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MARKETPLACE:  Auto | Jobs | People Search | Personals | Travel | Yellow Pages  January 7, 2005
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The Eyewitness News Investigators
Exclusive: We uncover why all sex offenders are not registered in Rhode Island
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Is there a dangerous sexual predator living next door to you? There might be and you may not know.

The law that's supposed to provide community notification isn't working.

Take the Eugene Textor case.. A convicted sex offender accused of sexual assault involving a Narragansett high school student.

After learning of the case, a community becomes outraged over the fact no one knew of his past.

The Eyewitness News Investigators have been digging to find out if there are other offenders who might not make the notification system.

There is no question that there are dangerous sex offenders in the community.

But for the most part the public does not know where they are until they strike again.

  "Iwas raped in my house "

This woman's attacker is in prison, but his punishment can never make up for the pain and fear he's caused this victim, who asked not to be identified.

"Rape is the same as murder, except the person is walking around living with that. You are murdering a part of a person's soul by doing that."

Periodically, the public is shocked to learn a sexual predator has struck again.

Eugene Texter was arrested recently for trying to abduct a 14-year-old girl.

He had already been convicted of raping two women - one at knifepoint, the other while posing as a police officer.

Through a series of appeals and court decisions his collective sentence of 76 years was reduced to 13 years.

"The reality is there probably are other eugene texter's in the community. How many, we really don't know."

Langhammer is one of group of people who won passage in the general assembly of a new, streamlined notification law...but the new statute - Rhode Island's version of Megan's Law -is only part of the solution.

 "This is something that can't happen overnight, that will require resources in every city and town to provide what law enforcement needs to effectively providence notification."

In fact, of the more than 1,500 registered sex offenders in R hode I sland, only six have been classified. And only two of them are the subject of community-wide identification.

They are:

Jason Tokarski, 24. He lives in the area of the P rovidence street fire station in W oonsocket.

He was convicted of first degree sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl

and

Michael Beaulieu

52. He lives in theElmwood avenue neighborhood of P rovidence.

He ws convicted of child molestation.

Peter loss has treated sex offenders for 25 years, the last 16 as head of the sex offenders treatment program at the aci.

(prepro)

there are 331 sex offenders at the state prison.

Loss says about 90 percent of them are child abusers, 10 percent target adults.

(prepro)

He says 50 to 60 percent of the offenders refuse to participate in the treatment program.

Loss says those who do participate have a high success rate...but some offenders seem uncontrollable.

"Well, i think there's a group of people that i think if they get out, they're destined to hurt people and we need 44:07 - not to let them out."

He believes R hode I sland, like M assachusetts and a dozen other states, needs a civil commitment statute that would keep dangerious predators in custody even after their criminal sentences expire.

Last month E ugene Texter was was sentenced to 39 1/2 years as probation violator.

He faces up to an additional 60 years in prison if convicted of attacking the Narragansett High School girl.

The problem is there may be other E ugene Texter's out there, but the public does not know where they are.

 

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