Posting #193 –Why Employer/Company Names Should Not Be Publically Posted, by Jolene

By:  Jolene
Date:  02/16/2010

On Jan. 5, 2010 my boyfriend, Morris, lost his job as a restaurant manager in ___________ after a "tip" was sent to his corporate office at ____________.

After his district manager terminated him they called police because they were worried about his mental health. At the time of termination he was already put on one week of administrative leave while the corporate office decided what to do.

When the City of __________ police arrived they offered to take him somewhere to get help. He had to be hospitalized for two days- he went voluntarily- if he did not go they would have forced him to go involuntarily. He's been in counseling since and it appears to be doing ok with it and is now searching for a new job. He had suicidal thoughts and it was not the first time he's contemplated this.

I've had a very quick education about sex offender registry and its unfairness.

Back in 2006 Morris terminated an 18 year olds employment. Morris accidentally brushed the teens shoulder. Because the kid was bitter about the termination, he and two other kids went to the police in the small town back in the state of __________ where he lived in at the time. Morris is African-American and not married. At first there were four charges and the County Attorney decided to set a $100,000.00 bond because they thought he could be a "flight risk". He sat in jail for about three weeks before charges were officially filed. Then the kids stories started changing. Eventually three of the charges were dropped. However bail would not be reduced because he was a single guy. Morris has always maintained his innocence. While he was waiting for a "trial date" in jail, two people committed suicide in jail drastically affecting him and wanting to get out of there "quickly".

With the advice of his attorney he plead "no contest" to a sexual assault misdemeanor charge in __________ they required him to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years of his life. Morris had made the decision that he wanted to come home to Virginia to be closer to his mother.

I have known him since college and we had been involved in each other lives since then. Morris was sentenced to the maximum time in jail of one year; he did get out early in February 2007. He was not ordered probation or required to go through counseling or anything else, immediately upon release he moved to Virginia.

Since coming here we have learned about the various regulations in different states regarding the registry. Back in ___________ he would have been listed as a “Tier 1 Offender" which there does not require his picture on the website- only law enforcement would know he is a registered offender. We did not know that information when he decided to come home.

In Virginia because there was no real law that matched, he's listed as a Non-violent offender.

After moving to Virginia, the first apartment complex we were in gave us a 30 day to vacate because they claim "sex offenders" could not live there, so we moved and found a new apartment complex that said there would be no problem if a sex offender lives there.

Then in 2008 he lost his job as an assistant restaurant manager with _________________ after another "tip" was reported, someone taped a print out of his registry information to the front door of the restaurant.

I believe in his innocence. He never did anything to a minor child. I want laws like the registry to exist for everyone to know the people who are the "real" dangers to children.

Morris has never been in trouble other than a few parking tickets in his lifetime.

His "accuser" we have learned went into the Air Force and was dishonorably discharged due to drug convictions. In addition at the time of Morris’ arrest the "accuser" was convicted of vandalizing a park in the small town and the kid posted on his Face book page all the details about the crime he committed and thought he would "get away" with that. He was sentenced to "time served" of three days in jail and a fine to pay. The police did not question the "accuser’s" claims after his arrest/conviction. The "accuser" is also currently serving a 20 year drug conviction back in ____________; however part of the plea arrangement requires him to enter a drug rehab program and if it's satisfactorily completed he may never serve the 20 year sentence. 

Morris’ counselor has been discussing the possibility of expungements and pardons.

We have to go through the state of ___________ to do this; however nobody in Virginia can tell us if these things are granted in __________ will it be enough to be taken off the Virginia registry or does this even matter.

I've sent email questions to the Commonwealth’s Attorney who refer us to the VA State Police who don't have a clue on what happens when the offense occurred in another state.

My intuition is they don't deal with too many offenders who come in from another state. 

Also because Morris was sentenced in ___________ there is a process after ten years on the registry to "petition" the court to remove his name if he can show that he was not in any trouble since the conviction since the requirement to register is now 15 years instead of 10. When Morris learned of this I was really concerned. It does not seem fair that if you were convicted of a crime that requires registry and you were given documentation that says you're to register for 10 years that it should change any time policy makers decide to change the registry requirement. We recently learned about the change in law to 15 years.

I am sorry about being so long. I don't have anyone that I can talk to about all this.

My own family does not know that Morris is required to be a registered sex offender. I've been so worried. At least I have my job the only problem is that I am in the human services field where I work with public assistance programs, so after all day of helping people in our community that are down on their luck because of the economy, I have my own boyfriend that has his employment issues in obtaining work. The crazy part of all this is that when Morris completes the background check for employment, he passes with no problems because the conviction is of a misdemeanor crime. It's not until a "tip" comes in that the employer then decides to fire him because Virginia is a "fire at will" state. When he informs potential employers they don't want to hire him because of the "label" of a sex offender.

Morris and I are trying to dig out of debt (between the legal fees and his apartment upkeep until he went to sentencing three and a half months after sitting in jail he has close to $15,000.00 debt incurred) and now that he is unemployed I need to make sure we have enough money for all bills to be paid. He's filed for unemployment benefits; however they are behind on the "fact finding" hearings. Morris was informed by VEC that he has to wait for the hearing until early March 2010 almost two months after being terminated. If approved his unemployment benefits can be retro-actively paid, it's just waiting is the hard part. He feels so upset and less of a man about everything. Sometimes I think if there were group counseling for sex offenders it would benefit him; however he is doing well for now with his counseling in private therapy.

Thank you for your time.

Jolene

This is exactly why Senator Dave Marsden’s bill SB635 is needed. See Bulletin Board Posting #187, http://www.rsolvirginia.org/blog_187.html  for more information on the bill.

RSOL of Virginia