Updated: Friday, 16 Jul 2010, 6:57 PM MDT
Published : Friday, 16 Jul 2010, 1:24 PM MDT

PHOENIX – The man who set off a Christmas day Amber Alert in the valley learned his punishment Friday.

Larry Ladwig covered his face in court as the judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Back on Christmas day, Ladwig kidnapped a 5-year-old girl outside an apartment complex near 19th Avenue and Cactus Road in Phoenix.

Ladwig also received an additional three year probation term for assaulting the police officer who rescued the victim from Ladwig's car following a high-speed chase.

Earlier, Ladwig pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, sexual conduct with a minor, attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted molestation of a child, and aggravated assault.

Ladwig apparently wanted to be sentenced to death, but the death penalty was not applicable in this case.

You never know who you're talking to

Special Thanks to: Mr. Frank Musto
Commack High School

Cut with: Pinnacle Studio 10

Sex Offenses and Offenders

Draws on more than two dozen statistical datasets maintained by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and on data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program of the FBI to provide a comprehensive overview of current knowledge about the incidence and prevalence of violent victimization by sexual assault, the response of the criminal justice system to such crimes, and the characteristics of those who commit sexual assault or rape. Findings include the following:

Convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in State prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18, and 58% of those–or nearly 4 in 10 imprisoned violent sex offenders – said their victims were aged 12 or younger.

In 90% of the rapes of children less than 12 years old, the child knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data.

Shannon could hear the footsteps behind her as she walked toward home. The thought of being followed made her heart beat faster.

"You're being silly," she told herself, "no one is following you." To be safe, she began to walk faster, but the footsteps kept up with her pace. She was afraid to look back and she was glad she was almost home. Shannon said a quick prayer, "God please get me home safe."

She saw the porch light burning and ran the rest of the way to her house. Once inside, she leaned against the door for a moment, relieved to be in the safety of her home. She glanced out the window to see if anyone was there. The sidewalk was empty.

After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on.

She sent him an instant message:

ByAngel213: Hi I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. It was really weird!

GoTo123: LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?

ByAngel213: Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked out.

GoTo123: Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you?

ByAngel213: Of course not. I'm not stupid you know.

GoTo123: Did you have a softball game after school today?

ByAngel213: Yes and we won!!

GoTo123: That's great! Who did you play?

ByAngel213: We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so gross! They look like bees. LOL

GoTo123: What is your team called?

ByAngel213: We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms. They are really kewl.

GoTo123: Did you pitch?

ByAngel213: No I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye!

GoTo123: Catch you later. Bye

Meanwhile…… GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far.

Her name: Shannon Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985 Age:13 State where she lived: North Carolina Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall.

Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work.

He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the seventh grade at the Canton Junior High School.

She had told him all this in the conversations they had on-line. He had enough information to find her now.

Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ball park that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games.

Parents were always overreacting and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective.

By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her. Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back.

She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely. He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the fear she had felt.

After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back.

He noticed her name on the back of her shirt He knew he had found her. Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car.

Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move.

Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room. "Shannon, come here," her father called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa.

"Sit down," her father began, "this man has just told us a most interesting story about you." Shannon moved cautiously to a chair across from the man How could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before today!

"Do you know who I am Shannon?" The man asked. "No," Shannon answered. "I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123." Shannon was stunned. "That's impossible! GoTo is a kid my age! He's 14 and he lives in Michigan!" The man smiled. "I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true.

You see, Shannon, there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to find kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to give out too much information to people on-line.

You told me enough about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. Your name, the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze." Shannon was stunned. "You mean you don't live in Michigan?" He laughed. "No, I live in Raleigh. It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?" She nodded.

"I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home alone.

Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line.

The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it again."

"I won't," Shannon promised solemnly.

"Will you tell others about this so they will be safe too?" "It's a promise!"

That night Shannon and her dad and Mom all knelt down together and prayed. They thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation.

Please share this to as many people as you can to teach them not to give any information about themselves.

This world we live in today is too dangerous to even give out your age, let alone anything else.

This is a call for you to join the many voices and unite in the fight against child abuse and abduction by shouting out “No more!” to the pedophile, the sexual predator, the molester, the abductor.

Each year, over 800,000 children are reported missing. Daily, thousands of children are battered, abused, and neglected. As a nation we must protect our country's future – our children. They are our greatest gift – their safety is our biggest responsibility! The anthem and battle cry of every mother, father, legal guardian, teacher, grandparent and friend must be: "Keep your hands off of our children!"

Everyday we learn of another news story about child abduction and we wonder what we can do all by ourselves? And — how can we do it fast enough?  Today's technology and combined efforts of your watchful eyes, roadside blocks, neighborhood watch, massive phone banks for instant communications, Amber Alerts, and email “E”lerts broadcast, all come together in an attempt to thwart and to prevent the victimization of a missing child.

When innocent children vanish from their homes and playgrounds, the world responds with its heart, and it cares. We are truly blessed and encouraged when we see how many of you give again and again so that children can be found, loved, nourished and nurtured once again by the parents who seek them.

Nothing should lead any of us to believe a missing child is a safe child. We simply can't afford to have such predisposition or preconception. Better we find the child, reunite the family, bring justice to the forefront of the situation, and address the issues at hand, than to assume they are always safe.

What can we do?

At OPERATION LOOKOUT®, we are working tirelessly to make sure that our children and our communities are safer by providing you valuable information and resources. We are determined for the abuser and sexual predator to get the message – NOT WITH MY CHILD! YOU DON'T. We are leading the way for a national campaign, whereby every politician, educator, community leader, and you will have a public outcry against the predator, the thief of childhood.

Today, with our society's moral foundation in decline, we must move quickly to get this strong message to the lawmakers of our land, especially, as it pertains to granting early releases to long-term imprisoned child abductors and molesters. We must continue to raise our voices until the political climate creates Federal changes that prohibit early releases of child offenders and killers, regardless of good behavior, or what country in the world they live in.

There are many ways all of us can help missing kids and their families. And, we must also do all we can to protect our nation's children from falling prey to those who want to do them harm by influencing the enactment of tougher laws, and encourage stricter enforcement of those already on the books. By working together, when every minute matters, we can keep our children safe, our communities more secure.

An old, but wise adage is: 'If not now, when? If not us, who?' On behalf of Operation Lookout and our missing children and their families, thank you for your participation in this urgent Call-to-Action.

Get to Know Who's Who In Your Neighborhood

Parents, Educators and Child Care Workers
Do you know how many registered sex offenders
are living in your neighborhood?
Learn how to find Registered Sex Predators nearby

IMPORTANT LINKS:
US/European Leaders Unite to Protect Children From Predators
National Registration Act 2004
FBI – State by State Registered Sex Offenders
Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry
Congress Passes Bill to Stop Early Release of Hard-Core Criminals
Bureau of Justice Statistics  — Sex Offenses and Offenders

CHILD SAFETY AND ABUSE REPORTING SITES:
A Parents Guide to Internet Safety
When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide
Treatment and Prevention of Child Abuse
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
Safety Products/Child Abuse Prevention/Safe Kids from Yello Dyno

Why this bill is important: This bipartisan bill seeks to fill a gaping hole in our criminal justice system, made evident by a recent tragedy in North Dakota.

The bill is important to every state in the country. A recent study found that 72 percent of “high risk” sex offenders commit another crime within six years of being released. And sex offenders who are not under supervision can move across state lines freely. We cannot release such individuals with no supervision, and let them prey upon an unsuspecting public.

For instance, last November, Dru Sjodin was abducted from the parking lot of a shopping mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She has not been located. Her alleged assailant, Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., had been released from prison only six months earlier, having served the full term of his 23-year sentence for rape in Minnesota.
(right graphic- Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., courtesy of Minnesota Correctional Authorities)

Rodriguez was released from prison even though Minnesota Correctional Authorities had determined that he was at “high risk” for re offending. Rodriguez was allowed to go completely unsupervised, except for the requirement that he register as a sex offender in Minnesota. He chose to live in a Minnesota town close to the North Dakota border. But because there is no national sex offender registry, nearby North Dakota communities had no way of knowing that a dangerous sex offender was living nearby.

What this bill does: First, it requires the Justice Department to create a national sex offender registry, accessible to the public through the Internet. This registry would allow users to specify a search radius across state lines, providing much more complete information on nearby sex offenders.

Second, it requires state prisons to notify states attorneys whenever “high risk” offenders are about to be released, so that states attorneys can consider petitioning the courts for continued confinement of the offender. The “civil commitment” option is available under the law in many states, if an individual is deemed a continuing threat to the public safety. In the Dru Sjodin case, prison officials did not alert the states attorney of Rodriguez’ impending release. If they had done so, this tragedy might have been avoided.

Third, it requires states to monitor “high-risk” offenders who are released after serving their full sentence – and are otherwise not subject to probation or other supervision – for a period of no less than one year.

How this bill will be paid for: The cost would be shared by the Federal Government and the states. The Federal Government would bear the cost of maintaining the national sex offender registry, and the states would bear the cost of supervising high risk offenders upon their release from prison.

To ensure compliance with the bill, the legislation would reduce federal funding for prison construction by 25 percent for those states that did not comply, and would reallocate such funds to states that did comply.

Why this bill is important: This bipartisan bill seeks to fill a gaping hole in our criminal justice system, made evident by a recent tragedy in North Dakota.

The bill is important to every state in the country. A recent study found that 72 percent of “high risk” sex offenders commit another crime within 6 years of being released. And sex offenders who are not under supervision can move across state lines freely. We cannot release such individuals with no supervision, and let them prey upon an unsuspecting public.

For instance, last November, Dru Sjodin was abducted from the parking lot of a shopping mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She has not been located. Her alleged assailant, Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., had been released from prison only six months earlier, having served the full term of his 23-year sentence for rape in Minnesota.

Rodriguez was released from prison even though Minnesota correctional authorities had determined that he was at “high risk” for re offending. Rodriguez was allowed to go completely unsupervised, except for the requirement that he register as a sex offender in Minnesota. He chose to live in a Minnesota town close to the North Dakota border. But because there is no national sex offender registry, nearby North Dakota communities had no way of knowing that a dangerous sex offender was living nearby.

What this bill does: First, it requires the Justice Department to create a national sex offender registry, accessible to the public through the Internet. This registry would allow users to specify a search radius across state lines, providing much more complete information on nearby sex offenders.

Second, it requires state prisons to notify states attorneys whenever “high risk” offenders are about to be released, so that states attorneys can consider petitioning the courts for continued confinement of the offender. The “civil commitment” option is available under the law in many states, if an individual is deemed a continuing threat to the public safety. In the Dru Sjodin case, prison officials did not alert the states attorney of Rodriguez’ impending release. If they had done so, this tragedy might have been avoided.

Third, it requires states to monitor “high-risk” offenders who are released after serving their full sentence – and are otherwise not subject to probation or other supervision – for a period of no less than one year.

How this bill will be paid for: The cost would be shared by the Federal Government and the states. The Federal Government would bear the cost of maintaining the national sex offender registry, and the states would bear the cost of supervising high risk offenders upon their release from prison.

To ensure compliance with the bill, the legislation would reduce federal funding for prison construction by 25 percent for those states that did not comply, and would reallocate such funds to states that did comply.

Get to Know Who's Who In Your Neighborhood

Parents, Educators and Child Care Workers
Do you know how many registered sex offenders
are living in your neighborhood?
Learn how to find Registered Sex Predators nearby

IMPORTANT LINKS:
US/European Leaders Unite to Protect Children From Predators
National Registration Act 2004
FBI – State by State Registered Sex Offenders
Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry
Congress Passes Bill to Stop Early Release of Hard-Core Criminals
Bureau of Justice Statistics  — Sex Offenses and Offenders

CHILD SAFETY AND ABUSE REPORTING SITES:
A Parents Guide to Internet Safety
When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide
Treatment and Prevention of Child Abuse
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
Safety Products/Child Abuse Prevention/Safe Kids from Yello Dyno

WASHINGTON, DC, July 12, 2000 "Aimee's Law," the landmark anti-crime legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Doug Ose (R-Sacramento), today passed the U.S. House of Representatives by an unanimous vote. The "No Second Chances for Murderers, Rapists, or Child Molesters Act" will crack down on lax incarceration practices that result in short prison sentences and serious criminals repeating crimes on innocent victims.

"Aimee's Law" encourages states to keep murderers, rapists, and child molesters behind bars, and holds them (the state) financially accountable if they fail to do so. Under the Act, if a state releases a murderer, rapist, or child molester and that criminal later commits one of those crimes in a second state, the first state – using a share of its federal crime-fighting funds – will compensate the second state the cost of prosecuting and incarcerating the criminal.

According to the Justice Department, the average time served by men released from state prisons for rape is 5 1⁄2 years. For molesting a child, it is only 4 years; for murder, it is just 8 years. Every year, 14,000 murders, rapes and sexual assaults are committed by violent, repeat murderers and sex offenders.

The bill is named after Aimee Willard, a 22 year-old star athlete at George Mason University who was raped and murdered in Pennsylvania by a killer released from prison in Nevada.

Get to Know Who's Who In Your Neighborhood

Parents, Educators and Child Care Workers
Do you know how many registered sex offenders
are living in your neighborhood?
Learn how to find Registered Sex Predators nearby

IMPORTANT LINKS:
US/European Leaders Unite to Protect Children From Predators
National Registration Act 2004
FBI – State by State Registered Sex Offenders
Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry
Congress Passes Bill to Stop Early Release of Hard-Core Criminals
Bureau of Justice Statistics  — Sex Offenses and Offenders

CHILD SAFETY AND ABUSE REPORTING SITES:
A Parents Guide to Internet Safety
When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide
Treatment and Prevention of Child Abuse
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
Safety Products/Child Abuse Prevention/Safe Kids from Yello Dyno