Posts Tagged ‘ Protect Our Children ’

Protect Our Children has challenged the planned visit of a British sex offender scheduled to perform at a concert in May.  Jimmy Pursey, a member of the Punk group “Sham 69″, is slated to appear May 25th, at a music festival called “Punk Rock Bowling 2012″, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2002, Pursey received a “Caution” from police in Weybridge, U.K., for committing an Indecent Assault on a teenaged girl.  The British “Caution”, which has no corollary in the U.S., allows offenders to avoid trial if they agree to admit guilt and register with the police.  They are also listed on the United Kingdom’s “Registry of Sexual and Violent Offenders”.

Correspondence sent to John Morton, Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.), renewed the group’s objection to the practice of granting visas to foreign nationals who have been registered as Sex Offenders in their homelands.  The March 14th letter calls the practice “a slap in the face” to victims of sexual abuse.

In a response dated March 26, Deputy Director Peter T. Edge, said the Department of Homeland Security takes the allegations seriously, and has forwarded the information to the D.H.S. field office.

In 2010, the Brevard County charity joined other child-advocacy organizations in protesting Pete Townshend’s performance at the SuperBowl in Miami.  The group, which informs local citizens about convicted child molesters, mailed a sex offender advisory to residents living in the vicinity of the stadium in Miami Gardens.

Immigration officials were also notified that permitting foreign sex offenders to enter the U.S., is in conflict, with the “Moral Turpitude” clause, found in American immigration law.  Townshend, a member of the British rock band: The WHO, received a Caution in 1983 after his arrest for paying to access child pornography.

by Kevin Gillick

The grandmother of a young girl who was sexually assaulted, says the child’s abuser doesn’t deserve to be released.

Richard Lee Brown, 63,  stood silently, listening to the woman’s sob-choked comments to Judge Robert T.  Burger, on June 23rd, in Viera. Brown was sentenced to serve 354 days in jail followed by eight years of probation, for sexually abusing a four year-old girl.

Brown was arrested by Cocoa Police in September 2010, charged with one count of Lewd Conduct with a Child, and one count of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation of a Child Under 12. Defense Attorney Michael Kelley negotiated a plea agreement calling for Brown to plead guilty to the “Lewd Conduct” charge, in exchange for the probation sentence.  State prosecutors dropped the second count, which could have sent Brown to prison for life. The State Attorney agreed not to file charges relating to child pornography, reportedly found in Brown’s possession.  

Due to the age of his victim, Brown will be registered as a Sexual Offender for the rest of his life.  He must wear a G.P.S. tracking device, and complete a sex offender therapy program. Brown was given credit for 275 days of time served in jail since his arrest. Judge Burger agreed to waive the costs of supervision for the first year of his probation.

His attorney said he expects Brown to be “homeless” when he is released from custody.  Local ordinances prohibit Brown from residing in his Cocoa home because it is located within 1.000 feet of a school. Kelley said his client, who has awaited sentencing in the Brevard County Jail since pleading “Guilty” in May,  might relocate to Georgia to complete his sentence. 

The tearful grandmother – the only family member to address the court, hurried from the Moore Justice Center after making her statement.

Court Monitors from Protect Our Children were present for the hearing.

View Richard L. Brown’s current status: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveOffenders/detail.asp?Bookmark=1&From=list&SessionID=448003557

View the flier and portions of Barrineau’s criminal file: Barrineau

by Kevin Gillick

Cliff Barrineau lucked out.  In 1995, a judge in Osceola County sentenced him to “Time Served”. The gavel sounded one month prior to the enactment of  Florida’s sex offender registration law.  As a result, the 40 year-old is not listed among other rapists and molesters on the state’s registry.

Restrictions applied to sentenced sex felons do not apply to Barrineau. He can live and work wherever he pleases, and police are not required to tell anyone.

The owner of the home day care, three doors down, is not so lucky.  Her frantic phone call received minutes after a flier was placed on her door, posed the question heard repeatedly on February, 22: “What can we do about him?”

The young couple who live next door to Barrineau asked the same question. A volunteer from Protect Our Children approached the open door and told the little girl to get her mommy. When the woman came close, the man held up the black and white notice and her face became grave. Sweeping the child backward toward the T.V. set, she summoned her husband.  In the failing light of a crisp, late winter day, three adults stood on a porch in Largo Florida, speaking in hushed tones:  “Yes, he sexually assaulted an eleven year-old girl…Yes, he lives next door..No, the police can’t make him leave…” 

The father begins to grind his teeth and cut sideways glances at the house next door as the volunteer shows him Barrineau’s original charges. The messenger flips the pages showing eight counts of sexual abuse including two referencing  the rape of a child under twelve – capital felonies punishable by life in prison.  Next, he shows the sentencing order, followed by the plea bargain which dropped everything but a single offense. Finally, he jabs his finger near the bottom of the last page, showing Barrineau’s business registration at his 15th Avenue address.

“You can keep your eye on your child…” the man said, “… and let your neighbors know”  They nodd slowly as he moves off through the neighborhood. 

He joins others winding through yards where little houses squat under massive Live Oaks. They flow around the houses where ancient garages have become two family homes and chicken coops have been converted into duplexes. They jam the fliers into gaps between rickety screen doors and their peeling frames. They pin them under flower pots and roll them into tubes to be wedged behind pull handles.

Just as the street lights shudder to life,  they climb back into the car.  Nearly two hundred fliers have been distributed. 

 The car creeps past groups of women in the street - some wave, others stare.  A tall, neatly dressed man stands in a driveway translating the flier aloud for a young woman with a baby in her arms.

The volunteers assemble at a fast food restaurant, where they rejoin the others who were dispatched to other locations.

They talk  about the people at the ballet school where Barrineau was hired to edit a video of a children’s recital.  They describe the reaction of the security man at the Synagogue where Barrineau performed as a mime for a childrens mitzva.

There will be enough talk to last the entire three hours of the return trip to Brevard County.  “You can keep an eye on your child and let others know…”

View the superb coverage of Ciff Barrineau’s involvement with school children, by News Channel 8′s  Mark Douglas: http://video.tbo.com/search?media=video&sort=date&q=barrineau