Ryn Gargulinski

Creativity on Fire

sexual predators

Ban on texting while driving causes increase in crashes – and other laws that backfired

Don’t text and drive is the new vogue restriction throughout the nation, one that just oozes with common sense and would surely make streets safer – or not.

Text bans while driving caused an increase in crashes/Thinkstock

Crashes actually increased in at least three states after those states put texting bans into place, according to a study conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute.

The study examined collision insurance claims in Louisiana, Washington, Minnesota and California before and after texting while driving bans went into effect.

The only state of the four that did not see an overall increase in crashes was Minnesota.

Thirty states have texting while driving bans in place. Arizona is not one of them, although Phoenix has restrictions.

Theory has it that even with the ban people continue to text and drive, but quickly hide their phones under the dashboard or their laps when they spot law enforcement patrolling the streets. Of course, their eyes follow their phones under the dashboard or into their laps and there goes the nearest lamppost.

Still, 92 percent of people polled by AAA said texting while driving is unacceptable –  yet 24 percent of folks in that same poll admitted to doing it within the last month.

Go figure.

A few other bans have been equally ineffective, backfiring in major ways and making matters worse – not better.

Take prohibition. This ban on the manufacturing, selling and distribution of alcohol was meant to decrease problems that come with being perpetually drunk, like unemployment, vomiting in public and beating up on children, wives and whoever was standing nearby.

Instead it gave rise to new, even bloodier crimes due to illegal smuggling of alcohol and fun fellows like Al Capone. Capone and pals killed to conquer the bootlegging market.

The smoking ban that’s puffing its way across the nation has also had its detrimental side effects – and not because a bunch of bowling alleys suddenly went bankrupt.

It’s because more people started driving drunk. A study at the University of Wisconsin showed drinkers who smoke were willing to drive far and wide to find a bar that allows smoking, even if it were in the next city, jurisdiction or state.

This means, of course, these smoker-drinkers have to drive equally far and wide to get home after they’ve had a few and are a bit tipsy.

Sexual predator restrictions have also backfired in some areas. Many cities have bans on registered sex offenders living within a certain amount of distance from schools, parks and anywhere else kids congregate.

Problem is, kids congregate in a heck of a lot of places.

This left many registered sex offenders few or no legal options for housing, prompting many to simply move to the next town. Once that town, too, put restrictions in place, the molesters moved on again. Once they ran out of towns, many ended up homeless, dwelling in grungy lairs beneath a highway overpass.

Hopefully there’s not a lot of folks texting while driving around those overpasses.

[tnipoll]

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Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who finds both texting and driving tedious and therefore would never combine the two. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com and Rynski.Etsy.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.

What do you think?

Do you text and drive?

Would you still text while driving even if it were banned?

What bans do you find effective? Ridiculous?

Do you know of other bans that have backfired?

Tucson man example of failed system: Criminal record, prison term, claims of being Tony Montana's cousin do not keep him off the street

At a small-boned 5-feet 7-inches tall and 165 pounds, 49-year-old Barbaro Tamayo may not cut a particularly imposing figure.

The Tucson man’s state prison and county court records, which include 21 criminal charges along with a three-year prison term, say otherwise.

Al Pacino as Tony Montano in his throne in Scarface

A former worker in the mental health section of the Pima County Jail went so far as to call Tamayo “frail” – but also noted there was reason Tamayo had been previously housed in the mental health section.

“He told me he was Tony Montana’s cousin,” said the worker, who is remaining anonymous unless he confirms it’s OK to use his name.

He also said Tamayo, who is originally from Cuba and only speaks Spanish, was fine – as long as he was in a controlled environment, like jail, that administered and made sure he took his medication. He did not know what type of medication was administered and there is no official declaration of Tamayo’s mental health status.

Tamayo refused an interview request, which would have come with a translator.

The diminutive, wiry man was most recently charged with attempted sexual assault in connection with a string of sexually motivated burglaries targeting single women who lived alone near the University of Arizona. The targeted area ran from Speedway Boulevard to Broadway, from Campbell Avenue west to Stone Avenue.

Tucson’s historic Sam Hughes neighborhood, which is no stranger to Tamayo, sits just east of the targeted burglary zone, running from Speedway to Broadway, from Campbell east to Country Club Road.

“(The residents) have been complaining about him for seven years,” says former Sam Hughes resident Cherlyn Gardner Strong, “with it peaking all over the last couple of days. The guy is a major problem.”

A 2007 neighborhood listserv message she shared offered a brief background on Tamayo from one of the residents. The resident said that Tamayo’s history of crime led him to a residential treatment facility in October 2006, which for some reason he either never entered or left shortly after admittance, and re-offended within 45 days.

“Please be vigilant in watching for suspicious activity in our neighborhood,” the message concludes. “If he is found in our neighborhood we are to notify the police immediately.”

Strong notes, however, the complaints did not seem to go much farther than some bickering over the neighborhood listserv.

“If they wish to preserve property values or whatever reason they have, fine,” Strong says. “However, this is not fair to female college students who have simply moved to the area due to the proximity to UA. I don’t give a damn about their property value worries when things like this have escalated to sexual crimes against women.”

Tamayo currently faces the single charge of attempted sexual assault, although police are looking into the possibility that he may be responsible for the entire month-long series of sexually motivated burglaries.

Tamayo’s other Pima County charges date back to 1997 and consist of:

11 – counts burglary in the second degree (three dismissed)
3 – counts burglary in the third degree (all three dismissed)
1 – count burglary in the first degree (dismissed)
1 – theft
1 – possession or use of a dangerous drug (dismissed)
1 – endangerment of others (dismissed)
1 – aggravated assault
1 – armed robbery

1 – attempted sexual assault (pending)

Source: Pima County Consolidated Justice Court

To be fair, a total of nine of the charges were dismissed while 10 resulted in grand jury indictments.

No further information was available, save for the entire situation being a blaring example of the system not working.

His three-year prison sentence stemmed from a July 1999 burglary attempt. He was admitted into prison in June 2000 and released in September 2002.

Tamayo’s list of infractions while imprisoned holds 11 entries, including several for refusing to work, a few for disobeying orders, one for theft, another for possession of contraband and one listed as “any sex act/stlk.” All are minor violations, except for the mysterious sex act, which is a major violation.

A total off 11 aliases are on record, some of which are combinations of his first name, last name and middle name of Cordova.

His prison record notes his public risk rating, or the danger he imposes to society on a scale of 1 to 5, is a low-rated 2.

[tnipoll]

NOTE: Barbaro Tamayo’s photo is available on the Arizona Dept. of Corrections website but I did not post it because police purposely withheld it when he was most recently arrested.

What do you think?

What needs to be done to get people the help they need?

Why is our system so screwed up?

Sex tours, romps and videos – starring children: What our gov't is doing about it

Sex with elementary school kids – or younger – kiddie porn, and booking child sex tours to Mexico have to be some of the sickest crimes out there.

Thinkstock image

Just ask Kristofer Kevin Christoferson, 49, who was sentenced Tuesday to a decade in prison after pleading guilty to charges that included travel with intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor, according to a news release from the District of Arizona’s Office of the U.S. Attorney.

The minors Christoferson requested for these sexual encounters were girls aged 5 to 9.

This Brownsville, Texas, guy set up a two-day children’s sex tour in Mexico over the Internet in 2007. Christoferson trekked from Texas to Tucson to embark on his sickly little journey – only to be arrested by ICE agents, one of whom had been undercover posing on the Internet as tour coordinator.

Christoferson also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, “substantial” amounts of which were found in his home. Authorities searched his home and computer with a search warrant obtained after Christoferson ordered child pornography films by mail through another undercover operation.

In addition to the 10 years in prison, Christoferson’s sentence includes “supervised release for the remainder of his life with a number of stringent sex offender conditions, including the condition that he register as a sex offender.”

Christoferson may also get the pleasure of a cell near Tucsonan Albert Thomas Rogers, 52, a former superintendent with the Tanque Verde Unified School District, who is serving out his 100 months in prison for similar charges.

Rather than young girls, however, Rogers requested for his Mexico sex tour a 13 to 14-year-old boy.

He, too, was busted by an undercover operation by an ICE agent posing as the van driver that was supposed to take him from Yuma to Mexico.

Now that we’re all sick to our stomachs, there is a positive side to these horror stories – at least the sexual predators are getting busted.

In fact, the U.S. Marshals Service recently launched a nationwide operation focused on nabbing sex offenders, particularly the “top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders,” according to another U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

“Additionally, the department will create a national database to allow federal, state, tribal, local and international law enforcement partners to collaborate and avoid duplication of efforts, engage in undercover operations, share information and intelligence and conduct analysis on dangerous offenders and future threats and trends,” the release noted.

It’s already working. Since March, at least 32 defendants accused of sexual offenses have been charged, convicted, or sentenced in Arizona.

Cases handled by Arizona’s U.S. Attorney’s Office include:

* Tyler A. Townley, 30, a fifth-grade teacher at Sun Canyon Elementary School in Phoenix, arrested May 6 on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography in interstate and foreign commerce for images and video files of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

* Deewayne Bowdin, 53, of Wilcox, pleaded guilty to seven counts of child porn possession with more than 15,600 images and 62 movies of kids in sexually explicit conduct. He received 60 months in prison and other conditions.

* Kevin Deawne Martin, 40, of Tucson, sentenced to 180 months in prison for possession as well as transportation and shipping of child pornography, with more than 200 images and kiddie porn videos he shared over the Internet.

* Dwayne Warren Bogan, a.k.a. “King Flavor,” 47, of Las Vegas, Nev., was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix for numerous sex trafficking violations for allegedly recruiting, harboring and forcing a girl he knew, under age 18, into prostitution. His trial is Oct. 5. His max could be a life sentence.

* Child Sex Crimes in Indian Country: A special focus of the operation is sexual offenses on reservations. Since March, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has charged, convicted or sentenced 14 cases involving the sexual abuse and/or aggravated sexual abuse of minors in Indian Country.

“The department also created 38 additional Assistant U.S. Attorney positions devoted to child exploitation cases,” the release noted, “and over the coming months will work to fill the vacancies and train the new assistants in this specialized area.”

Need a job? Got a shotgun?

Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is another strategy in place, one that targets individuals who exploit children via the Internet and helps identify and rescue victims.

Since Project Safe Childhood was implemented in 2006, the Department of Justice has filed more than PSC 8,464 cases against 8,637 defendants.

That’s a heck of a lot of sexual predators. Worse yet, that’s a heck of a lot of victimized kids.

[tnipoll]

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, through Project Safe Childhood prosecutions, and working with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies and educators, is continually engaged in efforts to educate and prevent child sexual exploitation. To help or receive more information, contact Project Safe Childhood Coordinator Carin Duryee in Tucson at 620-7300.

What do you think?

Are there any effective tools to prevent future sex offenses or deter repeat offenders?

Is the government doing enough to stop these crimes? What else could be done?