The 2020 Presidential Candidates and their stance on the Sex Offense Registry

Now that the candidate pool on the Democratic side have narrowed to two people (well, three if you count Tulsi Gabbard but she's a long shot), it is time to see where everyone stands on this issue. However, it is becoming clear that Joe Biden will get the Democratic nomination, especially since establishment Dems (including nearly every former nominee) have all rallied behind Biden.

Why is this important to us? it is important because Presidents appoint federal justices. Right now, SCOTUS has a conservative majority. Who voted in favor of Smith v Doe and Kansas v Hendricks? The conservative justices. In regards to Kavanaugh, if you think him being accused of a sex offense is going to question these laws, Clarence Thomas had been accused by Anita Hill and he still voted in favor of both the registry AND civil commitment.

JOE BIDEN

I don't belive Joe Biden's a "centrist" candidate. Besides, Joe Biden gave us the 1994 Jacob Wetterling Act and the 2006 Adam Walsh Act. Need I say more?

https://votesmart.org/public-statement/196932/hatch-biden-bill-cracking-down-on-sexual-predators-to-be-signed-into-law-today#.Xl9HeqhKjIU

Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators to be Signed into Law Today
By: Joe Biden, Jr.
Date: July 27, 2006
Location: Washington, DC

Hatch-Biden Bill Cracking Down on Sexual Predators to be Signed into Law Today

WASHINGTON, DC - A hard-fought, bipartisan bill designed to crack down on sexual predators will become law later today in a White House signing ceremony. The "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act," sponsored by Senators Joe Biden (D-DE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), will now make it easier for local law enforcement and parents to track sex offenders and to prevent repeat offenses.

"Plain and simple: This legislation will help save children's lives," said Senator Biden, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. "Sexual predators must be tracked and parents have a right to know when these criminals are in their neighborhoods."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that there are approximately 600,000 sex offenders nationwide, 20% of whom are not accounted for.

"We've done a lot to protect our kids against sex offenders - creating the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984, enacting the Biden Crime Bill in 1994, and enacting the Amber Alert system in 2003 - but it is not enough. We must do more. The Adam Walsh Act will help prevent these low-life sexual predators from slipping through the cracks."

Specifically, the Hatch-Biden bill tightens existing law by requiring sex offenders to register prior to release from prison. It also adds the "use of the Internet to facilitate or commit a crime against a minor" as an offense that triggers registration.

In addition, child predators will be required to periodically check in personally with the authorities and update their photographs so law enforcement and parents will know what they look like now. And if a registered sex offender fails to comply with any of the law's requirements, he or she faces up to 10 years in prison.

The Adam Walsh Act also fully integrates and expands existing state registration systems so that information will be shared instantly and seamlessly among them.

"States such as Delaware and Florida have worked hard to build comprehensive and effective statewide registration systems," said Senator Biden. "But there are other states that are not as advanced - whose systems are not as sophisticated. We now seek to fully integrate and expand those networks so that communities nationwide will be warned when high-risk offenders come to live among them," said Biden. Senator Biden is the author of the landmark 1994 crime bill that helped create the first state programs to track and register convicted child molesters. Additionally, he is an original member of the bipartisan Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children which was founded last year. This panel is charged with helping to develop legislation on behalf of missing, exploited, and runaway children, and to work with both national and local child advocacy organizations.

DONALD TRUMP

Any hope conservatives had that Trump would "drain" the Corrections Swamp ended when he signed FOSTA/ SESTA under the guise of preventing human trafficking. Trump has used the Sex Trafficking Moral Panic as a way to win votes.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-made-priority-combat-heinous-crime-human-trafficking/

"ERADICATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING: President Trump has made it a priority to leverage every resource of the Federal Government to end the scourge of human trafficking."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/anti-human-trafficking-groups-boycotting-ivanka-trumps-white/story?id=68615924

"Human trafficking is worse than it ever has been before," Trump said. "And that's because of the internet."

He outlined initiatives his administration has done thus far, including the Department of Justice shutting down certain websites found to be associated with groups accused of running human trafficking rings.

He added, “My administration is fighting these monsters, persecuting and prosecuting them.”

For what it's worth, Trump and the Repubs haven't renewed the controversial VAWA.

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/01/24/its-a-real-loss-for-survivors-domestic-violence-law-stalled-in-u-s-senate/

"For decades, the Violence Against Women Act was an issue that could transcend partisan politics on Capitol Hill. Not anymore."

And remember when Trump called Ben Carson a Child Molester?

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/trump-carson-pathological-215816

"It's in the book that he's got a pathological temper," he said. "That's a big problem because you don't cure that ... as an example: child molesting. You don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester. There's no cure for it. Pathological, there's no cure for that."

BERNIE SANDERS

Bernie Sanders had an early lead in the primaries but is fading fast. It is too bad because out of the major political candidates, Sanders is the most open to criminal justice reforms. He took criticism for saying prisoners should have the right to vote. He also took criticism for suggesting a registry of corrupt cops and reducing the prison population. He has consistently voted against the PATRIOT Act and opposes the death penalty. He only reluctantly voted for the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill because it included the VAWA, while trying to pass amendments to stop the bad parts of the bill from passing. He also opposed the Iraq War.

Bernie's full stance on criminal justice issues is HERE.

BOTTOM LINE--

Biden and Trump are bad for registered persons. If Bernie isn't in the election come November, I'll once again cast my vote for a Third Party candidate. Hell, I may even write myself for President.

The Ohio Sex Offense Registry is Broken Beyond Repair and Should Be Scrapped

On February 28, 2020, I was attacked in a news media article by some victim advocate. I wrote a counterpoint but it seems tis podunk Ohio rag is afraid of the truth. Since Melissa Martin is a coward, as most victim cultists are, I've posted my retort here:

The Ohio Sex Offense Registry is Broken Beyond Repair and Should be Scrapped
By Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com

In Melissa Martin’s February 28, 2020 opinion piece (“Ohio Sex Offender Registry needs to stay"), Martin saw fit to demean the registered person featured in a 2018 Dayton Daily News article. I am that man, and as both a registered person and an activist, I am angered and offended that Melissa Martin would attempt to use me to justify this useless, bloated and arbitrary public pillory.

My name is Derek Logue, and I am a Registered Person and an anti-registry activist. Since 2007, I have hosted OnceFallen.com, a website that offers information and support for registered persons and their loved ones. I have been featured on HLN, CNN, Russia Today, and numerous media outlets. I have not shied away from my past. However, I will not allow myself to be used as some kind of poster child for the registry, unless that poster is a discussion of why the registry is useless.

Martin knows nothing about my plight. In the seventeen years since my release from prison, I have endured homelessness, social ostracism, unemployment, and vigilante attacks. I advocate for the abolishment of the sex offense registry because I have experienced firsthand how the registry harms the registrant, their families, and society as a whole.

Martin failed to mention the complexities of Ohio’s confusing registry scheme. When I was released, I moved from Alabama, a state without a classification scheme, to Cincinnati to enter a program. Because Alabama makes every registrant languish on the list for life, I was wrongfully labeled a “Sexual Predator” by the local registry office two years after initially determining I was only a ‘sexually oriented offender.” Alabama never classified me as predatory. Other registrants who moved from Alabama have been given the same label automatically.

In 2008, Ohio switched from a risk-based classification system to an offense-based classification system to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act; this increased the number of those placed in the “high risk” category tripled overnight because of the law. After spending $10 million dollars to defend this controversial law, the state Supreme Court determined the new law is punishment and cannot be applied retroactively. Interestingly, former Attorney General Marc Dann stated the state adopted federal law to collect bonus federal funds promised to those states adopting the Walsh Act; the actual bonus funds Ohio received for adoption of the Walsh Act was zero dollars.

I was forced to move because Ohio decided a GED school for adults qualified as a school for residency restriction law purposes. It took seven months and 131 phone calls to find a new residence. Once I moved, the city of Cincinnati tried passing further restrictions. I fought successfully to save my home on that occasion; the city passed the increased restrictions but added both a grandfather clause and removed parks from the ordinance. Ohio eventually determined that residency restriction laws are punitive and cannot be applied to anyone convicted before July 31, 2003. It was far easier to find housing the last time I needed to move within Ohio; it only took me one month and 34 phone calls to find a new apartment in 2015.

Finding work as a registered citizen is a herculean task. Despite having an undergraduate degree, my only jobs after prison were minimum-wage grocery store positions taken after months of unemployment. I was not hired because of my status. The Target Corporation even sent me a letter from corporate headquarters stating they have policies against hiring “sex offenders.” I’m not alone— based on a survey I conducted with over 300 Registered Persons, registrants were five times more likely to be unemployed, 50% less likely to have full-time employment, nearly twice as likely to collect SSI and food stamps, and nearly 20 times more likely to be homeless than someone not on the registry.

I have also experienced death threats and harassment due to my status, including from those who claim to be against sex offenses who have no problem describing fantasies about seeing me raped, among other nasty comments I have to endure over the years. Martin also believes that registered persons are somehow incapable of suffering from depression or anxiety. If the registry was not a cause for concern for those on it, why would a woman in Utah take a guilty plea to such a silly crime as walking around her own house topless in order to avoid 10 years on the public registry?

In the seventeen years since my release, I have never been accused of a sex offense, so apparently Ohio guessed wrong. Martin did not seem concerned with the amount of resources wasted on maintaining this blacklist. People convicted of sex offenses, even those labeled a “high risk” are far less likely to reoffend than any other crime type, a fact confirmed by numerous state and federal studies over a period of decades that have found rearrest/ reconviction rates below 1% annually. Indeed, most sex crimes are committed inside the home by someone known to the victim.. Most sex crime arrests are of those with no prior sex offense arrests. However, the registry was created with the extremely rare stranger kidnapping in mind.

The sex offense registry has nearly a million names, some as young as age nine. The registry does not discriminate between a prostitute, a man who drunkenly urinated behind a dumpster, a man who grabbed a teenager’s arm to chastise her for running into traffic, a teenager who had mutual relations with fellow teens or made nude pics of themselves, and more serious offenses.

Victim advocates like Martin like to say the registry is worth it if it saves one child, but how much are taxpayers willing to spend for the false sense of security supplied by the registry? Ohio spent $10 million in legal fees defending SB 10. Ohio spends over a half million annually to a private business (Offender Watch) for maintaining the registry. Hamilton County noted in 2008 they were already spending aver a quarter million every three months just on community notification. Then there’s the cost of compliance checks run by the US Marshals to the tune of $60 million annually, three times the amount the SMART Office offers to assist states to implement the Walsh Act. Registered persons and their loved ones are far more likely to be welfare dependent despite having higher education levels than those convicted of other offenses.

The sex offense registry is an expensive, useless, bloated blacklist of nearly a million names, and very few of those are any kind of danger to society. The registry is broken beyond repair and needs to be abolished, and I will gladly take Melissa Martin on in a public debate on this issue. I have nothing to hide; the facts are on my side, after all.

House Subcommittee investigation on “Sex Offenders on Dating Sites” is an exercise in Moral Panic

House Subcommittee investigation on “Sex Offenders on Dating Sites” is an exercise in Moral Panic
By: Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com

Derek Logue is an Anti-Registry Activist and founder of oncefallen.com, an informational site for people convicted of sexual offenses.

While America is suffering from arguably the largest political rift in our nation’s history, one subcommittee of the US House of Representatives Committee of Oversight and Reform banded together on January 30 to for a common threat both political parties can exploit in a show of solidarity. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, announced they are conducting an investigation, but not into political corruption, the scam phone call epidemic, or on any issue you expect a committee that works on business laws to tackle. Instead, they announced they are investigating the use of online dating apps by people accused or convicted of sexual offenses.

This subcommittee relied heavily upon media reports that cited a single 2019 report written by a joint effort of three reporters and credited by ProPublica, Buzzfeed, and Columbia Journalism Investigations. While that may initially sound impressive, none of the three reporters credited with writing this report (Hillary Flynn, Elizabeth Naismith Picciani, and Keith J. Cousins) have any criminal justice experience, and two of the three had no actual reporting experience; both women were recent Columbia University graduates. These reporters also cited Carole Markin, a self-described online dating activist who wrote two books on dating disasters and ran an online organization addressing online dating complaints before claiming she also was assaulted by a registrant she met on a dating app.

The report itself lists around 150 cases of people who were either accused or convicted of sexual offenses committed against someone met through an online dating service. Of the 150 cases, only 10% of those involved anyone previously accused or convicted of a sexual offense, and of that 10%, the article focused on four particular individuals. Despite this report being anecdotal and dubious in nature, the mainstream media has been eager to report these findings without question, and criticism of this report has been routinely ignored. Millions of people use these sites daily without incident, so focusing on a handful of cases is a waste of resources.

Since the announcement, news media outlets across America are covering this story as a pandemic spreading farther than the coronavirus. The likely result is a symbolic bill designed to exclude, or at least humiliate, lonely Registered Persons seeking to meet a future partner online.

This would not the first time that legislators have responded unnecessarily to Internet Predator Panic. In 2008, both Presidential candidates John McCain (known for his computer illiteracy) and Barack Obama sponsored the “Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008”, a bill that required Registered Persons to turn over Internet Identifiers. Congress must have known outright banning Registered Persons from the Internet would be eventually declared unconstitutional, as it was in the Packingham v North Carolina SCOTUS ruling in 2017. Instead, they have circumvented the Constitution by placing the burden of removing registrants from online services on corporations. Facebook, for example, went from protecting the rights of Registered Persons to use their services to excluding them from services; last year, it was reported Facebook had even written exclusions in their terms of service that allowed death threats against people accused or convicted of sex crimes.

Finding ways to increase restrictions of the lives of Registered Persons is truly a bipartisan effort. On many keys issues in the US, the two political wings have similar goals (like balancing the budget) but have vastly different means to achieve them. When it comes to Predator Panic, both main political wings have something to gain from sex offender laws; right-leaning people gain their “tough-on-crime” and sexual morality agendas while left-leaning people gain their perception of “justice” for sex crime victims and punishment for offenders. It is a win-win for politics but not for public policy.

We’ve had over two decades of bad sex offense policy starting with the Jacob Wetterling Act, which itself was fueled by a campaign of misinformation about the number of kidnapped children in the US. John Walsh once stood before Congress proclaiming the country was “littered with mutilated, decapitated, raped, strangled children.” In reality, what we believed about “stereotypical kidnappings” was untrue; in reality, children are more likely to die from choking to death on hot dogs than from being raped and murdered by a stranger previously convicted of a sex crime. We now have a bloated registry nearing a million names, with children as young as age 9 plastered on this government blacklist; even the US Department of Justice admitted in 2009 over 89,000 registrants publicly listed were juveniles.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we have justified the Sex offense Registry on the false belief that “the rate of re-offense is frightening and high,” as Justice Kennedy wrote when SCOTUS upheld the use of the public registry in the 2003 Smith v Doe decision. Despite studies showing that residency restriction laws have no impact on sex crime rates, many states spend millions fighting to keep these bad laws on the books. We continue to exclude people of sexual offenses from being productive members of society. We pass laws dictating where Registered Persons (and their families) can live, work, eat, go on vacation, or even who they can date.

People today still seem oblivious to the fact that most sex crimes occur in the home, by someone already known to the victim, and that most sex crimes are committed by a person with no prior sex offense conviction. Furthermore, few people convicted of sexual offenses commit subsequent sexual offenses. These low re-offense rates have been known for decades, but people choose not to believe dozens of scientific studies conducted by numerous states and the US Department of Justice.

I have been listed on this government blacklist for seventeen years; I have also used free online dating services. I had been on a few dates, too. I was always honest with my dates about my past if we liked each other enough to have more than a couple of dates, and all but one took it well. I had a few casual encounters with consenting adults. I never dated anyone under 30 because I do not feel I can relate to the younger generation. As of today, I’ve been in a relationship for three years with someone I met online, though it was not from a dating site.

This subcommittee action is the latest in a quarter-century of moral panics espoused by a government and fueled by bad media reports and anecdotes accepted by evidence. I have fought back against the myriad of punitive laws because I have not been allowed to become a productive member of society. While Congress has not given a Registered Person like me to testify before them, I still intend to fight any actions taken by this House subcommittee. I have every right to use online services as any other American, and I have no intention of sitting by while this subcommittee seeks to use me as a political football.

WaPo's decision to suspend Sonmez was the right call, and why the Media should pay more attention to labels

WaPo was too afraid to publish this because my message was too harsh. Oh well.

*****

I commend the Washington Post for suspending Felicia Sonmez over her distasteful Twitter posts. While Felicia Sonmez was not the only person to drudge up the rape accusation against Kobe Bryant mere hours after his death, she’s the only one who was reprimanded. This is a good first step, but the media must do more to hold itself accountable more often when talking about someone’s past.

The media has a fixation with naming and shaming people who were accused or convicted of sexual offenses. I have personally faced this struggle as I have been listed on the sex offense registry for seventeen years. I spend my days advocating for abolishing the sex offense registry because I have witnessed firsthand how these laws destroy lives.

Over the years, my advocacy has attracted media attention, including a 2014 article from WaPo; in that article, the reporter referred to me by the derogatory label of “sex offender.” Many of my media appearances have also included this derogatory label as if it is some kind of job title. Since some people sign their names with initials for religious orders or their graduate degrees, some people must assume registered citizens sign their names with the initials RSO. I refuse to live by this label.

In December 2017, the mass media reported that one of three people who died in a train derailment in Seattle was on the public registry. Why was that important information? Did the train derail because people panicked upon learning a registered person was on the train, and everyone moved to one side of the train, causing the train to derail and kill three people? Assuming I live to the average age of an American male, my obituary decades from now will likely add my conviction from when I was a college kid, which would be over half a century prior to my death.

Labels are very powerful, indeed; the amount of hate mail I receive after a media appearance depends in part on the treatment I receive by the media. On a few occasions, a media outlet referred to me by a far worse label, causing the amount of hateful and threatening messages to skyrocket. Some reporters don’t seem to care about how their articles incite the public and potential harm it can cause to those brave souls willing to be interviewed on this sensitive topic. The media has never reported on the death threats I have received over the years.

Kobe Bryant was accused of a rape allegation the same year I was released from prison. Kobe Bryant was not convicted in a court of law, but merely of the court of public opinion. His accuser chose a civil suit over a criminal court and got a settlement, so people assume there was some guilt. Others assume guilt merely because we must believe the accuser; questioning the accuser’s truthfulness in any way brings about accusations of “victim blaming,” or worse, “an apologist for sex offenders.”

Victim advocates minimize the prevalence of false accusations by claiming only 2% of allegations are false, but even if that was true, that still means tens of thousands of people featured on sex offense registries are falsely convicted. Victim advocate Wendy Murphy famously stated during the Duke Lacrosse case that she “never met a false rape claim” and her own statistics speak to that truth. She still stands by her words long after the accused were found innocent.

Victim advocates also espouse a narrative that they are being “silenced” because some people dare to criticize their tactics and rhetoric. Victim advocacy tenets and mantras like “believe the victim always” are treated as religious dogma. People who claim they are abused are called “brave,” lifted to an exalted position and, as Samantha Geimer wrote in her book “The Girl,” “the moniker Sex Victim Girl.”

Everyone who stands accused or convicted of a sexual offense is seen as inherently evil while people who make abuse claims are canonized. There is no balance to this. The real world isn’t so black and white. People can be falsely accused and convicted of sex offenses. People convicted of sex offenses can change their ways.

The media can play a huge role in subverting the dominant paradigm, but will they ever do it? After all, controversy sells. Eventually, Sonmez will return to work, but will she learn from this mistake? Only time will tell. If she does not, then I hope WaPo gives her a more permanent suspension.

Why does the media feel the need to remind us of past sex offense accusations/ convictions?

Yesterday, the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and members of his family in a helicopter crash. I'm not a fan of basketball but have at least heard of Kobe Bryant. Since he's a legend of his sport and did not die from old age but at 41, it means the media has covered Kobe's death extensively. But in doing my daily review of "sex offender" news stories, it was the last place I was expecting to see a news story about Kobe Bryant. 

The Times-Leader, a newspaper covering Northeastern PA, particularly the Wilkes-Barre area, ran a news story about the tragedy, written by Stefanie Dazio of the Associated Press. The article talks about some charity work but ends the article about an accusation made against Kobe almost 20 years ago. 

This is an ongoing problem with the media. Even in death, the media feels the need to shame anyone accused or convicted of a sex offense, even when the story is unrelated to the actual news event. 

In 2017, a number of (mostly conservative) news outlets pointed out one of the three people who died in a train derailment was on the sex offense registry. Why did the media feel the need to point that out?

Of course, live registrants often cannot catch breaks from the media, either. A few months ago, after the Washington Examiner wrote a story exposing Facebook's policy of allowing people to make death threats against registered persons, I wrote a letter to the editor about the vigilante groups proliferating on social media. I was contacted by David Freddoso, who edited my original letter to include details about my offense and requested my permission to publish the edited article. I refused. 

For some reason, the media believes we should wear this label like it is some kind of job title. Educating the public should start with these uninformed media personalities because the media is where nearly every American gets much of their information. Yet, individual reporters often do not write unbiased articles; I should know, since I've dealt with numerous media outlets over the years.  (I'm looking at you, Kyra Phillips. Worst. Interviewer. Ever.) There IS a reason why I have a special category just for reporters on the annual Shiitake Awards. 

Our voices won't be heard as long as we subject ourselves to labels, or let reporters get away with lies about "high re-offense rates" or other myths. Are you doing your part to educate the media? 

2019, the year I found out who my true friends are... and my enemies (They're both WITHIN the cause)

We all need to vent at times at the risk of sounding like a pity party. Well here's mine-- for pretty much all of 2019, my life was been one tragedy after another. 

I believe most people see me as nothing but a resource and a worker bee for the cause, but not worth much else. Few people give me any thought except when they want questions answered. I correspond with hundreds of people seeking answers but when it was my time in need, I discovered who truly cares and who does not. 

On February 27, 2019, the apartment complex I lived in caught fire. I lost most of my worldly possessions and I was now out of a home. I received a $400 card from the Red Cross to get a hotel but I spent the first two days of being homeless trying to salvage what I could. It could have been worse but I was able to recover some belongings including my work files. The registry office was understanding and gave me about 5 days to do what I needed to do before checking in, and a local charity I supported returned the favor by storing my salvaged things for free. (I donated plenty of it to them in return even though they didn't ask me for anything.) A half dozen supporters of OnceFallen sent me some money to help, which amounted to about $600. Just after I got out and returned to Cincinnati to tie up loose ends, I heard from my nephew for the first time in years, only for him to pass away less than a week after connecting for the first time in years. 

Things got from bad to worse when I went in to register as homeless, as I was detained for a warrant out of Broward County for a theft I obviously did not do. Even those at the registration office found this ludicrous, they still had to do their job and arrest me. I would not find out the full accusation against me for three weeks until I suffered through transport to Florida. The accusation is laughable and my innocence can easily be proven. Anyone who knows me knows I've been chomping at the bit to show the world the proof, but I've been advised by my attorney not to do so, though my friends have seen the conclusive evidence personally. But I digress. 

(As a footnote, anyone who wonders how I managed to warn people of my impending arrest, the registry office let me make calls on my cell while trying to figure out if the warrant was valid, which took half an hour.) 

It should not come as a shock that the group of people who will mobilize the fastest are not your friends but your haters. Dwayne Daughtry, who works for the North Carolina chapter of NARSOL, felt it fitting to post my mugshot on social media, and in turn, two personal stalkers used my info to impersonate me while I was detained. This was followed by a barrage of false allegations from Daughtry and Michael McKay, NARSOL's "marketing director," whose only idea as marketing director is "#SOregistry" and making a registry of activists. They campaigned to delete my social media accounts and made false accusations that I "SWATTED" them. Plenty of idiots believed them instead of questioning whether the accusations were true or not. There have been other outlandish stories like claims I make thousands of dollars off my website and use the money to buy personal items. (At this point, I can't even raise the funds to pay the basic debts associated with providing the website and outreach that I do now, nor have I ever used OnceFallen money to buy anything not directly related to activism efforts.) My latest report shows that those efforts to discredit my work, and the blood, sweat, and tears I have poured into this cause over the years is not appreciated or supported by many people within this movement. 

So what I found out in 2019 is that MANY so-called registry reform activists were NOT truly people that were my friends or allies.

On the upside, during this time in my life, I also found out who my friends were. 

When I lost my apartment, a few activists sent me money to help me get back on my feet. 

When I was arrested, there were a number of activists who helped me. Members of FAC, WAR, SOSEN, and ACSOL reached out to help, along with a few individuals who helped support my efforts over the years. A couple of folks in particular helped get me a real attorney.

When I needed a place to stay, a fellow activist let me stay with him. 

My girlfriend was an activist for the cause for years before we even met, much less dated, and has stood with me through all of this. 

Another fellow activist who drives a truck picked up my possessions in Cincinnati and delivered them to rural Nebraska.

An elderly registrant who I helped when he got out of prison loaned me the bail money. (And yes I paid him back with my own money.) Quite frankly, if it wasn't for this man, I'd probably still be sitting in jail today still awaiting that dismissal. 

So what I found out in 2019 is that SOME (albeit less) registry reform activists ARE truly people I can lean on as friends and allies.

In 2019, I had to take plenty of time to think about this reform movement and whether I have a place in it at all.

When I look at the attacks against me that happened from people allegedly in this fight to reform the registry, and how I lost support because there are plenty of stupid people who blindly believe every rumor they hear on the Internet, then I think that I have wasted the past 14 years of my life.

Yes, I'm only a one-man operation, so the numbers of those I help annually number in the hundreds, not thousands or tens of thousands like the big groups are supposed to be doing. And most who contact me for help don't contribute to me or to the anti-registry community as a whole. Every move I've made from TV interviews to public awareness campaigns has been criticized far more than congratulated, mostly by armchair activists. 

I remember the near-universal condemnation for daring to take on Lauren Book for her efforts to keep Miami's registrant population homeless, and only a few individual activists stood by me, so what should have been a hundred strong turned into a dozen. I haven't forgotten that various NARSOL affiliates (ACSOL was still a NARSOL affiliate at the time) initially supported my efforts and even pledged to help but backed off because of just one person's objection. I haven't forgotten that and never will. 

So every year, I find myself looking to cut back my efforts. In the coming year, my focus is on my website and on expanding my prisoner outreach efforts. I have already stepped back from participation in other groups and have abandoned some projects like the ReFORM blogs. I have decided that I will no longer do videos (too much time on too little views). And if support for OnceFallen drops again this year, Once Fallen won't be renewed in 2021. But it'll always be on the Web Archive so there's that. 

If anyone is interested in acquiring my site, contact me at iamthefallen1@yahoo.com

HOWEVER...

I also look at the people who HAVE supported me over the years and that helps motivate me. 

When I was being hit with SLAPP suits by Senator Lauren Book and her northern doppelganger Laura Ahearn from PFML, I planned on taking these thugs on myself, but a couple of supporters went out of their way to find an attorney. And so far, the SLAPP suit by Lauren Book was defeated in the Florida Court of Appeals in August. 

As a one-man operation, my organization has never needed the funds of the larger efforts. Quite frankly I wouldn't know what do if someone left me thousands of dollars. In the 12 years of OnceFallen I only once received a thousand dollar donation, and not needing most of that money, donated it to other organizations that needed it more. I can safely say that when I do need resources for projects, support had come from a small number of people who believe in my efforts. And by small I estimate roughly three-fourths of donations to OnceFallen have come from roughly 20 people. They trust that their funds go directly into anti-registry activism. 

Of course, I'm encouraged when people call me and I find out my website was given to them by law enforcement, attorneys, and even a couple of prosecutors. I'm encouraged when my resources help someone. That keeps me going. 

I don't know what 2020 will bring. Thank you to my supporters, and to my haters, just keep on hating. I may be down but I'm not out just yet. But some of my worst enemies are not trolls, those pimping the registry, or even the Book Crime Family. No, sometimes the worst folks are those who are supposed to be allies. But within this movement are also some of my closest friends and allies. 

OnceFallen's 2019 Annual Report shows another year declining support but increased need for prisoner services

ONCE FALLEN 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

2019 has been an eventful and difficult year for OnceFallen.com. First, my apartment had caught fire in February. Second, I was falsely accused of theft in Broward County FL (anyone who thinks I would actually drive 1100 miles each way in less than 12 hours w/o a license or car and steal car manuals in broad daylight is a complete idiot). Third, I suffered a string of false allegations primarily from Michael McKay from Registry Report and Dwayne Daughtry from NCRSOL. I have severed all ties to any groups supporting these two individuals.

On the upside, the SLAPP suit placed on me by Florida State Senator Lauren Book was overturned on appeal so I am free to protest the Book Crime Family once again. I was also able to attend the SMART Office symposium in Chicago as part of a larger anti-registry effort to confront the agency for promoting bad public policy.

Because of the personal disruptions in my personal life, I was unavailable for part of the year, particularly in the spring.

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO ONCEFALLEN DECLINED DRASTICALLY FOR 2019

Donations to OnceFallen.com have declined significantly in 2019, a 43% decrease from 2018. As was the case last year, OnceFallen ends the year 2019 with a budget deficit of around $400. The amount raised for 2019 is merely a third of the raised in the peak year of 2016.

The use for the funds in 2019 included the trip to Chicago for the SMART Office symposium, replacement of work equipment that was lost in February’s fire, and cost for the prisoner outreach (stamps, envelopes, paper, printer toner, etc.). I offer a variety of printed materials to inmates so many letters I send out contain dozens of pages of printed materials.

In response to this, I will be cutting back on certain other projects to concentrate on the one growing area for OnceFallen, prisoner outreach, as well as focusing on improving the housing list and other important info on my website. OnceFallen will still need to raise roughly $1000 to cover past expenses and cover expected expenses related to the aforementioned goals over the coming year. If support continues to decline, then the OnceFallen.com site may go into default and be taken down and all operations may cease.

ONCE FALLEN ACTIVITY STATISTICS

Earlier this year, OnceFallen and SOSEN.org worked out an arrangement by which I will answer prisoner letters sent to either organization. (The person responsible for answering SOSEN’s letters passed away last winter.) This allowed me to expand my efforts to help prisoners find useful information. In part because of that, OnceFallen’s prisoner outreach has seen its fourth year of steady growth despite the personal life disruptions. Moving from Ohio to Nebraska led to loss in ability to respond to phone calls in a timely manner throughout much of 2019.

• Website visitors: 218,040 (334,687 in 2018, down 25.9%)
• ICoN Subscribers: 473 (350 in 2018, up 35%)
• Prisoner Letters: 175 (172 in 2018, up 2%)
• Media Appearances: Two (9 in 2018, down 78%); should be noted one was a letter to the editor and the other was in regard to my victory over Lauren Book's SLAPP Suit
• Individual Contacts: 336 (401 in 2018, down 16%)
• Total # of States with at least one individual contact: 39 (43+DC in 2018)
• States with no known contact in 2019 (as many never identify location, many are from unknown locations, only known locations are ID’ed here): DC, DE, HI, ID, IA, ME, MS, NH, ND, RI, SD, VT
• Contacts from outside the USA: China (1); U.K. (1)
• States from Most to Least number of New Contacts 2019: Location Unknown (67); OH (30); FL (23); CA (21); TX (14); GA & NY (12 each); VA & AL (10 each); PA (9); NC (8); MI &WI (7 each); AZ, CO, IL, WA (6 each); MN, MO, OR (5 each); KY, TN, UT (4 each); AR, KS, MA, SC (3 each); CT, IN, NJ, OK (2 each); AK, LA, MD, MT, NE, NM, NV, WV, WY (1 each)
• First Contacts by month: January, 36; February, 26; March, 13; April, 22; May, 65; June, 28; July, 27; August, 23; Sept, 27; October, 28; November, 15; December, 26
• Contacts by type: Email (105); Letter (81); Phone (70); Corrlinks (58); Text (20); SOSEN.org (1); Facebook (1)

“They are absolutely allowed their voice, but they are not allowed to use our platform for that voice.”

Years ago, there was a website called Examiner.com, a site for freelance writers to try to earn money by writing news reports. They no longer exist, but at the time I tried to write for them. I wrote this article about them years ago on NARSOL's "Tales From the Registry" project but since the NARSOL "Marketing Director" is censoring my work, I'm posting this article here before this is removed from the website. This is an important story that must be shared.

“They are absolutely allowed their voice, but they are not allowed to use our platform for that voice.”
By Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com
February 29, 2016

If you are a registered citizen and you have ever conducted a job search, chances are you have at least one job search horror story. My first job interview after my stint in prison was with OfficeTeam, a “temp-to-hire” company. I had lots of clerical experience, had easily passed their aptitude tests, and was invited to come in to fill out the final paperwork to be added to the jolly crew of office mercenaries. Just as I was about to sign the papers, a woman I had never seen before barged into the room, screaming at me that she told me that they don’t hire people like me. I was never told that, and had been honest on my application, so no one had mentioned it before that moment. She threatened to call the police on me and had me escorted out of the building before I was even able to recover from the shock of this woman’s venomous rant against me. I had expected to experience a lot of disappointment and frustration at trying to find a job with this virtual mark of infamy, but it did not make experiencing the discrimination firsthand any easier to absorb.

If you are a registered citizen, you also realize that your right to express your frustration through social media is also limited; not only do states attempt to limit (if not outright ban) registered citizens from social media like Facebook, social media sites like Facebook also bans registered citizens from their services. The story I wish to tell you today is a melding of these two obstacles (jobs and social media) because it concerns my brief life as a contributor to an online news service.

There are a number of online “independent media” platforms, such as AlterNet or the Huffington Post. Many of these websites allow “citizen journalists” to write for the platform; regular folks like you and I can write for them, and the more people who read what you write, the more you get paid. (Granted, you have to have tens of thousands of readers to make a decent amount of money, but making a few extra bucks to do what you are already doing is not a bad gig.) In February, 2012, I filled out an application with Examiner (Examiner.com), which included a sample of my writing, and within a week, I was approved to write for the Examiner. After living off of public assistance (SSI and SNAP) since April 2006, I was hoping to use my experience writing for Examiner.com to establish myself as a decent researcher and writer.

Even today, Examiner.com does not mention the exclusion of registered citizens (much less anyone with a criminal record) from the qualifications, according to their about us page. (see http://www.examiner.com/About_Examiner) They only ask you to be “credible, passionate, & knowledgeable,” be accurate, contribute regularly, be able to offer a “local” point of view, and be open to feedback. That’s it. The fine print reads, “Examiners must be 18 years of age or older and U.S. or Canadian residents. Each Examiner is required to sign an independent contractor agreement prior to activation.” Not even the contract asks about a criminal record. If it did, I would not have bothered signing up to write for them.

Over the course of six weeks, I published four articles for Examiner.com, until my account was abruptly suspended. Curious, I contacted Examiner.com on March 24, 2012. My email read, “I am wondering why my account was deleted without warning or notification. I have done nothing wrong and all my articles have references.”

Three days later, I received a reply from “Kevin Staunton,” who was listed as the Director of Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Regions Kevin replied, “Derek, Hoping this is temporary, but we’re performing a background check to ensure you’re in compliance with our terms of use. We should have the results shortly and we’ll reach out with next steps at that time. In the meantime, access to your account has been suspended.”

Having never seen anything about background checks in any of the Examiner terms of service, I asked, “What do you mean by ‘background check?’ Do you prohibit certain people from writing for you or something?”

Kevin replied, “Hey Derek, That’s correct; there are certain offenses that would preclude a person from contributing to the site. We have a third party company that performs these background checks on our behalf, and they’re essentially looking at felony crimes and specific offender registries. They do not contact previous/current employers, nor do they perform credit checks. Hope to have this completed shortly.”

“Specific offender registries” was an obvious euphemism for the sex offender registry. Some states do have other registries of people convicted of other types of crimes, but if you mention “THE registry,” pretty much everyone knows you are discussing the public sex offender registry. So I asked Kevin, “So having a felony record or being on the public sex offender registry bans qualified people from contributing? That sounds like discrimination. Are they not allowed a voice? What is the harm in it?”

Kevin’s final reply—“They are absolutely allowed their voice, but they are not allowed to use our platform for that voice.”

The next day, I was sent an email with a PDF attachment that read, “As part of the Examiner.com Examiner screening process, you have been randomly selected to complete a background check. Attached, please find the appropriate disclosure and authorization forms. Although it is your choice whether or not to complete these forms, please know that should you fail to complete the forms (or fail to pass the background check), your Examiner status review will be deemed incomplete, and you will no longer be eligible to participate as an Examiner for Examiner.com. If you do wish to remain an Examiner, you must complete the disclosure and authorization forms in their entirety, and return them to me within 7 days… Please take this request seriously… if you fail to return the forms within 7 days, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your Examiner account immediately, without notice.”

I have a hard time believing I was “randomly selected” for a background check. Not coincidentally, this “random” suspension came just days after I had written an article about Ron Book and the ongoing homeless registrant issue in Miami. (You can find this article, “The sequel no one wanted: Bookville II, return of the Miami sex offender camp”, at http://once-fallen.blogspot.com/2012/04/sequel-no-one-wanted-bookville-ii.html, republished from Examiner.) It is possible that a representative from the Book family targeted me for this story. It may even have been possible the work of one of the various “online vigilante” groups targeting registered citizens on the internet. After all, one recent comment directed at me was, “In the unlikely event that you ever achieve anything remotely resembling any kind of significance, you can be sure that a relatively small number of phone calls and emails will be more than enough to completely ruin you and any delusional hopes you might have had of changing the current hell of your miserable existence [smiley face]. Ironically, individuals complaining about me collecting government assistance are also eager to state that if I try to get a job to benefit myself, “a relatively small number of phone calls and emails” will ruin that for me, so ultimately, why bother looking for a job?

No matter who decided to complain about me to Examiner, the bottom line is I’m no longer writing for Examiner.

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people can be about the difficulties registered citizens face in seeking gainful employment. Even among others within the anti-registry movement, I have been given advice from people who seem to be ignorant of the difficulties of finding a job as a registered citizen. Registered citizens tend to be more highly educated than other people convicted of criminal offenses, yet many of us languish in stressful, low-paying dead-end jobs with little to no upward mobility, assuming jobs even exist.

My experience with Examiner was only one of many job difficulties I have faced since my release in 2003. I have been approached by some good paying jobs over the years, only to be denied because of my status alone. After years of rejection, I have reached a point of having no desire to find traditional employment. I have suffered my own share of anxiety and depression over the years. These days, “jobs” and “work” are four-letter words to me, both literally and figuratively.

The preliminary results from the job and welfare survey I have recently conducted confirm many of the difficulties we all face while carrying this mark of infamy. Some of us carrying this label have found a way to succeed and make decent wages, but not all of us are enterprising or entrepreneurial. Not all of us are good at creating and maintaining businesses with a profit motive. I just so happen to be one of the many people lacking the proficiency to create a successful business. I am grateful that I receive SSI and SNAP (food stamps), because these are the only two programs keeping me from experiencing another bout of homelessness. I will likely remain on these programs until the day I die, unless the general public changes their overall attitude about employing people forced to register as a “sex offender.”

VINDICATION Part 1: Lauren Book's bogus restraining order tossed out by Florida Appeals Court! Eat Crow, Haters!!!

Shockingly, people found the notion of registered persons stating they are human beings "controversial"

Lauren Book tried to silence her largest critic, and for a time, she succeeded, but the appeals court concluded what we knew all along-- saying mean things about someone is not stalking. This would not be possible without a huge assist from Jamie Bemjamin and from Florida Action Committee.

For those who stood by me, many thanks, and to the trolls and critics who attacked me, especially those within this movement who tried to derail me, you only get this recipe for crow. Bon Appetit!

Read the appeals decision here:

https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Logue-v.-Book.pdf

News story:

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/08/14/court-voids-stalking-injunction-involving-florida-senator-lauren-book/

Court Voids Stalking Injunction Involving Florida Senator Lauren Book
August 14, 2019 at 12:43 pm

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami/AP) — An appeals court has overturned a stalking injunction placed on a man who disagrees with a state senator’s view on sex offenders.

The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that the injunction violated Derek Logue’s free speech rights and did not meet other Florida legal requirements.

The injunction barred Logue from several forms of contact with or proximity to Democratic state Sen. Lauren Book, a well-known supporter of strict offender laws involving child sexual abuse.

Logue had protested Book’s appearance at a children’s march in Tallahassee. He also criticized her publicly at a New York film festival and through social media and blog posts.

A lower court granted the injunction, but the appeals judges found Logue’s conduct fell short of the legal definitions necessary for one.

Below is the "Offensive" song that Book claims is about her. LOL! (Oh, "Trigger Warning" for you with virgin ears)

People who now will owe me an apology and/or financial compensation:

Ronald Lee Book
Lauren Francis Book
Claire Van Susteren
Peter Schorsh of Florida Politics
Judge Andrew Kaplan
Dwayne Daughtry
Michael McKay
TNF_13

ANNOUNCEMENT: Once Fallen formally condemns the actions of Michael McKay of Registry Report and Dwayne Daughtry of NCRSOL

If there is one thing I do not tolerate, it is people making false allegations about me. Since last weekend, three Twitter users, "Michael McKay" of Registry Report (who is listed o his Twitter page as NARSOL's "Marketing Director"), Dwayne Daughtry (who claims to be NC-RSOL's Executive Director on his Twitter page), and a self-proclaimed pedophile activist known only as TNF_13 attacked me and a couple of supporters of mine last weekend on social media. I personally don't care if someone disagrees with me or doesn't like my form of activism, since there are plenty of people I disagree with and do not follow, either. But these three people crossed the line by claiming that I'm doxxing them, harassing them, and calling the police on them, while they are doing some of the very things they have claimed that I have done. 

Thus, I have formally removed any links to the websites of McKay and Daughtry, as well as any organizations formally linked to them. Until they are deposed from those organizations, I will not promote them in any way. As TNF 13 is a pro-pedophilia activist I never supported him so I never had a link from his material on my site in the first place.

These two have taken to formally trying to silence my activism and have not relented, so I have posted this to my website as well.

Below are among the posts McKay has made. Daughtry posted my mugshot back in March. That kind of behavior is unethical.

Projection is the act of accusing others of engaging in the very same behaviors. At least one of my false accusers/ harassers  trying to use the false arrest I endured this year has been twice convicted of sexual offenses. Some people in this movement have not bothered to ask for proof of these dubious claims. I am more than willing to prove i am the victim, not the aggressive, in this targeted harassment campaign. Show us the proof!