When I was 18 years old I was heavily involved in drugs and when I met my alleged victim, a girl who went to my school. I thought we were destined to be. But my mother always told me to not ask a woman her age because it was impolite, so I assumed this girl was close to my age and I later found out that she was approximately 4 years younger than me. So when I found out, I panicked and worried she might turn me in. I didn’t break up with her, even though my cousin said it was best. I also was a boy just searching for love and was deceived in thinking I had found it. When the school found out about it they reported it. When I was interrogated, I didn’t lie because I thought the truth would set me free. I went to jail and served a year and a half in jail, six months in prison, a year on probation and 10 years on the registry. I was raped in jail because someone found out about my background. No justice happened for me because of my charges and when I got off of probation the sheriff’s department reclassified me to an adult sex offender even though I was only supposed to do ten years on the registry as part of my plea agreement.

I moved to Indiana and IDOC classified me as a Sexuality Violent Predator so they could justify keeping me on the registry for life. I was just recently assaulted in my work place at my job before this one because someone found me on the registry website. It has been hard for me to find work and hardly any shelters or programs will work with me because of my background and I am living on the streets because of it. I recently went to the Bowen Center, a mental health center, and I finally came forward with my story.

The disassociation and derealization symptoms that are evident in my behavior proves that I am experiencing symptoms of trauma they told me and I may be suffering with PTSD because of everything that has happened to me. Because of the registry I have been looking over my shoulder and worrying about if someone is going to look me up and come after me or my family. This far I have not been able to come forward with my story because I didn’t know who to trust or who could help me. I just want my life back, I want to live happy with a wife, and kids one day, and a job and a home, because I am not who the registry says I am.

I am human too, and I want to feel like I am human again one day, please if this story touches your heart reach out and help. I was sitting in adult prison before I was even able to buy alcohol, and my life is justice-impacted and it just gets worse. I don’t think I have had a day where I don’t ask my self what is worth living for, why am I still here, life is not worth living, and I have made so many attempts on my own life since I have been on the registry. The registry has to go, it needs to be abolished and the people on it need to be helped with all the mental anguish they have endured. Because they are people too and they just need help.  Many of those who have done what they were accused of suffer from a mental illness.  It’s like punishing an autistic person because they are autistic, and the ones that didn’t do it they need help too because of everything they have gone through. I hope that some brave woman with strong governmental standing and power will read this story and come forward with it and that the courts will have humanity enough to abolish this monster called the sex offender registry that has ruined so many people’s lives and caused so many people to get hurt when they just need help. I, we can not do it alone. This is my story and I will come forward, will you?

My name is Cody and I am from O’Fallon, MO. I was convicted of statutory rape, statutory sodomy, and making a false report back in August of 2012. My story was on the news of course. I remember how it all happened like it was just yesterday. My family and I decided to go to see the Cardinals play against the Giants in St Louis. We stayed at the Hilton for the night. I remember the Cardinals losing. The next day we went to Sweetie Pies to eat and then the City Museum. After our day in St Louis, we went home. I had given my grandfather the rest of my peach cobbler and went up to my room to go to sleep. Around 9:30pm, I get woken up by three police officers barging into my room asking if I knew why they were there. Of course I didn’t know. I got asked by one of the detectives to go downstairs to have a chat. At first he said I can talk in front of my family but then changed his mind and told me to talk to him in front of his squad car. As we are talking he had confiscated my book bag and took pills from it and cigarettes.  The pills were oxycodone from having a broken jaw. He ended up taking them saying I didn’t need them and tried telling me I was using them illegally. Than he accused me of having sex with my own sibling. He asked if I wanted to write a statement and I did, putting in the statement that nothing had happened. He didn’t like what I had to write in there so he rips it up and calls me a liar and threatens me. He told me that DFS got involved and if I don’t admit to the allegations that my sister would be taken away. I still kept saying nothing happened. That’s when he told his partner to contact the caseworker from DFS and tell them to take away my sister. He used this scare tactic against me plus my parents being divorced to get into my head and have me confess. How this all started was my great grandmother talking to my sister when my mom wasn’t around than my grandmother believed that I touched my sister and contacted my uncle who was a Cole county sheriff. Since he was in law enforcement he had to report it to DFS. And with my mom and dad being divorced the detective used this against me saying that if I confessed I could move in with my father and no charges would be filed because I’m away from the so-called victim. From being in law enforcement myself through a program for teenagers I know police have to leave their dash cams on for their safety and whoever they’re talking too. The dash cam wasn’t on and this detective treated me like I was the scum of the earth. He kept threatening me until I did what he wanted. He said I can move in with my dad and to go in my room and pack which I did. After him harassing me for 2 hours I go back inside. The next morning, I’m all packed up and my mom comes home banging on my door stating the police were there. The detective has lied and tricked me. I get put in cuffs and taken into an unmarked vehicle with 2 male cops and a female. Now remember me saying I had my jaw broken? Yeah, these 3 detectives take me to the neighborhood of the kid that broke my jaw which he wasn’t allowed near me so they broke the restraining order for one and two they took me there saying they were picking him up. How would they know about this if this wasn’t a set up? They knew about my dad, they knew about me getting kicked out of the Explorers program, they knew about the kid breaking my jaw. My uncle always has something against me after I told him off for taking all the money from my mom’s uncle for himself. I knew they had nothing against me because I was offered 5 years probation and my lawyer said I could get the statement thrown out. Plus the night I was questioned I was getting weird messages on Facebook saying that I hacked someone’s Facebook and that I was going to have the police called on me. If was supposedly from a girl I went to school with that I didn’t know whatsoever. I told her go ahead and an hour later cops show up. Could this have been my uncle or the the other cop? I don’t know. But my this year sitting in prison doing my time for false hearsay allegations. I call my mom. While talking to her she tells me my arresting officer was arrested for stealing narcotics from the evidence lockers. Pain medication. Oxycodone. Hmmm. I remember telling my lawyer this but he called me a liar. Now I do remember someone touching my sister which was my best friend. Started groping on her and missing her when I was in my room getting ready for our baseball game. I reported it to my school resource officer and he didn’t nothing about it. So yes I can say police officers are corrupt. I spent 5 years of my life in jail. For what? Rumors, lies, and hearsay. I was raped my first night in St Charles county jail. I called prea and 2 female detectives questioned me at the hospital. They told me I just wanted to call rape thinking it will get me out of the situation I was in. Well they charged me with a false statement. And to find out I also had Chlamydia. And this wasn’t from the rape in jail. I had caught it from an ex. So if I did end up taking my sister like I was accused she would have caught it as well. My girlfriend from high school wrote me in prison and she stated that she had to get a shot from getting Chlamydia as well. Another thing I read my discovery and the dates of the accused rape were ranging from my sister’s birthday all the way up to my great grandmother’s birthday. Proving that all this was made up and someone just didn’t like me and wanted me gone. All throughout my 5 years in prison I was raped by inmates and nothing was ever done about it. I wrote a letter to the governor and the president at the time and both letters were confiscated by Fulton corrections and disposed of. I had everything highlighted in my discovery and had it enclosed in both letters to prove my innocence and the justice system didn’t want the truth getting out. Like I said the whole justice system is corrupt. Now I’m on life time supervision and monitoring and can’t live a normal life. I don’t want people feeling sorry for me.  Yes I’ve done some bad things in my life but I would never hurt a child let alone my sister. My grandmother had a grudge against me accusing me of stealing her jewelry and my uncle hated me because I told him he was a bad person plus he got mad because I got kicked out of the police program. All I ever wanted was love from my family and to help others. That’s why I wanted to be a cop to show people not all cops are bad like my uncle and the one that arrested me. But that will never happen. All I can do now is advocate and help others out. My name is Cody and this is my story.

I placed an ad looking for an older woman on Craigslist and was contacted by Jamie Kuhn who would not leave me alone no matter how many times I told her no. Her and two other female officers had to ask for permission to arrest me. They held me at gunpoint and stripped me of my clothing at the jail. Was placed in a cold isolated room for over a month. While I was handcuffed to a table, all 3 female officers laughed in the next room.

Todd Simon placed the concept of going to prison into my head from the get-go when he would visit me at the jail. He told me that I was only 31 years old and no one would be getting locked up forever. He told me he could only get me probation if it was any other County but Oconto. He kept telling me I wouldn’t know what kind of jury I would get and was trying to do everything he could to talk me out of trial. He wasn’t willing to fight for me.

Judge Michael T Judge said at my sentencing that the reason we were there in the first place was because I placed the ad. He also quoted “and then they met” when no actual meeting took place.

Unsure if secret meetings were happening between Todd Simon and former district attorney Edward Burke. At the hearing of November 2018, Edward Burke tried to use the intimidation and threats pertaining to count one against me. When it was revealed by my new attorney William Gergen that the police had to ask for permission to arrest me, Judge Michael Judge abruptly ended the hearing. He encountered me in the back behind the courtroom and gave me the look as if he was hiding something.

I tried fighting my case again through the appellate Court and it went all the way to the court of appeals and Illinois. Wisconsin’s rule was that my case was time-barred. I had a very limited window to fight my case and I wasn’t allowed to use the computer initially at all. I wasn’t allowed to fight my case during the allowed time.

When my husband Sam was 17 years old, he made a life changing decision to go out with 3 guys he really didn’t know for a night out on the town. This night ended in armed robbery and rape of a working girl. He was part of the robbery but not the rape, but that doesn’t matter in the eyes of the law. A felony was committed and it didn’t matter that he took no part in the rape because he was there. He ended up doing 13 years in prison because of the plea agreement but there was no such thing as a registry then. When the time came for him to be released, the registry was a very real thing and it was retroactive, so he had to register twice a year.

We got married 18 months after he was released and he struggled. First people wouldn’t hire him because he was a sex offender, then he went to a temp agency and they put him to work.  He is a hard worker, and he would ride a bike to a bus station to take 2 different buses just to get to work!  But all the jobs were temporary and never longer then 6 months. Someone in my family said that they would get Sam an interview, but the rest was in Him. Like I said, he is a hard worker and he was given the chance to show them and he got the job. FINALLY. Unfortunately, the company had hardships, and everyone’s pay was reduced a lot, and he has a wife and two kids, so we needed more. I had in family across the country in a different state, so we decided to uproot our family and try for a better life for the kids. Well same story, different state.  He struggled to get work, and he went through another temp agency, and they said his record didn’t matter because he had not been in any trouble in the last 10 years. So, he started at a water company running a machine. He was great at his job!  He broke records and never had any issues, so they decided to make him a permanent employee but of course they were going to run his background.  We hoped we were safe  because he had no trouble since his release. We were wrong.  After 18 months they said they couldn’t keep him because he is a sex offender.  They literally told him it would have been better had he committed a murder!  WTF. So, Sam made a decision that day that he would never put our future in the hands of another company, and he was going to open up our own business.

I was so scared! I thought he was crazy.  We weren’t teenagers, after all.  We were 2 adults that had 2 kids and needed real money to pay our real bills, but I knew he deserved better than what he was getting so we took a leap of faith. It didn’t happen overnight, but we slowly grew and owned and operated a small family-owned business. Our son Pete worked with his dad and is the foreman of the crew and I do all office work. So, we bought a new truck for the business and like anyone who has to register you have to go and register it. So, Sam did immediately and this was at the very end of June and 2 weeks later in mid-July he registered the permanent plate. Sam is required to register every six months so his is Aug and Feb. Well, we forgot to register in August.  We honestly thought when we did the truck in July that we were good didn’t have to go again for six months. No excuses.  We forgot. We had been dealing with life on life’s terms. I had to have surgery in July and again in Aug. Our Son had gotten himself in some trouble and we were dealing with his court, and our daughter got a promotion, and we moved her across the state for her new job. We just were busy and we assumed we were ok after registering the truck. So, we forgot to go in. On September 4, 2025, at about 10 am someone was beating on my door making my dogs go nuts, so I was pissed but when i opened the door and police outside my door in tactical gear, I got immediately scared.  I had no clue what was up. They were asking me where Sam was, how long does he work, where is he, had he been sick, was I his wife or girlfriend? I asked a few times what was going on with no answer. I called Sam and he said OK no problem I’m on my way home.

I knew in my heart something was seriously wrong. They left to go to the store because it was going to take him about 30 min to get home. Sam got here and I explained everything to him, and he thought I was overreacting. He was right that he hadn’t done anything wrong and that he had been in zero trouble in 26 years since his release.  He told them that we don’t drink or do drugs and that all we do is work and spend time together.  We are living in the edge if we are not in bed by 11.

Then he saw what I had seen 3 blacked out cars, 4 officers in tactical gear rolled up and he looked nervous now. They told us that he hadn’t registered In August 2025. We told him that we thought we had we explained everything about the truck and we must have gotten confused. As we are pleading our case at this point more tactical officers are pulling up, sheriffs are pulling up in their cruisers. Nosy neighbors are literally walking up to the cops to ask is everything alright?? Sam and I are trying to explain that we did register. Sam walked over to our car to get some paperwork to show them and one of the officers immediately went on high alert and wanted to know where he was going and what he was doing and if he had any weapons in the car?

At this point we both knew in our hearts they didn’t care what we had to say.  They didn’t care that he has NEVER forgotten to register and he has never been late. I forgot to tell you that 2 days prior a police officer was here to do their normal spot check a nothing was mentioned then. Remember at this point he is technically only 4 days past his register deadline. As we were talking to them i started to notice that all these police were boxing him in. I don’t know if they thought he was going to run or fight even though he has been in no trouble in 26 years since he was released. Then they said “Put your hands behind your back, Sam.”  At that moment I wanted to lose my mind. I was so angry and confused so I asked why?  You can’t give him a warning?  The other officer was here 2 days ago they couldn’t have said something we would have went right in. Sam would have turned himself in if he had none just to avoid what was happening now!

They didn’t care they treated this man like he was an animal or a career criminal. If I was a neighbor, I would have thought they got Pablo Escobar with the way they pulled up and behaved. So completely defeated I asked fine where can I bail him out? The lovely Lieutenant informs us that he won’t be getting a bond that it an automatic 30 day hold because this was an offense that required prison time like when a felon in in possession of a gun. After Sam was arrested, I contacted a Lawyer who told me some of what the Lieutenant said is true some is not. Sam could get a bond if the Judge agreed. Long story short I was able to bond Sam out, but the Judge made him wear a tether and those stipulations meant Sam couldn’t leave our county.   They didn’t care that all our jobs were in surrounding counties.  Us being able to work and make money was not an emergency. They don’t care that we have to come up with $40,000 for a Lawyer and that you have to work to be able to get that money. So, Sam did his time in prison, he did his required time on parole. Sam did a complete 180 with his life.

He is a husband a Father, a business owner. He helps out people in need. He treats our workers the way he wished he had been treated when he needed a job. He will hire someone with a criminal background and give them the chance to turn their life around. He has been a member of our church for 16 years and he volunteers his time whenever it’s needed. This man saved my life literally but that’s another story. But these officers came to our home our Sanctuary and treated him less then human. Like an animal because he carries the title of SEX OFFENDER! Please tell me when enough is enough. When will the system have their pound of his flesh? They are telling people there is absolutely no point in bettering yourself because you will never have any rights you are not entitled to privacy. The day after he bonded out, we saw his picture and charges on Facebook. People were saying one shot to the head is the cure, feed him to alligators and other things i don’t even want to repeat. So this being spread on Facebook could literally destroy everything we have spent the last 22 years building! Again, I ask when it is enough?