https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/10/11/sex-offenders-can-cater-kids-under-mississippi-law/1296260002/?from=new-cookie
Sex offenders can cater to kids under Mississippi law
Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Clarion Ledger Published 9:00 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2018 | Updated 9:18 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2018
While they can't work in schools, they can start or work at businesses with services aimed at children. Jerry Mitchell, Clarion Ledger
Archie Foster
(Photo: Mississippi Sex Offender Registry)
CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
LAUREL — Foster’s Self-Defense Academy teaches martial arts to adults and to children as young as 3.
The 61-year-old operator, Archie Foster, is a registered sex offender who spent nearly 13 years in a Florida prison after pleading guilty to 29 counts of child pornography. He was released from prison last year.
Foster told the Clarion Ledger that he has never abused a child. “I’m trying to support my family. I’m trying to make a living,” he said. “I spent 13 years in prison for looking at dirty pictures on the internet. I’ve never victimized anybody.”
His wife, Hope, teaches all of the children’s classes, and Foster informs parents of students through a student application form that notes he “has been convicted of a sex offense.”
Like many states, Mississippi restricts where registered sex offenders can live and work with regard to schools, day care facilities and volunteer organizations. But the law doesn’t address sex offenders running businesses that cater to minors.
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Attorney General Jim Hood, likely opponents in next year's gubernatorial race, both support a review of existing laws to keep children safe.
Sally Doty
Sally Doty (Photo: File, Clarion Ledger)
State Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, said she believes Mississippi law should spell out that “convicted sex offenders cannot work with children in any capacity without proper and verifiable notification to the child’s parent. … Protecting our children and other vulnerable persons such as the elderly and disabled is my number one concern, but I also understand the role and importance of stable employment for rehabilitation of anyone convicted of a crime.”
Registered sex offenders in U.S. near 1 million
The number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. is nearing 1 million — more people than live in the entire city of San Francisco.
Registered sex offenders in Mississippi tops 10,000, including 2,770 who now live out of state. (To find out what offenders live in your home county, click here.)
And those numbers continue to grow.
In September, a couple in Meridian were arrested on charges of human trafficking, child porn, sexual assault and kidnapping for allegedly attempting to sell sexual access to minors over the internet.
For the victims and potential victims, the growing number is exacerbated by the lack or resources to investigate these cases.
Twenty of Mississippi’s 82 counties lack any coverage from a child advocacy center, which helps gather evidence in abuse cases.
Children living in Laurel must travel nearly two hours south to Gulfport, said Laurel nurse Dawn Compton, co-author of “Nursing the Wounds.” “The advocacy center adds multiple layers of accountability to the system that is known for failing children. I was one of those kids.”
A picture of Dawn Compton, who began to be abused as a child
A picture of Dawn Compton, who began to be abused as a child (Photo: Courtesy of Dawn Compton)
Her late uncle was the one who took her to church. He also happened to be the one who began abusing her when she was young, she said. “I didn’t even know what was happening was wrong.”
After he abused a neighbor girl, he was finally arrested and kicked out of the church, but he never went to prison for what he did, Compton said.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Cybercrime Unit houses the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which monitors and detects internet crimes against children through detection and undercover operations. Between March and May, the unit's work led to the arrests of 32 on child sex offenses.
Leah Claire Bennett, director of clinical operations for Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, said a wide variety exists among sex offenders and that there is evidence that treatment for some sex offenders works.
Recidivism rates for all sex offenders after five years is 14 percent, rising to 24 percent after 15 years, she said.
Pine Grove uses lie detector tests each year on those “at risk of hurting others,” she said. “We ask if there have been any sexual boundary crossings.”
Such monitoring “is important for long-term success,” she said. “It’s also a mechanism for those doing the right thing to prove that they are doing well.”
Wife of sex offender: He was porn addict, not child molester
When word emerged recently of Foster’s past, some in this town of less than 19,000 expressed outrage on Facebook, and some talked of picketing outside the martial arts academy to “make sure all parents of children … know his story.”
A number of parents came to Foster’s defense, saying he was a good Christian man who changed his life.
“He never harmed a child nor was accused of it,” his wife wrote. “He WAS a porn addict like many men are and, if were honest, would admit to having had things come into their view they wish they had not seen. He got saved before going to prison and no longer looks at any type of porn and received a doctorate’s degree while in prison.”
Foster's Self-Defense Academy offers lessons to children as young as 3
Foster's Self-Defense Academy offers lessons to children as young as 3 (Photo: Clarion Ledger)
One commenter responded that most men don’t look at child porn and that the argument that Foster didn’t touch “ignores the direct abuse committed against those kids to create the images for him to look at.”
Just as it is hardly wise for a recovering alcoholic to work in a bar, the commentor noted that it is hardly wise for a recovering sex offender to start a martial arts academy that caters to kids or open a toy store or day care.
“For those of you attesting friendship to Archie, I hope you are true to him,” the commentor said. “That said, I’d be cautious in railing against parents who want to protect their kids, and I’d keep a watchful eye on my own.”
Informed that some local parents were concerned about his past, he replied, “What about my present? What about my future? That was 15 years ago.”
He said critics are not the parents of his students because those parents already know and trust him.
Aside from the martial arts studio, Foster said he is involved in Christian ministry, sharing his testimony and preaching from area pulpits.
Victor Vieth is the executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center.
Victor Vieth is the executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center. (Photo: National Child Protection Training Center)
Victor Vieth, a native of Winona and executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center, questioned churches allowing convicted sex offenders to preach.
“If Moses couldn’t get into the promised land for striking a rock, they shouldn’t be in a pulpit,” he said. “There needs to be some standards in the faith community.”
Should sex offenders be allowed to preach?
Foster isn’t the only registered sex offender who preaches in this area...
...Foster's Self-Defense Academy in Laurel is run by Archie Foster, a registered sex offender and former Mississippi state trooper who became a Christian evangelist after serving nearly 13 years in prison for child pornography.
Foster's Self-Defense Academy in Laurel is run by Archie Foster, a registered sex offender and former Mississippi state trooper who became a Christian evangelist after serving nearly 13 years in prison for child pornography. (Photo: Sarah Warnock, Clarion Ledger)
Inside his martial arts studio, he pointed to the video cameras overhead. “There’s not anywhere you can stand and not be recorded 24 hours a day, except the bathroom,” he said.
These precautions, he said, “are not for the protection of children. They’re for my protection. I don’t want to go back to prison. If I am accused, I want to be able to dispel that immediately.”
His Foster Self-Defense Academy markets to minors on Facebook, promoting jiu-jitsu classes for children as young as 3.
“It’s back to school time,” the academy’s page declared. “With all of the new and exciting experiences and opportunities you’ll enjoy, you’ll also be at greater risk to encounter predators.”
Foster said he knows all about predators.
“I spent 13 years in prison with men who were sex offenders and were child molesters that were predators that are a danger in the community,” he said. “There are people I slept next to that I hope don’t ever get out of prison because they are dangerous. Everybody that has the label sex offender doesn’t fall into the same category.”
Hinton recalled an interview he conducted with a pedophile, who warned him to “watch out for sex offenders who say they are guardians of children. Most often, they’ll obsess about how much they protect kids and how much they hate sex offenders.”
Foster said those who walk through the doors of their martial arts studio are sometimes desperate, sometimes suicidal, sometimes survivors of abuse, he said. “They don’t have anybody else to talk to.”
At area churches, he shares his testimony. Afterward, many men approach him.
“I have pastors of churches who are addicted to pornography that have contacted me for ministry because they understand that I understand what they are struggling with,” he said.
After Foster completes his probation in January, he said he will be able to go back behind bars — this time to minister to those inside.
“When somebody comes back into a prison who has been incarcerated, the inmates pay a lot more attention to him than somebody who has never been incarcerated,” he said. “I speak the language.”
On Facebook, someone asked him if any of his students were victims.
Foster replied, “The only victims I created were my family and close friends who suffered the embarrassment and humiliation they experienced when my secret sins were made public.”
The Clarion Ledger asked him about the children who were abused in the making of the child porn — has he considered making amends in some way to those children?
Hope said her husband didn’t victimize anyone and that they are helping people through the martial arts studio.
“Paying back is what we’re doing here,” she said. “We are empowering people. We are giving people who have been abused the courage to leave, the courage to go forth and live their lives.”
They are looking for a second chance, and so is Foster.
“I’m out here trying to be a productive member of the community,” he said. “I was a productive member of the community before I offended. I wasn’t a pedophile then. I’m not a pedophile now.”
Contact Jerry Mitchell at 601-961-7064 or [email protected]. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Sex offenders can cater to kids under Mississippi law
Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Clarion Ledger Published 9:00 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2018 | Updated 9:18 a.m. CT Oct. 11, 2018
While they can't work in schools, they can start or work at businesses with services aimed at children. Jerry Mitchell, Clarion Ledger
Archie Foster
(Photo: Mississippi Sex Offender Registry)
CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
LAUREL — Foster’s Self-Defense Academy teaches martial arts to adults and to children as young as 3.
The 61-year-old operator, Archie Foster, is a registered sex offender who spent nearly 13 years in a Florida prison after pleading guilty to 29 counts of child pornography. He was released from prison last year.
Foster told the Clarion Ledger that he has never abused a child. “I’m trying to support my family. I’m trying to make a living,” he said. “I spent 13 years in prison for looking at dirty pictures on the internet. I’ve never victimized anybody.”
His wife, Hope, teaches all of the children’s classes, and Foster informs parents of students through a student application form that notes he “has been convicted of a sex offense.”
Like many states, Mississippi restricts where registered sex offenders can live and work with regard to schools, day care facilities and volunteer organizations. But the law doesn’t address sex offenders running businesses that cater to minors.
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Attorney General Jim Hood, likely opponents in next year's gubernatorial race, both support a review of existing laws to keep children safe.
Sally Doty
Sally Doty (Photo: File, Clarion Ledger)
State Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, said she believes Mississippi law should spell out that “convicted sex offenders cannot work with children in any capacity without proper and verifiable notification to the child’s parent. … Protecting our children and other vulnerable persons such as the elderly and disabled is my number one concern, but I also understand the role and importance of stable employment for rehabilitation of anyone convicted of a crime.”
Registered sex offenders in U.S. near 1 million
The number of registered sex offenders in the U.S. is nearing 1 million — more people than live in the entire city of San Francisco.
Registered sex offenders in Mississippi tops 10,000, including 2,770 who now live out of state. (To find out what offenders live in your home county, click here.)
And those numbers continue to grow.
In September, a couple in Meridian were arrested on charges of human trafficking, child porn, sexual assault and kidnapping for allegedly attempting to sell sexual access to minors over the internet.
For the victims and potential victims, the growing number is exacerbated by the lack or resources to investigate these cases.
Twenty of Mississippi’s 82 counties lack any coverage from a child advocacy center, which helps gather evidence in abuse cases.
Children living in Laurel must travel nearly two hours south to Gulfport, said Laurel nurse Dawn Compton, co-author of “Nursing the Wounds.” “The advocacy center adds multiple layers of accountability to the system that is known for failing children. I was one of those kids.”
A picture of Dawn Compton, who began to be abused as a child
A picture of Dawn Compton, who began to be abused as a child (Photo: Courtesy of Dawn Compton)
Her late uncle was the one who took her to church. He also happened to be the one who began abusing her when she was young, she said. “I didn’t even know what was happening was wrong.”
After he abused a neighbor girl, he was finally arrested and kicked out of the church, but he never went to prison for what he did, Compton said.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Cybercrime Unit houses the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which monitors and detects internet crimes against children through detection and undercover operations. Between March and May, the unit's work led to the arrests of 32 on child sex offenses.
Leah Claire Bennett, director of clinical operations for Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, said a wide variety exists among sex offenders and that there is evidence that treatment for some sex offenders works.
Recidivism rates for all sex offenders after five years is 14 percent, rising to 24 percent after 15 years, she said.
Pine Grove uses lie detector tests each year on those “at risk of hurting others,” she said. “We ask if there have been any sexual boundary crossings.”
Such monitoring “is important for long-term success,” she said. “It’s also a mechanism for those doing the right thing to prove that they are doing well.”
Wife of sex offender: He was porn addict, not child molester
When word emerged recently of Foster’s past, some in this town of less than 19,000 expressed outrage on Facebook, and some talked of picketing outside the martial arts academy to “make sure all parents of children … know his story.”
A number of parents came to Foster’s defense, saying he was a good Christian man who changed his life.
“He never harmed a child nor was accused of it,” his wife wrote. “He WAS a porn addict like many men are and, if were honest, would admit to having had things come into their view they wish they had not seen. He got saved before going to prison and no longer looks at any type of porn and received a doctorate’s degree while in prison.”
Foster's Self-Defense Academy offers lessons to children as young as 3
Foster's Self-Defense Academy offers lessons to children as young as 3 (Photo: Clarion Ledger)
One commenter responded that most men don’t look at child porn and that the argument that Foster didn’t touch “ignores the direct abuse committed against those kids to create the images for him to look at.”
Just as it is hardly wise for a recovering alcoholic to work in a bar, the commentor noted that it is hardly wise for a recovering sex offender to start a martial arts academy that caters to kids or open a toy store or day care.
“For those of you attesting friendship to Archie, I hope you are true to him,” the commentor said. “That said, I’d be cautious in railing against parents who want to protect their kids, and I’d keep a watchful eye on my own.”
Informed that some local parents were concerned about his past, he replied, “What about my present? What about my future? That was 15 years ago.”
He said critics are not the parents of his students because those parents already know and trust him.
Aside from the martial arts studio, Foster said he is involved in Christian ministry, sharing his testimony and preaching from area pulpits.
Victor Vieth is the executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center.
Victor Vieth is the executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center. (Photo: National Child Protection Training Center)
Victor Vieth, a native of Winona and executive director emeritus for the National Child Protection Training Center, questioned churches allowing convicted sex offenders to preach.
“If Moses couldn’t get into the promised land for striking a rock, they shouldn’t be in a pulpit,” he said. “There needs to be some standards in the faith community.”
Should sex offenders be allowed to preach?
Foster isn’t the only registered sex offender who preaches in this area...
...Foster's Self-Defense Academy in Laurel is run by Archie Foster, a registered sex offender and former Mississippi state trooper who became a Christian evangelist after serving nearly 13 years in prison for child pornography.
Foster's Self-Defense Academy in Laurel is run by Archie Foster, a registered sex offender and former Mississippi state trooper who became a Christian evangelist after serving nearly 13 years in prison for child pornography. (Photo: Sarah Warnock, Clarion Ledger)
Inside his martial arts studio, he pointed to the video cameras overhead. “There’s not anywhere you can stand and not be recorded 24 hours a day, except the bathroom,” he said.
These precautions, he said, “are not for the protection of children. They’re for my protection. I don’t want to go back to prison. If I am accused, I want to be able to dispel that immediately.”
His Foster Self-Defense Academy markets to minors on Facebook, promoting jiu-jitsu classes for children as young as 3.
“It’s back to school time,” the academy’s page declared. “With all of the new and exciting experiences and opportunities you’ll enjoy, you’ll also be at greater risk to encounter predators.”
Foster said he knows all about predators.
“I spent 13 years in prison with men who were sex offenders and were child molesters that were predators that are a danger in the community,” he said. “There are people I slept next to that I hope don’t ever get out of prison because they are dangerous. Everybody that has the label sex offender doesn’t fall into the same category.”
Hinton recalled an interview he conducted with a pedophile, who warned him to “watch out for sex offenders who say they are guardians of children. Most often, they’ll obsess about how much they protect kids and how much they hate sex offenders.”
Foster said those who walk through the doors of their martial arts studio are sometimes desperate, sometimes suicidal, sometimes survivors of abuse, he said. “They don’t have anybody else to talk to.”
At area churches, he shares his testimony. Afterward, many men approach him.
“I have pastors of churches who are addicted to pornography that have contacted me for ministry because they understand that I understand what they are struggling with,” he said.
After Foster completes his probation in January, he said he will be able to go back behind bars — this time to minister to those inside.
“When somebody comes back into a prison who has been incarcerated, the inmates pay a lot more attention to him than somebody who has never been incarcerated,” he said. “I speak the language.”
On Facebook, someone asked him if any of his students were victims.
Foster replied, “The only victims I created were my family and close friends who suffered the embarrassment and humiliation they experienced when my secret sins were made public.”
The Clarion Ledger asked him about the children who were abused in the making of the child porn — has he considered making amends in some way to those children?
Hope said her husband didn’t victimize anyone and that they are helping people through the martial arts studio.
“Paying back is what we’re doing here,” she said. “We are empowering people. We are giving people who have been abused the courage to leave, the courage to go forth and live their lives.”
They are looking for a second chance, and so is Foster.
“I’m out here trying to be a productive member of the community,” he said. “I was a productive member of the community before I offended. I wasn’t a pedophile then. I’m not a pedophile now.”
Contact Jerry Mitchell at 601-961-7064 or [email protected]. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.