Slashdot Mirror


Online Sex Offender Database Leads To Murder?

nem75 writes "The LA Times reports on the story of Michael A. Dodele, a convicted rapist, found murdered in a Lakeport trailer park. He moved there after having been released from prison just 35 days before. A 29-year-old construction worker has been arrested in the attack, and explained that he killed Dodele to protect his son from child molestation. He found out on the internet about Dodele being a sex offender, via the 'Megan's Law' database. The public entry for Dodele in the database was wrong — though he was found guilty of committing crimes against adult women he was not a child molester. Dodele's entry in Megan's Law DB has been removed." Update: 12/11 15:51 GMT by Z : Moved link to non-reg article.

28 of 1,001 comments (clear)

  1. Trailer Park by dintech · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, I can't believe someone that dumb can use a computer. I hope he wasn't too distracted from the latest episode of "Ow! My Balls!".

    1. Re:Trailer Park by chakan2 · · Score: 5, Funny

      THX-1138, there is an entertainment channel that's just continuous footage of two android cops hitting a human prisoner with billy clubs. It made me wonder if a Violence Channel would do well. We have Spike, it's basically the same thing, and I think it's doing alright.
  2. Re:Notification of neighbors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    No. The cattle brand on his ass and yellow star are sufficient.

  3. Containing the damage by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, at least they have removed his erroneous entry from the database. Hopefully, that will ensure that he is not murdered twice.

  4. Re:Am I the only one? by wattrlz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, pretty much.

  5. The flaw in the guy's logic was... by DJ+Katty · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...he should have used a Death Note.

  6. Megan aside, by misanthrope101 · · Score: 5, Funny

    can anyone give a reason why ALL people convicted of ANYTHING aren't in a database? Since privacy is no longer important when it has to compete with safety on any level, why give it even a token protection? I'm all for protecting children from child molesters, but don't you also have a "right" to know if a convicted car thief lives in the neighborhood? Why can't you look up your new neighbor and find out that he shoplifted a package of underwear 12 years ago? Don't you have a right to sleep soundly at night? Why do we need to know that a child molester lives in the area, but not a convicted murderer? How about drug offenses? Shouldn't we just put all criminal records online? Isn't public safety more important than the "privacy" of criminals?

    1. Re:Megan aside, by notnAP · · Score: 3, Funny

      The government actually does keep a list of all citizens it considers suspect.

  7. Re:Am I the only one? by Fieryphoenix · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or murdered.

  8. Preemptive Justice by SeeManRun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its just a form of preemptive justice. He killed him before he hurt someone else. I only hope this justice prevails throughout society so no one ever has to be hurt again!

  9. Re:Duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    We should also make searchable databases for all those suspected or convicted of thief, buglary, murder, fraud, and any other felony or misdemeanor, and a list of who their neighbors were at the time, as well as their immediate family. Make it accessible to the public so everyone can see, we'd be so safe then that we wouldn't need the police anymore.

  10. Shekespeare on killing all the Catholic priests by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A Rabbi, a Priest, and a lawyer are on the Titanic having a lively discussion about God and the law when the boat hits an iceberg and starts sinking.

    "Save the children!" the Rabbi exclaims.

    "FUCK the children, the lawyer snarls.

    "No time for that!" says the priest

    -mcgrew

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  11. Obligatory Penny Arcade link by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 2, Funny
    --
    sudo eat my shorts
  12. Immagine... by Ghubi · · Score: 2, Funny

    A publicly accessible database of RIAA lawyers.

  13. Re:This would make... by Fex303 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did you know the vast majority of rapes are commited by - tadzoum - the husband !
    This 'Tadzoum' guy must be found and stopped. Weird, foreign-sounding name, too.
  14. Re:This is great. by orclevegam · · Score: 4, Funny

    You are remiss for mentioning that formula without linking to this xkcd comic.

    --
    Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  15. Re:Keep in mind by Thanshin · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're right. We may have as few as ten years to create the murderers list!

  16. Re:The Importance of Privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    At least in the U.S., the posting of a false characterization of another as a child molester could well lead to a financially crippling slander lawsuit so there is a powerful disincentive for doing so.

    Of course, when the government posts false information, it's just a forgiveable bureaucratic snafu.

  17. Re:Society of Fear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Changing in public and urination in public have to register too.

    As well they should. Unfortunately, the law does not go far enough to protect the children. Did you know that, at this very moment, there are hundreds of millions of people in the US currently in possession of genitalia that could be used to commit any number of sex offenses? These people are allowed to walk around in public right next to children while carrying concealed genitalia. It is time to put a stop to this and make sure that all parents are aware of the threat that these sickos pose to our children.

  18. Re:Duh. by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 4, Funny

    "How common is this kind of thing?"

    A fake story on the internet? Fairly common I would say.

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  19. Re:The Importance of Privacy by kevin_conaway · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am, in fact, a child molester.

    BURN HIM!

  20. Re:Duh. by Myopic · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yah. I heard about a guy who got on the list lifelong because he mooned his friend. Or, something like that. I dunno, might have just been a myth.

  21. Re:This is great. by Tim+Browse · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sounds like a line from the Brass Eye Special.

    "Is it ok for a man to sleep with a 3 year old girl, now that she is 18?"
    "No."
    "Absolutely not."
    "No way."

  22. Re:Duh. by OzoneLad · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why shouldn't you be allowed to vote? Because youve proven to society that you make bad descisions. I guess now we need a list of people who voted for Bush twice.
  23. Problem solved then; never mind by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Dodele's entry in Megan's Law DB has been removed."
    Thank GOD they solved the problem!
    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  24. Re:It is worse than you imagine by neuro88 · · Score: 2, Funny

    In some states, public indecency will get you on the sex offender list (I think West Virginia is one)*. So, for merely getting caught peeing behind a tree at a bar after drinking a lot, you can get labeled a sex offender for life. The only victim of that crime is the person convicted...

    What about the tree? :(

  25. Re:Duh. by Darby · · Score: 2, Funny


    For the record, I just happened to be processing ground ozone data at work when I signed up for the account.


    Dude, how the heck do you grind ozone? What do the machines look like? Do you just get oxygen out of it, or do you grind it finer than that. If so what stops the Kaboom?

  26. Can't be better for the "sex offender"! by Amitz+Sekali · · Score: 2, Funny

    If I were the sex offender, I will follow my doppelganger to whereever he lives. I will dress the same way, grow the same mustache/beard/hairstyle and wear the same glasses. I will even try to speak/walk/move the same way. This way, I will reduce my chance of being killed to 50%.

    Joking aside, I find this whole obsession to sex offender disturbing. But I'll let others argue about that.

    --
    If you delay pleasure infinitely, the pleasure will be infinite. (YM)