.

Police say witnesses have not been forthcoming, which hasn't gotten them any closer to cracking the case, one that now has parents in this neighborhood on high alert.

Harris said, "I mean, I have a baby myself. It's unbelievable. So many things are going on in the world right now. You just have to be a lot more careful."

Now as part of his parole, [name withheld] has to stay at least a thousand feet away from any park or school, so even as the victim here, he could face some legal problems of his own. Police are still looking for two suspects. Anyone with information urged to give Albany police a call.

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