Category: Personal Tales

By Will .  . . It was September of 2008, I was working out of town for a couple of weeks, when I got a call from my wife telling me that a sex offender had been stalking my 4th and 5th grade children while they walked to school. The story my daughter told her teacher, the principal, and later the police, was that a man was slowly following them in his car as they walked the 3 blocks from our house to the neighborhood school. When the police asked her for a description, they were able to track this man, Ted, via the National Sex offender site, to this very same man that was following her and her brother that morning.I got crazy angry that day. I was so furious, I wanted to fly home, track this man down and kill him, or at the very least beat the hell out of him. I couldn’t believe the hate that…

By Anonymous I’m not an offender but I dated one. He was convicted as juvenile in King County Washington when he was 14. He’s 42 now. In 2021 we landed in SJO for a family vacation to Costa Rica with our three kids. He was denied entry straight off the plane whilst the kids and I were permitted to travel forward and we did, which was terrifying but we’d already spent the money. He was flown back to our state by the airline. I was really bewildered by the whole experience for obvious reasons but after getting back and digging deeper into the issue I have become familiar with two things that I think this forum would benefit from knowing: 1) King Country seems to have an abundance of corrupt individuals both at the state and federal level who are creating a school to prison pipeline for some deep pockets in the judicial system and primarily prey on minorities and…

By William J . . . I was born in 1980 in Metro Detroit , Michigan . I have two brothers 5 and 7 years older than me. My father worked in the auto industry and my mother stayed home mostly , albeit the odd job here and there, due to mental illness. The house was and still is neglected and deplorable with waist deep rotten garbage and rodent infestation. I suffered extreme physical and psychological abuse from my mother as well as sexual abuse from my brothers and other people in the neighborhood with my first memories of sexual abuse starting as young as 5 years old. I would go to school covered in filth and malnourished. I developed a stuttering problem and wet the bed until I was I was 13. The nightmare didn’t just end at home with my mother. At school I was bullied and teased mercilessly , as were my brothers. I was bullied even…

By Visham . . . In my case, I was convicted way back in 2000. At the time of the sentencing, I was given 4 years probation, 2 years counseling, and a 10 year registration period. ~7 years into my registration time, the state passed Meghan’s law and made it retroactive to include all such cases from 1999 on… which included me (even though it had nothing to do with my case) and my registration was changed from the initial 10 years to life. Now, 22 years later, I am still trying to create a profitable life for me, my wife, and children in a state in which forgiveness isn’t really given. I am in constant worry about how they are viewed publicly simply by being associated to me. I also have to deal with basically being redacted when it comes to finding a (living wage) job. And that is before I mention the restrictions that are placed on me…

By Eric . . . My story begins about 2018 when I saw a news special about a girl whose father had been raping her. Her father was a police officer. Before this, I had never thought twice about sex crimes. Never looked at child porn. Never had a longing for it, which remains to this day. After viewing this interview which had the victim, who was now an adult telling her story I started to do internet research on the crime. Well, needless to say, up pops all these sites that have the actual footage on them. So, dumbass that I am, I start clicking, and clicking, and clicking. It became an obsession as I was shocked by everything I had found and that it was so easily available. I just clicked away. Yes I had child porn on my computer (crime). I never shared it, it was always locked away behind passwords. In June of 2019 I was…

By Terri . . . As the mother of a registered sex offender, I am like all other Mom’s, worried about the effect of this registry on my Son’s well-being. I don’t understand how a one time offender can be required to register for life. Most every other felon is allowed to live their life after serving their time and probation. Also, with my son, this case was not a violent event but is considered a tier III offense because the girl lied about her age. She created a fake My Space profile to hook up with men. My son went on what he thought was a date and ruined his life. The SOR is necessary for predators of young children but there should be some type of scale as time goes by without additional offenses to allow a reduction in requirements and eventual removal from the registry.I understand as a violent offender he is not eligible for removal at…

By Jeffrey DeVore . . . This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever written. While I’ve told parts of this story in verbal or written form to some family members and to friends, I’ve never felt the freedom to be brutally and daringly honest—because there’s never been anyone who gets what it’s like having served time and then being on the registry. Family, friends, do their best to understand, but they can’t get it—through no fault of their own. My conditions forbid me to associate with any felons, no matter the charge, which leaves me feeling isolated, lonely, and not-gotten. While I’m not allowed to associate with any of your readers on the registry, I don’t know you, we have no means of contact, I don’t know who’s reading this, so I’m not associating. I am so grateful to NARSOL for providing this format, and just as I have resonated with and wept over your “Tales”, so my hope…

I was released from a PA State Correctional Facility in July 2020, after spending 10 years (of a 6-18 year sentence) locked up. I’m classified as an SVP with lifetime registration. Banned from the county that I lived in my entire life, and where my support group is located, I am living one county west, Shortly after my release, I approached an LGBT organization that I was interested in being active in. I was completely up front about my past to the President of this organization. She told me that she would not be comfortable with me volunteering due to my past and a lot of their programs are geared around LGBT youth. I understood her position and went on my way. I still participated in LGBT events that did not involve youth, but always felt uncomfortable around her. There is another LGBT group in our area, that was willing to allow me to volunteer, as long as I kept…

I am afraid, not just that the books I’ve written may not be well received. The whole idea my work may be unfairly judged once my name is added to the registry in 2026, that scares me the most. But people want us to be afraid; it gives them power. But when one of us chooses to live out loud, be seen doing the right things, it disarms them. Being afraid doesn’t mean you quit fighting. But unfortunately, hated for the artist often becomes hatred for the art. This was the risk I was taking by selfishly or perhaps arrogantly slathering my name across two covers. I insisted that I did the work, I wanted the credit, deserved it just like someone who didn’t break the law. But was that my first mistake? Was publishing? My first book, “Destination Unknown,” was originally penned in 2015 after I took an advertising class taught by a former ad exec. It showed me…

By Matt The poem came to me in a rush during one of those darkest moments of despairs. From them, I gained strength to cope, to reach out to other registrants and step up to speak out against the tyranny. Brothers and Sisters in Pain What did I do to deserve a life of pain and fear?My motive rejected, judged my behavior a crime.Stunned at the devastating repercussions of my action.The act complete, my destiny sealed, my life shattered. The impact crushed my identity, an annihilation of my worth.The alarming, unreal raid, a SWAT team brandishing assault rifles.Or a startling summon to appear before a biased, hardened judge.My life ending, my family, friends, church condemning. My reality, years of painful isolation, penetrating shame.Alone, I mulled over and over again the “what ifs,” “if onlys”I despise their labeling me as leper, sinner … condemned.I even visualize the tattooed “Scarlet Letter” across my foreheads. After punishment ends, endless traumatic troubles begin.With no…