Press
Does Michigan's sex offender registry keep us safer?
By L.L. Brasier, Detroit Free Press, May 18, 2015
It has been 10 years since Shaun Webb, a married father and caretaker at an Oakland County Catholic church, was convicted of groping a teenage girl over her sweater, a claim Webb vehemently denies.
Webb, then-37 with a clean criminal record, was convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault and sent to jail for seven months.
Though a misdemeanor, state law demanded Webb be listed on the same public sex offender registry as hard-core rapists, pedophiles and other felons. It has meant a decade of poverty, unemployment, harassment and depression for him. Under current state law, he'll be on the list until 2031.
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http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/16/sex-offender-registries-fire-michigan/27453025/
22-year-old sexual assault looms in parenting case
By Jameson Cook, The Macomb Daily, June 17, 2016
A man’s sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl 22 years ago has become a focal point in a woman’s attempt to allow him to see her children despite being on the Sex Offender Registry.
Thomas Ireland, 40, of St. Clair Shores, admitted on the witness stand in court Friday he committed the acts spelled out in a 1994 police report that says he forced the girl into having sex and performing a sex act on him in the hallway at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores. He previously claimed the acts were voluntary. The girl was under the age of consent.
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http://www.macombdaily.com/article/MD/20160617/NEWS/160619670
15-year-old Paw Paw boy accused of plotting school attack to be tried as a juvenile
by Rachel Glaser | Newschannel 3 | Wednesday, May 2nd 2018
PAW PAW, Mich. — The 15-year-old accused of planning a mass shooting at Paw Paw High School will be prosecuted as a juvenile.
A Van Buren County judge denied the prosecution's motion to prosecute the teen as an adult Wednesday, after hours of testimony that spanned two full days in court.
The prosecution presented the teen’s journal entries that allegedly discuss a desire to commit mass murder and the god-like feeling the boy got while killing a cat.
The prosecution argued the 15-year-old poses too big of a risk to the public to age out of the juvenile system at age 19.
Investigators say the sophomore had a hit list, plans to keep his sisters out of Paw Paw High School that Monday in mid-March and an arsenal of guns, explosives and ammunition in his backpack ready to take to school.
Charged with ten felony weapons and explosives charges, the teen would have faced up to 28 years in prison if prosecuted and sentenced as an adult.
The judge said while it's important to realize what could have happened, the decision is based on what did happen. Although the judge did point out the 15-year-old didn't turn himself in; he was caught.
The teen's defense attorney argued no one know what would have happened if the boy's grandfather didn't find evidence gun barrels had been sawed off in his barn and realize he was missing a rifle and shot gun the day before the boy allegedly planned to kill staff and students at his school.
The boy's grandfather called the teen's mom and guns were found in his room.
The boy's mom turned him in to the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, March 18, he was arrested and appeared relieved, his mom said.
She admitted on the stand Wednesday she never thought her son could ever be charged as an adult and in the face of that possibility, she regrets going to police.
"I didn't even think that would have been a consideration and if I had known that I would have never brought him down here, never, we would have figured something else out," she said.
A therapist who evaluated the teen after his arrest testified he suffers from significant mental health issues including anxiety, depression and a real sense of social awkwardness.
“He was begging for help and no one was listening,” said Jennifer Zoltowski, owner of Center for Assessment.
His mom told the judge the 15-year-old asked to talk to a counselor after his bomb making notebook was found at school and he was questioned and cleared by the FBI about a month before his arrest.
When word got out around school about his so-called ‘bomb book’ the boy’s mom says her son was bullied and labeled ‘the bomb boy’ at school.
She testified it got so bad, her son's girlfriend didn't want to be seen with him in public. When mom reached out to the girl that Wednesday, it only seemed to make matters worse.
She kept her son out of school Thursday and Friday that week, Saturday the 15-year-old allegedly stole guns from his grandfather and sawed off the tops to fit in his backpack.
He was arrested Sunday, hours before he allegedly planned a mass school shooting.
The deputy stationed at the high school testified he's interviewed at least 50 students and all say they never saw or heard anything about the bullying.