Category Archives: Victimless Crimes

Thirteen new pickleball courts were opened in Monument Valley Park after a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Photo courtesy of Mike Hess

My husband and I play pickleball and appreciate the help the City Council provided to complete the 14 pickleball courts in Monument Valley Park. Like the U.S. Olympic Museum supporters, Pikes Peak Pickleball raised some of the money. Pickleball is a fast-growing nationwide sport. Tournaments will bring many tourist dollars into the local economy. It was part of the State Games last year.

Thank you, Colorado Springs City Council for your support. It was a good investment. Now, please extend that same wise support by giving LART funds for another very deserving group - The U.S. Olympic Museum. Our area and state will benefit 100 times over the investment of $500,000.

Janice E. Brewington

Colorado Springs

Misguided government policies

Lisa Butler's recent letter really resonated with me. From its contents, I am reasonably certain that we are close to the same generation, and assuredly of the same mindset. She perfectly and eloquently expressed the misgivings I am feeling. Our Congress must act strongly and swiftly to address the business of this country and put aside all thoughts of how their actions will affect their next campaign. The urgency to get the seeds of racism, misogyny, isolationism and violence weeded out of our society is now, and the desperate condition of our infrastructure calls for hard work and immediacy. It seems our recent leadership styles harken back to the days when "Nero fiddled while Rome burned."

Our children need and deserve every measure of education, health and protection we can give them or the future is lost. I do wonder how much money ICE spent arresting the two parents for deportation who recently made the news. Their victimless "crimes" don't begin to warrant their treatment - our law enforcement community should be using all their resources to track down, arrest and incarcerate or deport the vile criminals who do so much harm to our society with their drugs and murderous natures.

The children left behind in both instances are the true victims of the ICEs' misguided policy. I accept that the parents broke the law, but we should adjudicate with compassion instead of harshness, considering the impact these decisions make.

I used to identify myself as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party midlife and now feel I have no choice at all. The absurdity of this administration and its fumbling, dishonest, self-serving behavior is absolutely beyond the pale and the last administration went too far in overreaching the powers given them, so I feel total antipathy for them both.

We, as citizens, have to shoulder the blame for the current state of affairs and do whatever is necessary to remedy it both at the ballot box and on the streets. Keep marching and protesting.

Carol Bishop

Colorado Springs

Just plain old hate speech

It took me a couple day's to gag down the diatribe that appeared on last Wednesday's OP/ED page, complements of Lisa Butler. It was kind of like that train wreck you don't really want to see, but can't help watching anyway.

The longer I thought about most of the assertions she made in her letter, it became clear to me that it was just plain old hate speech! Nothing more, nothing less! Our president is a "bigoted, misogynist who encourages discrimination?" "Thousands have taken his views as carte blanche to kill and burn places of worship?" "We now have over 100 recognized hate groups, up from 30 just a few years ago?" Unbelievable! All the civil rights, and gay rights talk really can't hide the fact that most of it was just hate speech. I wonder Ms. Butler's letter would have looked like had Hillary Clinton been elected?

Randy Pierce

Colorado Springs

Carrier passionate about his work

Several years ago we moved into the Kissing Camels neighborhood and I was introduced to a Gazette mail carrier by the name of Howard Pudder. After a short time, we found Howard to be a devoted and dedicated man who took pride in every aspect of his job. I witnessed over the years a man who through thick and thin quietly approached our home, got out of his vehicle and placed the paper against our front door.

I recall after moving into our home, having a concern that on many early morning flights my paper would not arrive before I had to leave to catch my plane. Howard quickly put that concern to rest as time and time again in the wee early morning hours I saw Howard's headlights coming up the drive. I never knew Howard personally, just an exchange of cards at Christmas time but I knew him as a man who was passionate about his work and someone who always did his very best at what he did. In a day and age where everyone fights over everything and seeks to gain an edge, I found Howard to be someone the rest of the world should try and emulate. Thank you for your dedicated service these last years and a job well done. Rest In Peace, Howard.

Ray McElhaney

Colorado Springs

Only time will tell

You may remember that I pointed out to you shortly after the last election that we had been snookered by 2C as the city was using road improvement funds to improve gutters and curbs (drainage improvements). While the city stopped displaying the signs touting how pleased they were that a particular improvement was part of 2C, they did in fact continue to misuse funds for drainage improvements, and to "blackwash" roads that needed no fixing at all, while totally ignoring the streets that truly needed fixing. Think of Pikes Peak between Union and downtown for instance.

At that time I also told you that I voted for keeping excess revenue and against new taxes. I have decided to again vote for the city to keep excess revenue. Had there been a tax increase request, I would have voted against it.

I want to believe that our most recent presidential election has impressed upon them the need to stop lying to us.

Only time will tell.

Kenneth Duncan

Colorado Springs

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LETTERS: Another good investment; only time will tell | Colorado ... - Colorado Springs Gazette

I have to say its awesome to see so many states standing up to the Fed, using the 10th Amendment to tell them to back off, so that states can do as they please. We see this almost daily, from the legalization of marijuana, to the blocking of federal civil asset forfeiture laws. All of this is awesome, but is it enough? No, it most certainly is not.

Americas Founders were brilliant men, no doubt. They established our government under federalism, where we have a centralized federal system, and those powers were spread amongst the states, with the authority to rebuke federal law should any state deem it appropriate to do so. In the event the federal government became too powerful, they provided us with Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution, the Convention of States, to restrain out of control federal power. In fact, we have current elected officials who are hard-core constitutionalists pushing for an Article 5 Convention as we speak. But will it work? Thats a question I cannot, and I dont believe anyone else, can answer. If it doesnt work, Im afraid what we are left with would be another revolutionary war.

For the sake of argument, however, lets say it does work and we place the necessary restraints on the federal government. What about us at the state level against our own state governments? What if they became tyrannical, and out of control? I would argue they already are, in many forms, whether through excessive taxation, insane gun control laws, ridiculous and unnecessary licensing fees and requirements, and, of course, enforcement of victimless crimes. What do we do then?

While it is not specifically cited in the U.S. Constitution, Federalist Papers No. 28 by Alexander Hamilton makes it clear what might be necessary at the state level to preserve our liberties:

In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.

Now, some of you might say, Well Hamilton said having no distinct government in each, referring to your local counties and cities. Okay, fair point, but I will remind you that your local city and county governments enforce state statutes, and therefore, the only centralized government is the state government. So what are we to do?

Provided we successfully restrict and restrain the federal government as provided, the next step for us is to do the same to our individual state governments. As there is no provision that Im aware of in any of our individual states constitution to restrain our states individual power, Im afraid the last recourse we have would again be a revolutionary one as Alexander Hamilton specifically wrote about. It is much harder to fight back at the local level than at the federal level. Hamilton knew this as well, as he also stated in Federalist Paper No. 28:

The smaller the extent of the territory, the more difficult will it be for the people to form a regular or systematic plan of opposition, and the more easy will it be to defeat their early efforts. Intelligence can be more speedily obtained of their preparations and movements, and the military force in the possession of the usurpers can be more rapidly directed against the part where the opposition has begun. In this situation there must be a peculiar coincidence of circumstances to insure success to the popular resistance.

Hamilton knew and recognized the fact that our own state powers could of course become tyrannical as well, and that it would be even more difficult at state levels to fight back against it, although it may become necessary to do so. Hamilton continued:

The obstacles to usurpation and the facilities of resistance increase with the increased extent of the state, provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them. The natural strength of the people in a large community, in proportion to the artificial strength of the government, is greater than in a small, and of course more competent to a struggle with the attempts of the government to establish a tyranny.

Artificial strength of the government. What a powerful, yet accurate statement. Their power is absolutely artificial. It only remains non-artificial if we stand by and do nothing and allow it to be more than what it is. Local law enforcement officers will either stand with us, or stand against us, just as any federal law enforcement officers would have to do at the federal level, and thats a decision each of them will have to live with.

_________________

Shane Foster has worked his entire career in military law enforcement, corrections, and as a private investigator. He has a unique perspective into how law enforcement operates from within its ranks, our judicial system, as well as our privacy laws and how every day our individual freedoms and liberties are gradually taken away from us and our individual rights abused on a regular basis.

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Restraining Federal Power Is Not Enough To Protect Individual Freedom - Being Libertarian

Crime against convenience retailers cost an estimated 232m in 2016 an average of over 4,600 a store according to new figures from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS).

Shop theft totalled 130m-plus equivalent to 2,600 a store with the most commonly stolen items being alcohol, meat and confectionery.

The organisations Crime Report 2017 revealed fraud costs convenience stores more than 8m last year, while incidents of staff theft amounted to 61m and there were more than9,400 incidents of violence against retailers and employees.

It also showed that retailers spend 3,900-plus a year on crime prevention measures including CCTV, more secure cash storage and external security staff.

Sarah Newton, minister for vulnerability, safeguarding and countering extremism, said: Retail crime harms businesses, consumers and communities, while violent crime can have a devastating impact on the victim. This government is acting to tackle both violent and retail crime, by identifying what drives criminals and bringing together new research, techniques and technology to prevent offending and bring perpetrators to justice.

We are working closely with police and retailers to improve our understanding of the nature of crimes against the sector. Just last month our work with police and petrol station retailers, led by the ACS, saw us introduce new measures to tackle petrol theft.

James Lowman, ACS chief executive, said: Over the last year, many retailers have reported a significant increase in the level of crime. There are many factors influencing this, including investment in crime detection measures such as CCTV and external security, which has led to retailers being more aware of the theft occurring in their stores.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of what are perceived to be low- level crimes, such as shop theft, still go unreported to police. Shop theft is not a victimless crime, and must be taken seriously by the police. The current laws around shop theft do not adequately capture those who are repeat offenders stealing low-value items on a regular basis and we believe this needs to change.

We encourage retailers to build relationships with local police forces and show them the damage, both financial and human, that theft and other crimes do to them and their staff.

Originally posted here:

Convenience stores count the cost of retail crime - Talking Retail - Talking Retail

There are grey areas. Its not me who did it so Im not responsible. They are smiling so they must be enjoying it.

These statements are all the less palatable when you consider they are excuses used by those looking at child abuse on the internet.

There are many people who think that men and women who commit these crimes cannot be helped.

But the staff at Stop It Now! are not among that number. They cant be.

For they work for a child protection charity, working towards the prevention and eradication of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The six-strong Scottish teams daily routine revolves around trying to change offenders behaviour and making them see that viewing sexual abuse of a child online is not a victimless crime its a serious one which could lead to a prison sentence.

Stuart Allardyce is the director of the Scottish arm of the charity, founded eight years ago.

A social worker for more than 20 years, he has worked on both sides of the spectrum helping survivors of sexual abuse and those who have commited it.

Stuart admits to being sensitive to those who believe offenders cannot be rehabilitated.

However, he is also in little doubt of the need for the services provided by Stop It Now!

Twelve months ago the charity in Scotland launched its Get Help website, giving people a chance to access self-help material in a bid to help them stop viewing indecent images of children on the internet.

And the figures speak for themselves.

Stuart said: In the last year, there has been a 400 per cent increase in those accessing the website. And every time we publicise it, theres a huge spike too.

That alone shows the need that exists for the services we provide.

Last year, 1530 people from Scotland visited the website in a bid to stop their own viewing of online sexual images of children or that of a loved one.

Over the same 12 month period, a further 78 men from Scotland called Stop it Now! to get help to stop viewing sexual images of children online.

The charity also holds weekly help groups at its Edinburgh base.

Around 100 individuals attended last year the youngest was 14 years old and the oldest 72.

Stuart said: We work with individuals who are concerned about their online behaviour, as well as their family and partners.

People come from all over Scotland to attend, having contacted our office to get direct help.

Some individuals have already put a lot of energy into stopping their behaviour; others who approach us perhaps have some ambivalence about what they are doing.

They will say its not them who is abusing the child so theyre not responsible, or there are grey areas and they didnt know what age the child was or that the children are smiling in the images so they must be enjoying it.

There are often a set of distortions around their behaviour so we have to be very clear.

There are no grey areas. Looking at images of children being sexually abused or exploited is illegal.

It is not a victimless crime these images are created when a child is sexually abused or exploited and the children are victims.

It is not just a crime it is a serious one you can be arrested and taken into custody for it.

While some may think these people are beyond help, Stop It Nows work shows promising results.

Stuart explained: Im sensitive to comments about people not being able to change its understandable why people may think that.

Some of the people we see, theres a real persistence to their behaviour.

But our work is evaluated quite rigorously both on the helpline and in our groups.

And the majority of people who engage with us do seem to be able to control their behaviour online.

Some of it is about changing attitudes individuals sometimes have a set of excuses.

We make it very clear that there are no grey areas.

We make them look at their motivations and help them develop healthier lifestyles to make them move away from that.

There are no two people we see who are exactly the same.

Some people we work with have watched a considerable amount of mainstream porn but, for some reason, have started to access illegal sites.

A number we work with have background issues such as stress, depression and social isolation. Others are in relationships but feel emotionally lonely.

For some, it means cutting off completely from the internet.

In addition to the 78 men who rang Stop it Now! in Scotland, a further 28 adults from Scotland rang last year to express their concerns about the online behaviour of another adult.

These calls were typically from wives or parents, who Stop It Now! also helps.

Stuart explained: We work closely with family and partners.

It can be devastating for them to discover that a loved one has been looking at these kinds of images.

We work with them to explore their feelings and, if they can, how they can support them through it.

In some situations, looking at this material might be just another factor in difficulties that already exist in a relationship.

In others, couples can work together and move through what is a devastating situation. People need to make their own decisions.

Sadly, some only come to the charitys attention later.

Stuart added: Weve worked with hundreds of men arrested for viewing sexual images of children.

For many, being arrested was a real wake-up call. Many knew what they were doing was wrong but struggled to change their behaviour and thats where we come in.

But there are thousands of people out there viewing sexual images of under 18s.

We need to get to them too, to help them understand what they are doing is illegal and incredibly harmful to the children in the images and to get them to stop.

Child protection at charitys heart

The Get Help website http://www.get-help.stopitnow.org.uk is operated by Stop it Now!, a sexual abuse prevention campaign run by child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

It is the only UK-wide charity focused solely on reducing the risk of children being sexually abused.

The Get Help website offers self-help tools and resources to help users address their behaviour and stop looking at online sexual images of children.

It also provides information and support to partners and friends of people arrested for, or suspected of, accessing online child abuse images.

Stop it Now! is a public education campaign run by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

The charity also runs a confidential helpline 0808 1000 900 for people seeking help to change their behaviour.

Since 2002 the helpline has provided advice and support to 31,500 callers and emailers, who made 60,000 contacts. Some 55 per cent were from people concerned about their own behaviour.

The charity also runs internet safety seminars for schools and provides training for professionals, parents, carers and other adults.

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Stop looking at child abuse online - get help now - Falkirk Herald

A judge sentenced a Groton man to five years in prison Wednesday for robbing an Old Lyme bank in 2015, telling the man to put himself in the position of the victims of his lengthy criminal record.

Herman "Butchie" Smith says he doesnt remember the afternoon in September 2015 when he walked into the Webster Bank in Old Lyme andgave a teller a white plastic bag and a note written in purple crayon that said, "Give me the money no one gets hurt," his defense attorney told Judge Hillary B. Strackbein in New London Superior Courton Wednesday.

Smith, whose acquaintances told police the Groton resident was addicted to heroin, was under the influence of drugs that day,attorney M. Fred DeCaprio said before Strackbein sentenced Smith to five years in prison and imposedfive years of special parole following his release.

Smith, 40,had pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery as part of a plea agreement between DeCaprio and State's Attorney Lawrence J. Tytla.

Tytla said Smith, who fled the scene of the robbery on a bicycle, left the bank with about $14,000.

He has 22 criminal convictions for robbery, larceny and drug possession, and served three years in prison for the 2007 robbery of a Mystic Bank, according to police and court records. He also has violated probation requirements for many of those sentences, Tytla said Wednesday.

Smith's sentence also includes a three-year sentence for conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny and a one-year sentence for violation of a protective order, both of which he will serve concurrentlywith the five years for robbery.

Smith pleaded guilty to both of those charges under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates he does not agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to risk a trial, where he could receive a harsher sentence if convicted.

After police releasedsurveillance photographs of the Sept. 23 robbery to the media, several relatives and acquaintances contacted police to identify him. Some recognized Smith, a reported UConn Huskies fan and an avid bicyclist, because he was wearing aHuskies basketball cap in the surveillancephotos andfled on a racing bike.

Strackbein admonished Smith for his lengthy criminal record and told him that bank tellers "have to live in fear anytime someone walks in the bank."

"People who think that drugs are victimless crimes are wrong, once again," she told Smith. "If you want to use drugs and rob people, and rob banks,that's going to be your life ... and so far that's been your life."

m.shanahan@theday.com

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Groton man who robbed Old Lyme bank on a bike sentenced to five years - theday.com

Donald Trump delivers his first speech to Congress

THE TRUMP administration is planning to create a new agency inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whose main purpose is to inflame xenophobia and spread the lie that immigrants are likely to be violent criminals.

Trump first called for the creation of the VOICE (Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement) Office in his January 25 executive order. The details of how this order would be carried out were released a month later in a memo issued by DHS Director John Kelly. The order and Kelly's memo establish three priorities for VOICE:

First, act as a liaison between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and "known victims of crimes committed by removable aliens," providing information to victims and their families about the immigration and custody status of the alleged offenders.

Second, issue monthly reports of "statistical data regarding aliens apprehended by ICE," including a wide variety of information concerning the alleged offenders' countries of origin, criminal history, gang affiliation, prior immigration violations, etc.

Third, issue weekly reports concerning "non-Federal jurisdictions that release aliens from their custody, notwithstanding that such aliens are subject to a detainer or similar request for custody issued by ICE to that jurisdiction"--in other words, to name and shame sanctuary jurisdictions for refusing to cooperate with deportation efforts. As outlined in Kelly's memo, this report, too, will contain as much information as possible about the alleged offenders.

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VOICE IS being proposed as a solution to something that few people outside the right wing's bubble think is a problem: that crime victims aren't given enough information about the immigration status of the alleged offenders. According to the DHS memo:

Criminal aliens routinely victimize Americans and other legal residents. Often, these victims are not provided adequate information about the offender, the offender's immigration status, or any enforcement action taken by ICE against the offender. Efforts by ICE to engage these victims have been hampered by prior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy extending certain Privacy Act protections to persons other than U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, leaving victims feeling marginalized and without a voice.

This is pure demagoguery. If someone is victimized by, for example, a drunk driver, their concern is with the criminal act of drunk driving, not the immigration status of the driver. Not being aware a driver's immigration status doesn't make them any more marginalized or "voiceless" than not knowing the driver's religion or political affiliation.

The same principle applies to any crime, however serious: From the standpoint of seeking justice for victims and their loved ones, the immigration status of the offenders can make no possible difference.

It can, however, have considerable political value, and this is surely what Trump and Kelly are seeking to exploit.

There is an undeniable emotional power to claiming to the family of a murder victim that their loved one's killer "never should have been in the country to begin with." The shock and grief resulting from this news can easily be used for propaganda purposes: Even if the grieving family do not themselves become activists against "criminal aliens," their story can still be exploited to encourage others to follow this path.

It was for precisely this reason that, when announcing the creation of VOICE in his February 28 joint address to Congress, Trump pointed out "four very brave Americans" in the audience, all of whom have lost loved ones to violent crimes allegedly perpetrated by undocumented immigrants.

This, apparently, is what it means to "give a voice" to such people: trotting them out for an internationally televised event and publicly exploiting their grief and loss in order to further your own racist anti-immigrant agenda.

The executive order that gave rise to VOICE also directs the DHS to "prioritize the removal" of undocumented immigrants in a variety of categories, including those who have been convicted of a crime, charged with a crime--or committed "acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense," but have not been charged or otherwise pose a threat to public safety or national security "in the judgment of an immigration officer."

The effect of these guidelines, in short, is to declare any undocumented immigrant whom an ICE agent thinks is a criminal to be a criminal.

It remains to be seen whether this very broad conception of "crime" will be carried over into the reports produced by VOICE compiling "statistical data" about crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and weekly reports concerning the non-cooperation of sanctuary jurisdictions. The possibility is certainly there--notice, for instance, that VOICE's monthly report will provide statistics about people apprehended by ICE.

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FROM THE earliest days of his presidential campaign, Trump declared loudly and often that the U.S. is experiencing an epidemic of crime committed by undocumented immigrants, and he cultivated alliances with racist anti-immigration groups and individuals.

Now that he's in power, Trump's executive order is an attempt to criminalize immigration itself--and VOICE is the poison he wants to pump into the culture to get people to go along with it.

One of Trump's key allies in this effort is Maria Espinoza, co-founder and National Director of the Remembrance Project, a Houston-based organization that "advocates for families whose loved ones were killed by illegal aliens," most notably by adding their names and images to its "Stolen Lives Quilt."

According to Espinoza's biography on the project's website--which doesn't mention her ties to white nationalists like John Tanton--she has worked since 2009 to "unite the 'stolen lives' families, educating the public of the epidemic of killings across the country, and raising the awareness of the effects of illegal immigration. It is not a victimless crime."

This brief passage lays bare the two lies at the heart of the Remembrance Project, and of Trump's own agenda: First, that undocumented immigrants are responsible for an "epidemic of killings across the country"; and second, that illegal immigration itself leads to violent crime.

In fact, research has consistently shown that immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans, and that there is either no correlation between crime rates and levels of immigration. If anything, crime rates appear to decrease as immigration levels rise.

But even if immigrants were not less likely to commit crimes, VOICE would still be cause for concern. The clear intent of these measures is to stoke public hatred of immigrants--and the administration's rhetoric about "upholding the laws of this nation" is a coded racist message aimed at that end.

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THE UNVEILING of VOICE immediately--and rightly--prompted comparisons to Nazi Germany. As Peter Beinart wrote in The Atlantic:

In The Nazi Conscience, Duke historian Claudia Koonz notes that the Nazi newspaper Der Strmer ran a feature called "Letter Box," which published readers' accounts of Jewish crimes. When the Nazis took power, the German state began doing something similar. Frustrated by the failure of most Germans to participate in a boycott of Jewish businesses in April 1933, Adolf Hitler's government began publicizing Jewish crime statistics as a way of stoking anti-Semitism.

In Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution, the historian Saul Friedlander notes that, until 1938, Hitler's Ministry of Justice ordered prosecutors to forward every criminal indictment against a Jew so the ministry's press office could publicize it.

The parallels between the Nazis' use of crime statistics and those contemplated by VOICE are troubling enough. But because of its status as a "legitimate" government agency, VOICE's programs also have the potential to inject into the mainstream the propaganda of far-right publications and websites that are the modern-day equivalent of Der Strmer's.

These publications have already managed to do great harm. For instance, Dylann Roof, the anti-Black terrorist who slaughtered nine people in a South Carolina church in 2015, acknowledges that he he came across "pages upon pages of these brutal Black on white murders" on the website of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a notorious white supremacist organization.

In Roof's case, the connection between racist "reporting" of crimes and violence is unusually direct and explicit. But if his story is an extreme case, it is by no means unique. And, of course, the CCC is far from the only such group publishing lists of the alleged crimes of nonwhite Americans, as we've already seen with the Remembrance Project.

Notably, Breitbart News, when it was under the leadership of Trump's current chief strategist Steve Bannon, responded to the Black Lives Matter movement by gathering stories of alleged crimes committed by African Americans under the "Black Crime" tag.

These sites are notorious for cherry-picking their stories for maximum effect and publishing false or misleading information. One reason they've found a wide audience is that "Black-on-white" crime is also overreported in the more "respectable" media.

Now Trump, Bannon and Kelly want the U.S. government to get in on the act. We shouldn't let them get away with it.

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This VOICE tells racist lies - Socialist Worker Online

Brian Lee Kersten, 61, of Pleasant Valley, Wis. pleaded guilty last fall to two felony counts of engaging in the sex trafficking of a person and aiding and abetting labor trafficking.

On Wednesday, Kersten received a 48- and 53-month prison sentence for each charge, respectively. His sentence will be served concurrently, meaning he will serve prison time for both sentences at the same time.

The case also marked the first labor trafficking conviction and sentencing in Minnesota.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orputs office has ramped up its focus on prosecuting sex trafficking by creating a special unit tasked with prosecuting cases ranging from adults who troll the web for underage girls and boys to traffickers who hire out adults and minors for sex.

Orput said in a statement that the case against Kersten is part of a wider trend in Minnesota.

This case merely shows the depth and breadth of the sex trafficking occurring in this state, Orput said. We, as a concerned public, need to acknowledge this and persevere in doing all we can to bring labor and sex traffickers to the justice they deserve.

Kersten, who owned a Baldwin Veterinary Clinic, admitted he transported women from China to the Extended Stay hotel in Woodbury last summer. Prosecutors charged him in September.

Imran Ali, the Washington County assistant attorney who prosecuted the case, said in a statement that Kersten was part of an international conspiracy to bring foreign nationals into the state where they would work as prostitutes.

An investigation found Kersten had been working with a Chinese national named Shixin Zhang who lived in New York.

Authorities said Kersten would give a cut of his profits to the New York madame for women he transported from the East Cost to Twin Cities hotels and advertised their services on the infamous website backpages.com.

According to court filings, a family member told Wisconsin law enforcement officials that Kersten had been bringing young girls from China to work in massage parlors.

We have to remember that these are not victimless crimes, Ali said. All these women being trafficked are indeed victims.

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Wisconsin Veterinarian sentenced 4 years for labor, sex trafficking - Woodbury Bulletin

SALT LAKE CITY The Utah Legislature approved a bill Tuesday to toughen penalties for prostitution-related crimes.

The House passed SB230 with a 71-1 vote, sending it to Gov. Gary Herbert's desk for his consideration.

The bill would give "teeth" to Utah's ability to prosecute prostitution, said House sponsor Rep. Mike Winder, R-West Valley City.

"We have a real problem," he said. "This is not a real victimless crime."

Winder said 75 percent of women who engage in prostitution work for a "pimp."

The bill would better equip law enforcement, he said, because it would expand the reasons why an individual could be found guilty of prostitution.

Under current law, a person can only be convicted if he or she engages in a sexual act for money. But SB230 would include if a person "offers or agrees" to engage in sexual activity for money.

"With the teeth, we can go after the pimps, the Johns and those involved in this," Winder said.

The bill would also change patronizing a prostitute from a class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor, with a third conviction for that crime becoming a third-degree felony.

Aiding or facilitating an act of prostitution would also be enhanced to a class A misdemeanor, with all subsequent convictions becoming third-degree felonies.

Original post:

Legislature boosts penalties for prostitution-related crimes - Deseret News

In defense of brunch Should Ohio revisit its Sunday alcohol policy?

By Sarah Sidlow

Photo:Illustration by Dayton artist Jed Helmers. Reach him at JedHelmers@DaytonCityPaper.com. See more at JedHelmers.com.

Thing to know: blue lawas in, a law that prohibits certain types of activities on Sundays. Because, why would you want to buy a car (or a bottle of liquor) when youre supposed to be worshipping? These laws have existed throughout American history, but are most commonly associated with the late 1800s and the early 1900s.

In Minnesota, the law banning Sunday liquor stores has been on the books for nearly 160 years. But last week, the Minnesota state Senate voted to repeal the law, finally allowing liquor stores to be open on Sundays. Even though there are a few more political hurdles to jump before supporters can raise their Sunday glasses, its looking more and more like Sunday liquor store hours are imminent, and may be a reality by July.

Minnesota was one of just 12 states that still prevented liquor stores from operating on consumers seven-day-a-week lifestyles. By now, you may be wondering how the Buckeye State stacks up. Lets break it down.

According to Ohio Code 4301, liquor may only be sold on Sunday under authority of a permit that authorizes Sunday sale.

What are the benefits of getting rid of the ban? Supporters of the repeal are happy to say, out with the oldand hope the change will better reflect consumer tastes and expectations. In Minnesota, public opinion polls showed big majorities of the public wanted the change. Craft brewers and distillers, as well as major retail chains, also chimed in with support. (Like, a lot of support. Big-box store Total Wine & More alone spent $170,000 lobbying the legislature in 2014 and 2015.)

But the Sunday liquor sale ban has supporters, as well. And they long to return to the days of small business and small-town life. They fear raising restrictions will force mom-and-pop shops to compete in the world of big-box business. And that seems kind of hopeless. They argue that the historic blue laws are some of the last remaining remnants of days gone by, which we all sometimes wish we could get back. Whats the harm in keeping some of the charm?

Others view the ban as a way to reduce crime and encourage other activities. Research published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine found that after Virginia relaxed their Sunday sale policies, minor crime increased by 5 percent and alcohol-involved serious crime rose by 10 percent. (Fun fact: the study also found that the cost of the additional crime was comparable to Virginias revenue from increased liquor salesbut thats not really the point, is it?)

Both sides argue that there are likely far more important issues toward which those governing the state should direct time and resources. This reasoning leads ban supporters to say, just leave it alone and repeal supporters to say, just do it, already!

By Don Hurst

The state should repeal the prohibition of selling liquor on Sundays. The ban is the last remaining survivor of the states blue laws, laws expressly implemented to curb sinful behavior and encourage citizens to participate in religious activities. Legislators believed if you had nothing better to do on Sunday you would go to church.

In 1809, Ohio lawmakers prohibited such unholy activities as gambling, hunting, shooting, dancing, drinking, sporting events, and common labor. If the state wants to outlaw my mowing the lawn on Sundays, then I would reconsider my stance on liquor.

At the time, these laws represented the will of the people, but our society has evolved to include more religious diversity. Some people hold Saturday as the most holy day of the week, while others dont believe any day deserves more veneration. To elevate one day above the others with legislation is a violation of equal treatment of religions.

Not all Protestant morality is bad. All enduring religions and humanist philosophies share some common beliefs. You shouldnt steal a Subaru (or anything else). Throwing a brick through your neighbors window is bad. Murder is also frowned upon.

Acts that harm others are definitely part of the governments sphere of influence, but imposing subjective morality on us is not the governments job. Im a big boy, and I wear big boy pants. I can handle buying alcohol.

Theres a hypocrisy to these laws that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. (Gee, a shot of bourbon would wash that taste out.) Ohio says selling liquor on a Sunday is bad, unless you pay extra money for a special permit. Then its OK. You paid your way into morality. That doesnt make any sense.

Lets follow the logic of blue laws. Supporters dont want people to sin on the Lords Day. We have to be nicer and more righteous on this arbitrary day of the week. If selling liquor is sinful, then what other activities should we outlaw? There is a lot of sin in the Bible.

For example, gluttony is a sin. On Sundays, it shall be unlawful for people eat unhealthfully. Instead of 24 hours, seven days a week, Bills Donuts will have to change the signs to 24 hours, six days a week. The Sunday tradition of standing in line in your pajamas for butter twists would be unlawful. No sugary goodness when you should be praying.

Cutting liquor and sweets on Sundays doesnt go far enough. Often, when people drink, they dance. When you hold your partner too close, the devil is your chaperone. Stomping your feet to the Charleston and the Jitterbug, you might as well be boarding the Soul Train to Hell. No dancing on Sundays.

Liquor and dancing leads to even more sinful behavior, like sex. CVS and Wal-Mart cant sell condoms on the Sabbath. We dont need any sin babies. Its a scientific fact that children conceived on Sundays grow up to be telemarketers. Keep your hands off each other by keeping your hands clasped in prayer.

No access to adult websites either. Ye Holy Web Blocker shall deny access to IP addresses of purveyors of carnal sin. Ladies, dont sidestep these laws by watching copies of Magic Mike or Fifty Shades of Grey. Just to be safe, lets shut down the Victorias Secret website on Sundays, as well.

There are too many sinful options for entertainment. Cable TV is a tool of the devil. Dont believe me? Call customer support. Shut all that down on Sundays. Netflix can only show that fireplace simulator thats popular during Christmas. Nope. Never mind. Fire is too much like hell.

Instead all channels will air nothing but reruns of The Andy Griffith Show. Well, not all the reruns; some of those episodes are just too darn titillating. That time Andy held hands with Miss Helen during their picnic at Lake Myers is so hot that it scorches the virtue of nuns.

Some cling to these laws because they yearn for a simpler time when people were just better. Thats an illusion. The good old days werent any better than today. Peel back the years enough and it gets ugly. No liquor on Sundays, but deny black people service at a restaurant. No Sunday bourbon, but women cant vote.

Blue laws place the government in a position where it dictates morality and infringes on personal liberty. Prohibiting the sale of liquor on a Sunday is not so egregious as to spark a revolution, but it is an example of the dangerous tendency to legislatively impose religion. We face a lot of challenges as a society. Thought rooted in 1809 norms will not help us.

Don Hurst is a combat vet and a former police officer. He now lives in Dayton where he writes novels and plays. Reach DCP freelance writer Don Hurst at DonHurst@DaytonCityPaper.com.

By Victor DeLaine

To paraphrase Nietzsche, Sunday is dead. We killed it. You dont need to be religious to regret its death. Religion may seem silly to us urban sophisticates, but one sane thing that religion gave us was Sunday. We are the worse, the less civilized, for its loss. And with what did we replace it? With a second Saturday, another day of driving, spending, consuming.

Sunday has not been dead long. Many reading these words will recalland, Ill wager, recall fondlywhen all commercial activity, not just selling booze, was off-limits on Sunday. That meant no groceries, no gas stations, no soccer, no restaurants. You just stayed home and hung out with your family.

Ours wasnt the only country that observed Sunday. Youd be surprised how many countries still do. On Sundays in Germany, most stores must remain closed, and trucks are banished from the roads. In Norway, all but gas stations and the smallest shops must take Sunday off. In Switzerland, only a few shops in tourist areas may open on Sunday. In some Australian states, whole categories of retail commerce are restricted on Sunday.

These places are not fundamentalist backwaters. They are advanced, secular, liberal democracies. In some of them, Christianity is practically extinct. To these societies, blue laws are a means not of enforcing religious discipline, but of mitigating the unrelenting rigors of capitalism, of giving the body politic a break from the manic imperative of nonstop consumption. It is for that reasonnot to legislate religionthat such societies set one day in seven aside when King Commerce cannot hawk his wares, cannot separate us from our money, and cannot yoke hirelings to machines.

Bringing Sunday back to this country is not out of the question. We see something like the nostalgia for Sunday in the push to restore Thanksgiving as a day off, even for the hapless employees of Wal-Mart.

But if we cant bring back Sunday, we can at least leave room for its one surviving remnant, Sunday restrictions on liquor sales. What little is left of those restrictions is barely noticeable. We have so curtailed those restrictions already that, if you sleep late on Sunday, you wouldnt even notice them. Of all the ills facing this benighted republic, the scourge of liquor restrictions on Sunday would seem pretty low on the list.

Weigh the pros and cons. What are the awful horrors with which restrictions on Sunday liquor sales afflict us? The only argument against blue laws is the one you always hear from nerdy libertarians who think every law puts us onto a slippery slope to Stalinism. Its less an argument than a sequence of push-button slogans about victimless crimes, separating church and state, and Big Brother, with lots of yammering about rights. When pressed to go beyond such abstractions, they just mumble. The most awful scenario that critics of blue laws can cite is the plight of beer drinkers who must stock their fridges on Saturday with enough beer to last until noon Sunday, when Kroger can sell it again.

If you lift Sunday liquor restrictions, by contrast, the bad results would be far less abstract. For one thing, more liquor sales would meanduh!more liquor consumption. You could then expect more of all the social ills that correlate with drinking, such as drunk driving, wife-beating, and crime. The Dayton City Paper tells us that the repeal of blue laws in Virginia prompted increases in crime that leave little doubt as to cause and effect.

But a graver downside of repeal concerns liquors role in distracting citizens from the real ills that afflict them. With all due respect to Marx, liquor, not religion, is the opiate of the masses. It is like the drug soma in Huxleys Brave New World, dulling your critical intelligence just enough to make dystopia endurable. Booze makes sensible men want to kiss ugly women. It also makes sensible men accept a status quo that sentences them to underpaid drudgery on a corporate treadmill. The laws that took Sunday away were enacted, not because mobs of peasants with pitchforks demanded that their day of rest be taken away, but because Mammon wanted to do the same thing to you on Sunday that he does to you the other six days. And Mammon would like nothing more than to finish the job by plying you with liquor on Sunday, to keep you from getting any sober ideas.

But no matter how you feel about capitalism, abstract rights, and drunk driving, the best reason to tolerate blue laws is, simply, that they are tolerable. Tolerate them the way you tolerate the Amish, the Oregon District, or Wrigley Field, as a quaint vestige of a better way of life.

Reach DCP freelance writer Victor DeLaine at VictorDeLaine@DaytonCityPaper.com.

Tags: blue law, debate forum, headline, Sunday liquor ban, Sunday liquor laws

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Debate Forum: 3/7 - Dayton City Paper

WELCH McDowell County has seen some changes at the West Virginia State Police Welch Detachment.

In the wake of the transfer of former detachment Commander Sgt. Chris Kane to the West Virginia Turnpike, Sgt. R.A. Daniel is now the commander, and Sgt. R.T. Stinson, who was recently transferred to Welch, is the assistant commander.

Daniel, a Raleigh County native, spent 13 years at the Beckley Detachment before his transfer to McDowell County a year and a half ago.

I live in Beckley, but I have ties to McDowell County, he said.

Daniel said he did not attend the State Police Academy when he was a young man, as most troopers do.

When I got out of high school I ended up working for about nine years in the coal mines, he said, then after that worked in corrections at the state penitentiary in Moundsville.

That corrections job prompted his interest in law enforcement.

At age 35, I started over as a trooper, he said, adding that he was able to keep up with young guys in the physical training part of the academy. I always kept in good shape,

But he wasnt even the oldest one at the academy.

Another student was 42, he said. But he had been a trooper in Utah.

Daniel, who is 6 feet, 7 inches tall, said many people may not realize that troopers have to stay in good physical condition.

We have a physical fitness test each year, he said, explaining that troopers have a practical and realistic reason to stay in shape as well they have to be prepared for anything on their jobs.

A trooper often works alone and he has to be able to protect himself. For the most part, it (being in good shape) is imperative, especially when you dont have partners.

Daniel said that some people also think troopers have an attitude.

But its just he way we carry ourselves to survive, he said. If its you and four people, its you and four people.

The job can be dangerous, and they often deal with people who are unpredictable.

If they are doing something wrong, a normal person under normal conditions will usually stop, he said. But if they continue bad behavior and activity (after being told to stop) they are already blowing off warnings.

Thats especially true of crimes related to drug use, he added.

When you have someone who is an addict, they ordinarily may not commit a crime or resist arrest, he said. But the chemical imbalance and addiction changes their behavior.

That being said, Danieldoes not excuse their crimes, adding that a lot of judges may not view some drug-related crimes as violent, but they are.

Breaking into your house is a violent crime, he said, adding that it is not a victimless crime. We pay for it as the public every day.

McDowell County does present some challenges, he said, including the logistics of getting from one place to another.

It may take you 45 minutes to get to some areas, he said. Then another call could come in on the opposite end of the county.

Because of the terrain, radio systems can fail and create problems as well, he added.

The detachment also has little backup now because the county is down on the number of deputies from the Sheriffs Office, he said.

If they are available to assist us, thats great, he said. But we take the calls. Regardless, we have to handle calls as they come in anyway. Weve always provided 24-hour service here at the Welch Detachment.

Daniel said there is also a popular myth that all troopers do is write tickets and take people to jail.

We have plenty of paperwork to do, he said.Its difficult dealing with difficult people, but keeping up with the paperwork has its challenges as well.

Not only do troopers have to be ready at all times to deal with criminals, domestic situations, paperwork and any other calls that come in, they often work on their own time without pay.

We will get the job done regardless, he said.

Daniel said he has to drive quite a distance every day to get to work, but he doesnt mind.

I am very well satisfied with working down here, he said.

For Stinson, coming to McDowell County was a stark change of pace.

Ive worked on the West Virginia Turnpike for 17 years in South Charleston, he said, adding he has been in the county for two weeks.

Its definitely a different environment from what I am used to, he said. The economic situation here is different. It (what he may face on the job) could be anything, not just traffic.

The Mercer County native said he had wanted to go into law enforcement since he was a kid.

We (his brother and sister) would ride our bikes and play cops and robbers, he said. I was the cop and I would always catch them.

Stinson said he is the first in his generation from the family to become a police officer.

Its just something I always wanted to do. I wanted to help people.

So after high school, he enrolled at Bluefield State College and earned a degree in criminal justice, then on to the State Police Academy.

Stinson said he is looking forward to being in the county and working with his fellow troopers and the community.

Besides Daniel and Stinson, the detachment has nine troopers to cover a large county 24 hours a day.

Stinson said that presents some challenges, but the job will get done.

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

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Welch State Police Detachment welcomes new commanders - Bluefield Daily Telegraph