Sex Offender Charged With Being In U City Park

Gannon November 13, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Can we get a picture of this guy please? Residents of the area would like to know who to be on the lookout for.

BarT November 13, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Devin Garramone, Christian Garramone, Jerome Michael Burton of Indiana. Deputy Donald Harder of NY, Joshua Lunsford; What do they all have in common? They are people who were arrested for sex offences and NONE of them are on the sex offender registry. The problem with persecuting REGISTERED sex offenders is that it gives a false sense of security. After all, how many people would have entrusted the care of their children with Sandusky who was not a registered sex offender and passed all his background checks? One myth is that all sex offenders are the same. The distinction is important. There are people on the registry who urinated in public, that they sent a sex message to a loved one, that they might have had consensual teen sex versus someone who might have had brutally raped a dozen women or children. There is no distinction there. They think everybody on the registry is a monster. There is much misinformation circulated by many media and elected officials. The fact is the recidivism rate for sex offenders is the second lowest for any offense. It is 5.3% over a lifetime for all offenders and for those who are child molesters," it is even lower; it is 3.1%.

Gannon November 13, 2012 at 02:18 pm

Since BarT is trying to change the subject and downplay things and the editor has not posted further information, here you go: http://www.nsopw.gov/Core/ResultDetails.aspx?index=1&x=71C735AE-9D24-4FA4-BE91-0CA40345C29E
Photo and Info on his crime: Aggravated Sexual Assault against a 43 year old woman. Sorry BarT, don't try to equate this with urinating in public and other such crimes. This guy is a real criminal and people need to be aware of him in their area. Follow the link for a photo and details: http://www.nsopw.gov/Core/ResultDetails.aspx?index=1&x=71C735AE-9D24-4FA4-BE91-0CA40345C29E Thanks for reporting on this story and giving everyone a heads up Patch.

Maggie Rotermund (Editor) November 13, 2012 at 02:20 pm

Gannon,
We requested a mug shot from the police department. There was not one available.

Gannon November 13, 2012 at 02:24 pm

I apologize for overloading the comments on this one, but how is this guy allowed to live where he does? He's not allowed within 500 feet of a park with a playground, but he can live within 500 feet of a School and Playground (Christ the King)???

Joe Scott (Editor) November 13, 2012 at 03:26 pm

Gannon - Thanks for pointing out the US Department of Justice web site provides mug shots of sex offenders. I was able to get one from their site, although it's a bit small. Neither University City Police nor St. Louis County Police could provide one, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol registry also does not have them.

Joe Scott (Editor) November 13, 2012 at 03:30 pm

Gannon - I'm not sure how this is measured according to the law. But I got directions on Google maps from his home to the school, and it says go 1/10th of a mile (528 feet), turn left and go 223 feet. So if you were to drive that distance, it would be 751 feet to Christ the King. But he does live very close to the school, Mooney Park and Heman Park. It seems it would be difficult to comply with the law and go anywhere. I should point out the crime which he was convicted for was not against a child. I'm not trying to excuse him or say he doesn't have to comply with the law, just trying to ease parents' minds a bit.
And you don't have to apologize for overloading us with comments. We appreciate the discussion -- and we learn things ourselves this way.

Vicki HEnry November 14, 2012 at 03:05 pm

Seattle police detective Bob Shilling, a nationally recognized expert on sex
offenders, noted that Seattleʼs residency restriction law “creates a lot more homeless sex offenders, which makes it a lot harder for us to keep track of them. [Residency restrictions] do not work. In fact, it exacerbates the problem.” (JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE, P 27) Not one of the recidivism events were facilitated by close residential proximity to schools, daycare centers, parks, or other places where children routinely congregate. (EFFECTIVENESS OF SEX OFFENDER PUBLIC POLICY) Throughout the United States, courts have found residency laws unconstitutional because they are punitive or against the Ex Post Facto laws. Here are two court decisions: 1. “[The District] Court of Kentucky concludes that Kentuckyʼs sex offender residency restrictions constitute a form of banishment, a punishment that is historically and traditionally punitive.” (Kentucky vs. John Does, P 19) 2.“The federal district judge in The State vs. Miller finds Iowaʼs residency restrictions unconstitutional.”(Kentucky vs. John Does, P 24) Vicki Women Against Registry dot com

Joe Scott (Editor) November 14, 2012 at 04:58 pm

Interesting Vicki. I've often wondered about residency laws and how they affect sex offenders, not to mention the constitutionality issue. I know of one greater St. Louis area town where the residency restriction effectively means that a sex offender cannot live in the town at all. That might sound good, but then does that mean sex offenders cluster where they CAN live? And then, yes, there's the homelessness factor.
I don't want a sex offender, particularly a pedophile, to live next to my child's school. But what is the cumulative affect of these laws?

J Mart November 15, 2012 at 11:22 pm

The residency law for Missouri is found at :http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/c500-599/5660000147.htm. Sex offenders have rights afforded to them by law. Reference Article 1, section 13 of the Missouri constitution that does not allow laws to be retroactive. Also look at the 14th amendment, section 1, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." which protects the liberties of all American citizens. If you want to take away a sex offenders rights, you also have to take away your rights the constitutions provide you.