Category: Tales from the Registry

By John . . . At the end of 14 years and part of 15, I had done some of what was done to me, having grown up in a domestically abusive house. My older siblings subjected me to it. It was all I knew or even thought normal, like it meant you were developing and growing up. I turned my own self in. I trusted the “system” and government. Even my parents now regret that ever happening, narcissists who shrug it off like “How could we know (that was going to happen)?”.The state ran tests through a local hospital, and what we would find out over a decade later, they withheld from me a congenital neurological defect that is extremely rare. The nurse came in and said “Oh, you just have a small harmless optic nerve cyst”. The neurological defect from birth, impossible to miss, is on the 4th ventricle of my brain stem. I knew as a teenager…

By Uncle Jack . . . My story is not typical, since I was retired with a pension when I was charged. So, money or a place to live was not an issue. Traveling, especially outside the US has been a crazy experience other people would not believe. However, my issue here is “volunteer work.” Before being on the SOR, I used to volunteer for Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity and a few others. My state’s restrictions against SOR’s says you must notify organizations, where you volunteer, of your SOR status. Not wanting to tell people all about my situation, I simply quit volunteering. Simple. To do volunteer work without telling the organization could be a felony. So, what experiences have other SOR’s had in this regard?

By Leeallen . . . Hello, my name is Leeallen and I register as a sex offenders in Michigan. I’m  texting you today in regards to employment discrimination. I’ve  put in 59 applications  on indeed and  20+ in person not to mention Craigslist. When I first got out in 2018 I was able to find a job at a taco bell  where I worked for two years. I left to work  for Applebee’s  who hired me for a single day before aggressively  firing me because they claim  I lied on my application. I did not they’re  application asked if you’ve  ever been convicted of theft or dishonesty and I of course said no. Be that  as it may I did end up working  at a very undesirable factory though  I’d  happily take a similar  situation again. And admittedly  I left there simply because I got fed yp with work conditions there. After that I did find an opportunity  to work…

By Voices . . . The PA SOAB is a governing body established by the PA legislature among other things to establish standards by which certified treatment providers for sexual offenders are created and then enforced. The “board” sits a collection of men and women of various professional backgrounds who have established this list of criteria. The board primarily focuses on SVP evaluation for courts and the subsequent certification of treatment providers for SVPs. If you dont know, SVP is a 10 cent word for Sexually Violent Predator. In PA a seperate hearing is established after a conviction to determine if a sexual offender is a SVP level offender. It is not so much a legal term (though it is in the law) as it is a determination made by an SOAB member who will evaluate the person in question and then inform the court. The court, not shockingly will side then most likely with said recommendation. If a person…

By J . . . It was a bright and sunny morning the day I heard the neighbor yelling on the porch. I squinted my eye open. She was a loud woman and usually talked at a high volume but this was fear tinged. My blood ran cold. What was this? She grew quiet. Did she leave? Bang! My bedroom door slams open. My dad is there, a large man. You get your a** in the kitchen now some people want to ask you some questions. I shuffle in. There is two women and standing with them are there kids, 1 each. I knew immediately that this was what I feared it was. The days that tumbled by felt like a horrible nightmare. The police interrogations, the time away from school, the confinement to school and moms house exclusively. It was all so much. My life was unraveling around me because I had done something very bad. We can skip…

By J . . . As a kid in the system I grew up in one of PA’s toughest prisons and I learned early on that the mountain ahead of me for my actions was not going to be easy to climb.Moving forward in life I knew that once my time was done I would need to learn everything I could to try to educate people on what the registry truly is, how it became, and most importantly how we as a society might fix it. Today, I want to explore. What the future registry of tomorrow might look like. It is split into 3 sections: If things remain the same, if they were fixed, and if the registry were abolished. As always with anything like this there are a million moving parts and obviously flaws to any logic. Scenario 1, Total Crackdown Registry When you look at what a registry of tomorrow might look like you have to understand…

By Voice . . . It started with a tragic moment. The horrific actions against and slaying of Megan Kanka in 1994. Prior to this year most sexual offenders were only required to do some kind of self reporting to either local jurisdictions pursuant to individual rules or a supervising authority pursuant to its rules. In the case of Megan a sexual offender named Jesse Timmendequas was no longer on supervision and committed his heinous acts relatively without notice until it was too late. He was able to get close to the family, groom Megan, and commit the ground zero of horrifying crimes. His actions would spawn a movement that would lead to one of the most contentious, litigated, and often damaging legal protection schemes every conceived. But is there more to the story? This writer believes there is. In fact I believe that what I think I have pieced together is not only one of the most compelling reasons…

By Brian. . . When I was 19 I was falsely charged with statutory rape in New Jersey. The accusation states that I had consensual sex with an underage girl. On the advice of my attorney, James Wronko, at age 20 I plead guilty to 2nd degree Sexual Assault. I was already serving time in prison for possession of marijuana. My attorney was a thieving criminal who told me that I would only receive “time served” if I pled guilty, instead I unknowingly received a life sentence. At age 24 I was released from prison with nothing. I then learned to my horror that I would be on Parole Supervision for Life. Here in New Jersey, anyone convicted of a sex crime is given PSL. That means that for the rest of my life, I am owned by the department of corrections c/o the division of parole. At any time and for any reason I can be sent back to…

By Jason C. . . . In 1999, I was convicted of several sexual offenses. At the time, I was 22 years old – still young, still making stupid decisions. My mother warned me time and again to change the course of what I was doing, but at that age, you swear you know everything, and believe you are invincible. However, my world came to an abrupt halt when I was arrested and thrown into prison. I was questioned by a detective, using scare tactics like, “They are going to throw you away,” “If you don’t tell me what I want to hear, I will spread the word that you are a sex offender, and those guys inside those prison walls will rape you and use you like you are just a piece of meat.” Of course, this scared me because I had never been in trouble before. Prior to my arrest, I had honorably served in the United States…

By Sad Mom . . . The person I know was convicted of a crime of sexual assault of a minor. He was using dating apps to meet women for casual sexual encounters. In order to sign up on these sites one must acknowledge (with a click in a box) that they are 18 years old. This person met and had sex with a ‘woman’ who turned out to be 13 years old. The case went to court and it was a ‘he said/she said’ digital tech style. They had traded nude’s – possession of child pornography. His words for where to meet for sex – an additional charge of solicitation of a minor. And all the various “defendant used body part a to penetrate ‘victim’s” body part b” require the act of sex to become broken down into a charge for each and every “touch”. At no point did this man force himself on the ‘victim’. The ‘victim’ was…