You always see stories on TV about horrible offenders who waited outside of schools or hidden inside of vans and abducted people. Most of the time you see somebody is on the registry and you automatically assume you know what they’re on the registry for. You don’t bother taking the time to learn their story or what actually happened.. too many times people see you on the registry and automatically assume you were one of those people waiting outside of the school.
People have no idea what it’s like being on the registry or how victimized people like us can be. They don’t know how bullied we get. And before anybody starts in on the hole, oh well, you’re an offender you did this you deserve it blah blah blah…. Let me just start by saying I’ve been on the registry since I was 11 years old. And when I say you have no idea what it’s like, I truly mean you have no idea what it’s like. I am currently 35 years old and I have been dealing with hateful cops, judges who are to bothered to care, so-called “good citizens” who think they are protecting their neighborhood from a horrible person, and so on. I have been bullied, harassed, thrown out of places, forced to move, and even kicked out of school and forced to get my GED. my life has been one giant traumatic event, starting from when I was 11 years old.

My parents split up when I was just a baby, my father claimed that I wasn’t his (even though I look the most like him..), but he did everything in his power to try and take custody of my older brother. My mom was the one who ended up having custody of my brother and I up until we were 10 and 11. When I turned 10, my father got in contact with my brother and I and offered for us to come live with him for a year and see what schools were like. He knew my brother would not say yes unless I said yes as well. So he tried to make sure that I would accept. And for my brother sake, I did. When we finally got down there, my brother was pampered and given just about everything he wanted. While I had to deal with my drug addict stepmom and my abusive little stepbrother, who used his mom as a weapon against me as much as he could. Meanwhile, my step, uncle, was secretly molesting my brother and I. Neither of us knew he was doing it to the other. My uncle was the one who taught me it was OK. So long as I didn’t get caught or didn’t get in trouble. In the end, I ended up touching my 8yr stepbrother, and my 6yr half sister. At 10 years old, the most trouble I thought I would get in was getting swatted and being grounded to my bed. I had no idea what I was doing was something so wrong that cops would be involved and my entire future would be destroyed. When my father found out what had happened between my younger siblings and I, he took advantage of it and attempted to use the situation as a weapon against my mother, in an attempt to claim sole custody of my brother while also throwing me behind bars. He press charges against me for two counts of child molestation in the first degree. I was 11 whenever we went to court. But at this time, I was forced to return home to my mother who lived on the complete other side of the state until the investigation was complete. Because we live so far away, the court cases were scheduled for several months apart. It wasn’t until I was 13 that they finally decided to convict me as guilty and sentenced me to two years in Echo Glen, with two years of court appointed counseling and parole afterwards. Echolyn had no problem treating us like less than human. Despite the fact that we were all kids.
When I was finally released from Echo Glen, I was labeled as a level, one least likely to reoffend. By time, I turned 17 I was finally done with my counseling and parole. My entire juvenile life was completely destroyed. High school was a living hell, especially when everybody in school knew who I was and what I had “done”. Or what they ASSUMED I had “done”. And you think adults are bad? Imagine teenagers harassing somebody about being a registered offender. You have no idea what I had to go through….. before I could turn 18, my family and I fled Washington state in an attempt to get away from my mom’s domestic relationship problems at the time, we moved to Kentucky…. I’m sure you can imagine what happened there…. Kentucky didn’t know what to deal with me because I was under age and not from their state. They told me to act normal until they could figure it out.. state law dictates if I’m under the age of 18 I’m required to go to school. So I did. And I happen to be a goth kid…. So a Goth kid walks into a Kentucky school…. Sadly not a joke. A few months after I had been attending, some kid told the cops that I was going to bring a gun to school and help somebody shoot up the school. When the cops found out it was me, they claimed I should’ve never even been in school in the first place because I’m on the registry. They arrested me and took me to jail. My condition of release the next day was that I was to register as an adult at the age of 17. And they quickly came out with the law stating any move-in offenders from out of state are required to register as a lifetime registrant, regardless of age.
From that point on I was constantly kicked out of this town or another because I was either living too close to the mayor and his wife, living too close to a church, or people didn’t want me living in their town. I was supposed to get my GED. And I constantly had cops watching me, “checking up” on me, or just generally harassing me whenever they got the chance. And I was forced to live this way up until I was 24. At which point I moved down to Georgia with the mother of my daughter. I told the sheriffs at the Georgia office everything that had transpired throughout my life. They claim that they would do everything they could to try and help me and make it to where I didn’t have to register anymore. Sadly, before that could happen, my ex and I ended up going through a very bad break up, and I moved back to Washington. I was 25 at this time.
Because Kentucky had labeled me as a lifetime registrant, Washington decided to abide by that rather than returning me to the level, one git that I was before leaving Washington. So I was told if I wanted to potentially petition to be reduced. That I would have to go back down to my county of origin pay a large sum of money to not only travel there, but to set the court date, and hire an attorney, and then travel home and wait for the court date to happen. Of course, at this time, I didn’t have any money, so I had to put it off and wait. Not long after my move back to Washington, I stupidly got involved with an underage girl. Her mom found out that we were dating. And so her mom kicked her out and told her to go live with me. She came to live with me for about a month and a half. During that time she spent a night over at her best friend’s house. I later find out that she slept with her best friend 30-year-old dad. So I ended up breaking up with her and told her I already went through one bad break up involving similar situations I didn’t need any anymore. Two days later officers show up at my door saying that she turned in and told them everything. Of course, they said everything, she didn’t bother telling them anything about her best friend’s dad. I was charged with a statutory and taken to jail. She sat in the courtroom with her best friend pointing at me and giggling and laughing….
I was sentenced to four years and six months on a max of five years.
After a year, I came out as transgender and started my transition process. And after four years, I was offered early release as a level 2 offender with probation so that I could go to a program in Seattle called fare start. This was a culinary arts program that would cram a two-year culinary degree into 16 weeks. During that time, I met a wonderful guy who was also on probation with me and on the registry. As was the rules, we were required to seek permission from our counselor and both of our probation officers for we were allowed to have a relationship. We got the approval to have a relationship! but we didn’t get approval to have sex…. We were both the same age, completely consensual, both adult… but because we didn’t seek permission to have sex, we were both violated and sent back to prison. I have no idea what happened to him, but I was forced to finish out my time all the way up to my max sentence of five years.
The registration board decided that “because I could not follow the rules” that I was clearly a risk to society and they bumped me up to a level three offender. Since my release, I have been a hermit. I have attempted to get jobs only to be fired shortly after because somebody didn’t want me working there. I have been turned down for interviews because they “found somebody more qualified” shortly after me telling them about my criminal history…. And I have been denied houses because the landlords don’t want somebody like me living in their homes. I currently am labeled as homeless. That being said, I am not completely homeless. I live in a travel trailer in my grandmother’s backyard. Of course my parents and my grandmother are all anti-LGBT and against me being trans. So I live here with no friends, no real social life, and no real happiness.. The only money I get is from a DSHS program called ABD. And that’s barely $450 a month. I have to pay for my propane, my rent, gas for my vehicle, annd any repair repairs that my vehicle may need (which is currently broke down. And I can’t afford to fix it). My life has been a complete and utter disaster…. Everybody treats me as if I drove around in a white van with “free candy” on the side of it…. Everybody in the town that I live and knows who I am because they posted a picture of me up at the local gas station for everyone to see. I have people who literally drive past my house and peel out their tires just to be rude. And I live in constant fear of somebody, making some accusation against me and having me locked up again for nothing…. Because that’s all it takes as an accusation and I end up in jail until I’m able to prove my innocence. Because whenever you’re a registered defender, they don’t care if you’re innocent, they will automatically classify you as guilty. There is no innocent until proven guilty. And with Trump currently in power…. It’s only going to get worse. As I mentioned before I am transgender. And Trump has been trying to do everything he can to make people like me out to be registered offenders. Now what happens if a level three transgender registered offender, suddenly catches a charge from Trump for being transgender. I go to prison for the rest of my life simply because I exist. But society doesn’t see that and even if they did they dont care. Society has been taught to be afraid of anybody on the registry. Do they know how easy it is to be put on the registry. And once you’re on the registry you’re marked for the rest of your life.
As I tried to explain to a lot of people, you can move yourself to a new town and move right in between two neighbors, you will automatically know that Bob on the right is a registered offender, but you will never know that Jim on the left went to prison for murder, Or arson, or burglary, or theft, or drug dealing….. while Bob is more afraid of you then you are of him…
When I say don’t assume you know the story, I truly mean you don’t know the story, and you have no right to pass judgment. After all the crime wasn’t committed against you or anyone you know. So what right do you have to pass any form of judgment? …..
I apologize for the story being long-winded…. But this is actually the short version….
Please have a nice day….