WI - Sex offender escapes from WORK RELEASE

First of all.. This is a local story. I'm OUTRAGED that a sex offender was out on work release in the first place... then he ESCAPES for 5 days and there is virtually NO news coverage on this. I'm going to start writing some people. This guy is charged with REPEATED sex offenses against a CHILD! :behindbar :behindbar :behindbar And I'm so angry that this wasn't plastered EVERYWHERE on the news until he was caught! He actually turned himself back in before the law caught up with him! I'm searching high and low to find more news on this, and there is just.... nothing.

Verne Allen Hahn left the Ferris Center on Feb. 23 as part of a work release program and didn't return.

Monday night around 8:30 p.m., Hahn turned himself into authorities.

document.write('');The 35-year-old is a convicted child sex offender and news of his work release privileges prompted immediate recommended changes to the existing Jessica's Law by Rep. Scott Suder and Rep. Mark Honadel.

http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/2384041.html

ETA: Ok I found ONE more article. This is so frustrating!
Hahn has a history of bail jumping and is currently facing charges of first-degree repeated sexual assault of a child, for which he pleaded no contest in January.

He was in jail for burglary, and also has four drunken driving convictions.

Sheriff's Office public information officer Elise Schaffer said today Hahn returned to the Public Safety Building, the county's main jail facility, around 8:30 Monday night.

Schaffer said it's not unusual for inmates to fail to return to the Ferris Center. But because of Hahn's current sexual assault charge and criminal history, the Sheriff's Office decided to put out a press release announcing he was missing with the hope someone would see him and he'd be recaptured.

"People walk away all the time from work release," Schaffer said. "But they either show up eventually or we catch up with them in some other fashion."

Hahn is currently being held in the Public Safety Building jail. Schaffer said the county will seek revocation of Hahn's work release privileges.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=74410&ntpid=11

And then there's one about my newest hero. Scroll down to "Stoughton Mom Mad" to read the story... I'll be contacting this lady:
http://www.wtdy.com/story1.htm

So bad! I'm glad their Representative to Congress, I assume, responded so quickly.

I'm still upset that in Oregon I can not pull up a map of any particular area to find locations of sex offenders. You have to have their name to plug in. Isn't that the most stupid thing! How are you going to know the names of people you don't even know that are living in that area. For Goodness Sakes Alive! You have to call the State to find out, and I think that is using up way too many government dollars!

Scandi

Are you sure you can't find it online? That's awful. There's a site I can go to and punch in my zip code and find maps to their houses along with their names. Then I can punch in their names in the public records online and see what the offense was. I'm sorry you don't have that available to you. EVERYONE should. I was shocked to find 5 living within a 3 mile radius in a little bedroom community like ours.

ETA: I started a thread in one of our local website's readers forum...

http://www.madison.com/post/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9035

I hope the link works. If not... go to www.madison.com click on "Forums" and then go to City Pages. The topic is called "Sex Offender escapes from Huber"

mssheila said:

Are you sure you can't find it online? That's awful. There's a site I can go to and punch in my zip code and find maps to their houses along with their names. Then I can punch in their names in the public records online and see what the offense was. I'm sorry you don't have that available to you. EVERYONE should. I was shocked to find 5 living within a 3 mile radius in a little bedroom community like ours.

Click to expand...

Each state has their own rules on what is on the website, and how you search the info. Some states will show people's work addresses for instance, but some states don't. If you think about it, if a person lives in another community- you might not even know he is working down the block and there every day. H.R. 3132 addresses that loophole, and will set up what and how every state will display their sex offender info.

I did this thread on feb 8th;

Websluths;sex offender walks away from halfway house

Burlington, Vermont - February 7, 2006

A Vermont sex offender who sparked protests when he was released from jail late last year is back in custody. Doug Atherton escaped from a halfway house in Boston Tuesday. The child molester was placed there in December, after residents in several Chittenden County communities voiced concerns that he would move to their neighborhoods.

But Federal Marshals say Atherton walked away from the halfway house Tuesday afternoon and took a bus back to Burlington.

When are the courts going to recognize the dangers of a sex offender?!?!
They shouldn't be out on bail, they shouldn't be doing work release, and they shouldn't be attending their kids birthday parties!

I really question the judgement of whoever let this guy out on work release... I understand that he was charged with the sex crimes AFTER he was allowed out on work release.. but the MINUTE he was charged, they should have revoked the privilege and locked him up but good! I am so angry. And worse, the community seems to have no sense of outrage. Why aren't people all up in arms over this?

Okay, I spouted off before I read the updated story... Things are looking better.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=74600&ntpid=6


A recent escape by a convicted child molester on work release has spurred two state lawmakers to propose barring child sex offenders from work privileges.

Reps. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, and Mark Honadel, R-South Milwaukee, are proposing a law that would block state courts from granting work privileges for child sex offenders awaiting sentencing.

Verne A. Hahn, 35, turned himself in Monday after four days on the lam. Hahn, who pleaded no contest to a charge of repeated first-degree sexual assault of a child in January, was in jail for burglary. He is scheduled to be sentenced on the child sex assault charge next week.

"This unfortunate case highlights the fact that our criminal justice system is failing to protect the public from these monsters," Suder said in a press release.

Suder and Honadel propose ending work release privileges and lenient sentences in child sex assault cases by imposing a minimum sentence of 25 years.

And: http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/2384041.html
The 35-year-old is a convicted child sex offender and news of his work release privileges prompted immediate recommended changes to the existing Jessica's Law by Rep. Scott Suder and Rep. Mark Honadel.

Honadel says, "There is a climate in Wisconsin that, you know, we want to get tough with sex offenders. I have three daughters of my own, and nobody wants to give these guys another chance."

Lawmakers are recommending that convicted sex offenders not be eligible for work release privileges.