OK - Sex offenders in OKC trailer colony have to find new homes

Original Article

07/02/2012

By JULIANA KEEPING

About 70 men had to move out of manufactured housing at Hand Up Ministries' mobile home community in south Oklahoma City. A new law prohibits sex offenders from sharing such living spaces.

The thought of several dozen sex offenders moving out of their homes down the street has Priscilla Garza on edge.

Garza and her four children, ages 1 month to 14, live in the Arrowwood Mobile Home Community, about a half mile from a south Oklahoma City mobile home park run by Hand Up Ministries.

The 14-acre park houses 170 men, all of them registered sex offenders.

A new law that prohibits sex offenders from living together in manufactured homes takes effect Sunday. That means about 70 of the sex offenders at Hand Up Ministries' location may have to find a new place to live.

Though they've never bothered her family, Garza said she hates that so many sex offenders live near by. The mass move out isn't appealing either.

“I'll be keeping them under lock and key,” she said of her children.

Fighting the law

The statute approved by lawmakers in 2011 clarified an existing law designed to keep sex offenders from living together. Police said such arrangements make it more difficult to investigate criminal allegations.

Hand Up Ministries fought the new law and lost in federal court. It sued to stall the law's implementation until a judge could rule whether or not it was constitutional. U.S. District Judge Lee West dismissed the lawsuit Thursday.

Among the suit's claims: the new law violates the First Amendment rights of the Rev. David Nichols, founder of Hand Up Ministries, by stripping the organization of its right to practice its faith without government interference.

The nonprofit group also owns a 6-acre mobile home community, comprised of married and single sex offenders, women who have recently left prison, and non-sex offenders, Nichols said. The new law means three people living there had to move.

At its peak, the population of sex offenders at the larger trailer park was 270, Nichols said. That number dwindled to 170 last week in advance of the law taking effect.

Residents pay a weekly program fee of $100, Nichols said. They receive spiritual support, help finding work and rides to treatment centers. While the ministry helps them get back on their feet they must follow rules like a midnight curfew, no drugs and no alcohol.

Residents have committed a host of sex offenses. Some of the men got drunk and exposed themselves by urinating in public. Others swapped sexual emails or photos with underage girls. One man was caught having sex with his girlfriend in a convenience store restroom. Another molested a 12-year-old relative while on a meth binge.

All received the same label: sex offender.

The law requires those convicted of sex offenses to register as a sex offender each year from 15 years to life with the state Department of Corrections and local law enforcement. They are required to update their address with a frequency scaled to the severity of their offense.

Police cite problems

The residents at Hand Up typically live three or four to a trailer, Nichols said.

That first caused a problem for police in 2009, Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty said.

Convicted sex offender [name withheld], who lived at Hand Up, was lurking around a movie theater restroom Oct. 24, 2009. The father of a 7-year-old boy entered the restroom and caught [name withheld] in a stall with his child.

Officers arrested [name withheld] and executed a search warrant on the trailer, seizing several movies of child porn.

[name withheld]'s two roommates at the time had convictions for sexual battery and indecent exposure.

That scenario creates a problem for police trying to identify which felon owns the evidence that would support the criminal investigation, Citty said.

OK - Gov. Mary Fallin signs Oklahoma sex offender bill

Mary Fallin

Original Article

Once again the media fear mongering machine gets it wrong. See this article for more information.

05/23/2012

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Mary Fallin has signed legislation that bans registered sex offenders from living with minor children.

Fallin signed the measure into law on Tuesday. Its author, Rep. Mike Sanders, says it will help protect Oklahoma children.

Previously, state law didn't prohibit a sex offender from living with a minor child. Sanders says he was surprised to learn that a sex offender was living with a child in his district.

He says it seemed illogical to ban sex offenders from living near schools but allow them to live with a child.

Sanders says he is happy state lawmakers and Fallin supported his efforts to fix the loophole. He says the new law will complement reforms by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to make the state safer for children.

OK - Lawmakers To Decide On Oklahoma Sex Offender Bill

Original Article

05/21/2012

By Dana Hertneky

OKLAHOMA CITY - Hundreds of sex offenders around the state may soon be removed from the Oklahoma sex offender registry. But some police officers and state lawmakers are trying to make that a little more difficult.

Right now, the Oklahoma Supreme Court is deciding a case that would affect the amount of time all sex offenders convicted before 2007 stay on the list.

And this week, lawmakers are slated to vote on a bill that would require a court order from a judge before they and all other offenders are removed from the registry.

[name withheld] was convicted of lewd or indecent acts to a child. He was supposed to be off the sex offender registry in 2008, but a change in state law in 2007 kept him on.

If the Supreme Court rules that was unconstitutional, he and hundreds of sex offenders would be removed from the sex offender registry.
- It is unconstitutional (ex post facto), and surely, if the Constitution still means anything, the Supreme Court will find it as such?

"One of the most heartbreaking and difficult calls we respond to are sex crimes and they tend to be children more often than not," says Officer Mark Nelson the FOP Legislative Chairman.

Now the FOP is calling for greater oversight before any sex offender is taken off the list.

"We think that's a pretty big decision that needs a court review, " said Sen. David Holt (R ) Oklahoma City who authored the bill.

Senator David Holt says the bill would require a judge to review the case of anyone going off the registry to make sure they fulfilled all their obligations.

"I think this is another law that we pass out there to make people feel warm and fuzzy," argued attorney David Slane who represents 80 offenders who may be removed from the list. Slane says the proposed law is unnecessary.

"Most of these people have been on the sex offender registry for a really long time, they've reported for a very long time. Now they're being told they have to go back to court again," said Slane.

Holt says he realizes that but the seriousness of removing someone from the registry outweighs that burden.

"We need to make sure that they have proven for 15 or 25 years they have been fulfilling their obligations and we think it's safe for them," said Holt.

If a judge rules an offender didn't fulfill his or her the judge would be able to can keep the offender on the list.

The bill passed the senate unanimously.

It's now in a house conference committee.