Should autistic man have to register as a sex offender?

4-29-17 Pennsylvania:

Brett Mika allegedly used his cell phone to solicit sex from a 15-year-old.

But the 32-year-old Bethlehem man is autistic and has the sexual awareness of a 12-year-old, according to his attorney.

If he's convicted and forced to register as a sex offender, he risks losing the insurance that helps him get sex offender treatment and faces big obstacles moving to a treatment facility when his parents can no longer care for him, attorney Rory Driscole said.

Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta must decide whether Mika's special needs outweigh the need to protect the community.

Iris Scans Come to Nursing Homes. Next Stop, Your Phone

4-25-17 Pennsylvania:

The citizens of Brevillier Village like living there. The retirement neighborhood in Erie, Pennsylvania overlooks Lake Erie, and paths dotted by benches follow the shoreline. The site presents beautiful views, and a grave menace: Just over and above the fence at the edge of the residence lies a cliff that plunges 30 ft to the water down below.

Compounding the risk, elderly citizens with progressing states of dementia reside in the making closest to the cliff. To defend them from hurt, Brevillier adopted technology more widespread in sci-fi thrillers than houses: iris scan recognition.

A biometric that most individuals associate with a specifically grisly scene in Minority Report makes a whole lot of perception for elder care. Keycodes can be hard to remember, and complicated to tap into a keypad if you experience from tremors or weak vision. Fingerprints may well operate, but your skin thins as you age, creating prints harder to browse. Moreover, a weakened immune program boosts the microbial hazard of critical pads and fingerprint viewers. All of which would make unlocking a door with your eyes fairly handy.

TARGET 11: Pa. nursing homes not required to notify patients, families when sex offenders move in

2-10-16 Pennsylvania:

PITTSBURGH — While some states have passed laws requiring nursing homes to notify patients and families when a registered sex offender moves in, a Target 11 investigation revealed that no such law exists in Pennsylvania.

Staff at the nursing homes may not even know because the state only notifies them when a sexually violent predator moves in.

Target 11's Rick Earle took the addresses of nursing homes and cross referenced them to the addresses of registered sex offenders on the Megan’s Law website in order to find which local nursing homes have sex offenders as residents.

Norman Carl Nelson, who was convicted of rape in 1989, is one local sex offender who lists his address as a nursing home in Wilkinsburg.

Stacie Coates, who worked at the nursing home for several months, said she didn’t know Nelson was a registered sex offender.

“I had heard there was few in there. (But) I didn't know for sure,” she told Earle.

While it doesn’t bother her to learn that she was working around a sex offender, Coates said she would think twice about putting a loved one in the home.

“Well, now that I know that, I probably wouldn't,” she said. “I wouldn't do that.”

Others Earle found on the Megan’s Law website living at local nursing homes included Walter William Boyd on Pittsburgh’s North Side, John Thomas Spencer in Monroeville, Peary Lee Weikel in Beaver and John Robert Randall in Cranberry Township.

“They talk about it being the only crime they don't age out of. Also I'm assuming if someone's in a nursing home, they're health is compromised. So I guess it would be interesting to see how mobile they are, how ambulatory they are,” Alison Hall, with Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, said.

A study by “A Perfect Cause,” a nursing home advocacy group, in 2005 found that there were 1,600 registered sex offenders in long-term care facilities across the country, and they documented more than 60 crimes, including rapes and assaults.

Target 11 reached out to all of the local nursing home where sex offenders were found to be living but only heard back from the North Side location, which issued the following statement:

“We do not feel that any patients, staff or visitors are currently at risk. If the possible issue of a sexual predator residing in the facility occurred, we would communicate the information to our families and residents while protecting patient privacy.”

Target 11 spoke with Pittsburgh attorney Rob Peirce, who handles elderly and nursing home abuse cases, about what advice he’d offer to those looking to place a loved one in a nursing home.

“It's simple for someone to go and look at the facility. Is it clean? Is it dirty? But you can't just put a loved one in a convenient location,” he said. “You must look into the background of that facility as best you can, the employees and who may be staying there.”

As for the reliance of the self-reporting Megan’s Law website, law enforcement officials told Earle that they do random compliance checks.

Last year alone, officers checked more than 2,000 addresses across Pennsylvania and found only 40 offenders who were not in compliance. Police said the non-compliance rate stands at less than 2 percent. ..Source.. by WPIX.com

Sex offender in legal limbo over residency

6-27-15 Pennsylvania:

LEWISBURG — Can a man’s parole be revoked if he’s never been out from behind bars? That’s the question in the case of Samuel Grove, a Lewisburg man and convicted sex offender who, despite being in a parole phase remains in jail — 13 years and counting — because he has nowhere to go.

It also points to the problem of after-jail housing for sex offenders, whose freedom relies on restrictions for where they can live and whose histories make them unwelcome just about everywhere.

On Friday in Union County Court, Judge Michael Sholley continued the case for Grove, 43, of Lewisburg, who was sentenced in 2003 four to eight years in prison for sexual assaulting four young men in Union County in 2002.

Grove was in court Friday for a parole revocation hearing, having been transferred last month to Union County Prison after he maxed out his time in the state system. Aside of three days of release after Grove served his eight-year maximum, he hasn’t been free.

Elderly inmates cared for at SCI-Laurel Highlands

9-13-2014 Pennsylvania:

SOMERSET, Pennsylvania — Though he doesn't like to dwell on it, Charles is fully aware of the fact that he could die within the sterile walls of the Somerset prison where he is confined.

The 67-year-old spent the last four years at SCI-Laurel Highlands because of failing health. He's lost his vision, his right leg and often prays for death.

"I would never hurt myself," he said. "But there's nothing here and there's nothing on the streets."

Charles isn't alone. He's one of hundreds of inmates assigned to SCI-Laurel Highlands because of poor health or rehabilitative needs who will more than likely die while serving their prison sentence. The state Department of Corrections does not allow media reports to include inmate's last names, their crimes or certain personal information, but did allow a reporter and photographer inside the walls of the prison for elderly inmates earlier this summer.

More than 10 percent of the state's prison population is considered "elderly," with anyone 55 years or older being grouped into the category, according to the Department of Corrections.

Many, like Charles, are in poor health as a result of a preexisting condition. Others are recovering from injuries sustained while committing their crimes.