YMCA Swim Trainer Fired for Past Conviction Involving Sex with Minor

A longtime swimming trainer working for the YMCA swim team in Somerville, New Jersey, has been dismissed after Y officials discovered he was convicted 17 years ago for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old. Joe Weber pleaded guilty in August 1995 amid allegations he engaged in a sexual relationship with the young woman he was coaching at a school near Philadelphia the previous year. At the time, Weber was 28 years old. According to a statement released by the Somerset Valley YMCA CEO Paul Kieltyka, the parents of those on the swim team have been informed of Weber’s dismissal.

Audit Finds Sex Offenders in State-Funded Child Care and Foster Homes

A recent audit has found that during a ten year period from 2002 to 2012, there were twenty-eight sex offenders living in child care and foster homes regulated or subsidized by Washington State, including one who worked for nine years in a high school as a janitor. The review stated that the problem could be prevented if state laws were followed more strictly, and offered several recommendations for procedures the state should follow to better keep children safe from sex crime offenders. However, the auditor’s office spokeswoman, Mindy Chambers, said the state agencies should be commended for taking action to quickly improve procedures after learning about the problems. Lawmakers contend that the audit shows more should be done in order for children to be protected, including improved communication and background checks.

Sex Offender Protesters Hired By Council Arrested For Working Too Close to Children

Two protesters hired by a company that protests businesses working with non-union labor were arrested for violating the Sexual Offender Registry Act in Jefferson County, Tennessee. The Mid-South Carpenter’s Council hired the two men to hold a sign outside of the First Baptist Church in Dandridge reading “Shame on Pastor Brown.” The church has Christian learning center on site, and the sheriff’s office received a tip that a sex offender was working at the church. When the sheriff’s office investigated the complaint, they discovered it was Ricky Dean Moore, standing in front of the church. Forty-nine-year-old Moore of Knoxville, is a convicted sex offender. Upon Moore’s arrest, investigators checked the records of the man working with him and discovered that Michael David Sadler, 51, of Knoxville, was also a convicted sex offender. It is illegal for a sex offender to work within 1,000 feet of a daycare.