Community | July 25, 2010 | 36 comments

Innocent man may be labeled a sex offender for 'rest of his life'

source: http://www.king5.com/news/Innocent-man-may-be-linked-to-sex-offender-for-rest-of-his-life-98...

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MotherForTruth
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- It has been a nightmare for Dan Wheeler for 15 years. It started with his wallet being stolen from his truck, and his identity stolen. Usually the trouble that follows has to do with bank or credit fraud, but Wheeler says his identity was stolen by a sex offender who was arrested and used Wheeler's name as an alias.
"It's been absolutely miserable," said Wheeler.
About five years ago the Port Orchard man was stopped for making an illegal left turn.
"The officer told me to get out of the car and I was under arrest," said Wheeler. "I asked why and he said I was a wanted sex offender. I couldn't believe it."
Since then, Wheeler has been fighting desperately to get his identity back. He has a difficult timing getting any kind of job that involves a background check, and was recently rejected as a foster parent -- all because of a case of stolen identity.
"I've been to police and prosecutors and they all tell me there's nothing that can be done," said Wheeler.
He may be right. A spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, which handles the State Sex Offenders Database, says when someone is arrested and uses an alias, that alias is kept on file forever. The concern is that if authorities delete the alias, the criminal could go back to using it again.
Wheeler doesn't know where to turn. For now, he just hopes he gets the job he recently applied for, as a maintenence worker at an assisted living facility.
"But they require a background check," he said. "Who knows if they'll believe me?"

http://www.king5.com/news/Innocent-man-may-be-linked-to-sex-offender-for-rest-of...
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    Community,   News and Politics,   Law and Justice,   Unexplained
  2. tags:
    Law,  Justice
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36 comments // Innocent man may be labeled a sex offender for 'rest of his life'

  • shanklinmike
  • jubal
  • MotherForTruth
  • regjoeschmo
    • 0
      regjoeschmo  
    • jubal:

      once you are down as an alias for someone else it is practically impossible to get this taken off of your own record.... it was described to me as more important to catch the criminal than to prevent any further harrassment.....

    • 1 year ago
  • FoosMaster
    • 0
      FoosMaster  
    • regjoeschmo:

      Like I mentioned in an earlier post, today’s society is Sooo concerned about catching criminals that the justice system is no longer set up to protect the rights of the innocent citizens and it is continually getting worse. This needs to be changed, but the conservatives will Never let that happen as long as they can prevent it. Politicians know that if they run on a “Get tough on crime” platform that they can get most of the conservative votes. I just wish that a platform of “Protect the rights of innocent citizens” was a platform that could work for a politician, but sadly in today’s society it is not.

    • 1 year ago
  • ahiguy
  • derk
  • MotherForTruth
  • Incredulous
    • -3
      Incredulous  

    • and this is the same f_cked up inflexible Federal government that wants us to trust them to manage health care?

      righhhhhhhhhttttttt.

    • 1 year ago
  • Saladin
    • +4
      Saladin  
    • Incredulous:

      No, it isn't.

      There is no federal sex offender list.

      These are all STATE laws.

      99% of incarcerations in the United States were convicted by state laws, not federal ones.

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
  • SamuraiDave
  • littlwarrior
    • 0
      littlwarrior  

    • Dude total bullshit, let a sex offender ruin this man life, heres the resolution, sombody shoot the bastard and then he wont be alive to use an alias! Let alone reoffend.

    • 1 year ago
  • tverdell
  • littlwarrior
  • ArchDruid
  • regjoeschmo
  • mitekillem
    • +3
      mitekillem  

    • There definitely needs to be some degrees added to the sex offenders list.
      Seriously, if you and your gf/wife decide to spice-up-your-sex-life by having a little adventure in the back seat of a car, and the cops come by, you can get arrested, and have to register on the sex offenders list. -Which then makes everyone think automatically that you're either a pedophile or a rapist. -Which is really messed up.

    • 1 year ago
  • eden49
    • +1
      eden49  
    • mitekillem:

      ...bloody hell, our lists are only made up child molesters /pedophiles...having sex in the back of a car...WTF...our list would just have one word..."Australia"...

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • regjoeschmo
    • +2
      regjoeschmo  

    • as a victim of identity theft myself this is absolutely outrageous... unfortunately if someone uses your name to get arraigned you are now them... regardless of if you can prove it they will continiually harrass you.... I even went to the local sherriff's office while the person who stole my identity was in jail and they refused to do anything about it, he was even released without the warrants he had being taken care of..... if its not financial they cannot make any money off of fixing it and you are stuck as an alias forever.....

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • SamuraiDave
    • +3
      SamuraiDave  

    • just another case where the law can be easily abused whether willfully or ineptly thru the kind of situation here. The difficulty here is that sex offender carries with it such stigma that no one wants to get involved for fear of being thought of one too

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
    • +1
      MotherForTruth  
    • SamuraiDave:

      Unfortunately too many Americans believe that our judicial system works and if someone is in a spotlight they believed to be in the wrong. This is one of many examples of how easy it is to destroy a live of innocent person. It is simply not acceptable and must not be tolerated!

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
    • +3
      MotherForTruth  

    • Thank you all for caring. This is truly outrageous and happens more often that we hear about it. How much longer will the innocent be prosecuted and guilty go free?

    • 1 year ago
  • FoosMaster
    • +2
      FoosMaster  
    • MotherForTruth:

      The problem has been that most people are more concerned about catching ALL the guilty people so none of them get away with anything at the expense of the protection of innocent people from undue prosecution. We are So concerned that someone May get away with something that the laws no longer protect the innocent.

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • DuhRRell
    • +7
      DuhRRell  

    • there ya go... we're all just another number and our system is like a fuking robot. common sense? denied. stigmatize innocent ppl? granted. what a democracy, they hear us but never listen. our justice system is more like an 'authority and benefits program'. our reasoning is like swiss cheese, full of holes and our laws are like the south pole, always froze. keep ur fingers crossed america! this could be you.

    • 1 year ago
  • Monkey_Films
    • +6
      Monkey_Films  
    • DuhRRell:

      This IS me. I got on the wrong side of corrupt police officers by having evidence that they murdered someone. They, and the local prosecutor, used the system to have their way with me since 1999 and I'm still fighting false charges and corruption from them. The system is set up to be able to be manipulated in their favor while pinning you to the wall, guilty or innocent.

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
    • +8
      EmperorThan  

    • Bureaucratic bullshit like this always pisses me off. Like the guy in the wheelchair who was arrested in Florida because he had over the legal limit of pain pills LEGALLY PRESCRIBED BY HIS DOCTOR so the police threw him in jail for three years because of some law that stated a mandatory jail without trial for suspected drug dealers in Florida.

      Him:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Paey

    • 1 year ago
  • andreii
  • randallr01
    • +5
      randallr01  

    • The Sex Offender list & protocol need to be revamped. There are already many on the list who don't deserve it. But this case particularly sucks.

    • 1 year ago
  • Monkey_Films
    • +5
      Monkey_Films  

    • This is just outrageous. Why do we allow this to continue. Rules and laws are meant to be broken, we can't just throw out common sense.

    • 1 year ago
  • eden49
    • +8
      eden49  

    • ...this is just bloody madness...I would find a bloody good lawyer who would be willing to do this pro bono, and take this BS on, right to the top as long as my arse points to the ground...to live under that mistaken identity persona is horrifically unacceptable...bloody hell, has the world gone mad...we all have precious little as it is becoming...our good name is worth fighting for...

    • 1 year ago
  • onemalefla
  • ReverandG
    • +3
      ReverandG  
    • onemalefla:

      Many more than we hear of have been unfairly accused. For example if someone makes a claim that is false, and it is proven false the court record shows a dismissal. Then the poor sucker has to pay to have the court record expunged. The charges stay in public records even when they are proven false.

    • 1 year ago
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