Lessons learned? 

I believe I was the target of a police sting

Originally published at narsol.org

By Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler . . . Not long after I returned to Iowa after the 2024 NARSOL conference in Atlanta, I received an email forwarded by the national NARSOL office.  This message came to them on their main “Contact Us” email address, and whoever sent it was looking specifically for me, “whose story “Unwanted Images” hit home when I was suicidal and wracked with fear …”  The sender also complimented my travel blog and expressed a desire to have me participate in a podcast of some kind

This message was a little odd because of the reference to “Unwelcome Images,” the actual name of my prison story which I never even talk to anybody in our movement about (because I won’t bore you with my prison story if you won’t bore me with yours).  Nevertheless, seeing nothing suspicious, I contacted the sender with an “Okay, how can I help you?” reply.

I received a reply within a couple of days.  I was sitting at the public computer at my local senior center (because, as some of you know, I don’t have home internet service).  The sender said glowing things about me, re-stated his desire to have me participate in a podcast, and included a link to a “recent podcast” so I could see what it was all about.

I need to point out here that, like most senior center public computers, this one has only the most rudimentary software and certainly not much video software, so when I clicked on the link, I could hear the sound but the video only displayed some kind of error message.  Knowing trying to fix the video was useless, I leaned in to see what I could hear--which was a man welcoming everyone to the podcast, “We’re here in beautiful Hawaii today, which is such a great place for …”

… and then he used an expression which I recognized all too well from my bad old days online.  I won’t repeat that expression here except to say it’s an abbreviation, the letters of which refer favorably to a type of child pornography.  

As soon as I heard this abbreviation, I immediately blurted out, “WTF!?” and clicked the video away.  Then I replied to the message, telling the sender that if that’s what they are about, I wanted no part of it, and that they obviously have not learned the true lessons of my story (which of course is that no one should ever yield to the temptations of online CP).  Good bye!

The next time I was at the senior center, I found a reply in my inbox.  The sender apologized profusely, saying the beginning of the video was meant to be a parody, and it’s too bad I didn’t get the joke, and wouldn’t I please watch more of it before I made any decision …

Well, I couldn’t have done that anyway because of the software shortcomings of the computer, but also, now that this reply was trying to goad me into watching more of something I didn’t want in the first place, I started to become suspicious.  I forwarded the entire email exchange back to the NARSOL person who’d originally sent it to me, expressed my growing suspicions and asked, “For one thing, how did this person know to contact you asking for me specifically by name?  Nobody outside our group is supposed to know my real name – only Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler.  And now they’re trying to get me to watch more of this video?”

As my brother later said, “Cops know that sh*t.”  Exactly.  The NARSOL contact person replied, expressing shared suspicion, and promised to scrub whoever it was from their contact list.  Later I replied to the sender saying simply, “Go away.  You’re a cop doing a sting,” and I have not heard anything back since.

What lessons can be learned from this experience?  Well, the first lesson is that if you don’t want to get caught in a sting, be your genuine self when communicating with anyone online.  If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that anyone active enough in our movement to be reading this right now is part of the 95% of registrants who will never reoffend.  Therefore, acting like your genuine self is always best.

I’m sure that every cop--and every Florida state legislator who voted this year to give every Florida sheriff’s department grant funding to carry out these disgusting stings--will laugh and say, “Yes that’s exactly how the system is supposed to work.  You responded correctly, and you didn’t get arrested [well not yet anyway].  What are you bitching about?”  

The answer, as all of us know, is that there were any number of places along the way where, if I had acted perfectly innocently but only a little differently than I did, I could have unknowingly put myself in legal jeopardy.  As I thought about it, I realized that the cop’s first test had actually been to see what email account I might reply from.  Would I reply from some secret, unregistered email account?  If so, they could’ve arrested me on the spot for “failure to register an email account.”  But hey cops – guess what?  Nope!  I really don’t have any secret email account!  Just the one you already have in your records.

Then they must have been kind of confused about where my reply originated.  Why some random public computer instead of my secret home account?  But hey, cops--guess what?  Nope!  I really don’t have any secret home internet account!  That’s why you don’t have one in your records.

But the part that could have gone differently that I can’t get out of my mind is-- there I was, sitting at a public computer with other people around.  What if, just as I was leaning in to hear what was on the video, another senior had stopped to talk about something and I just muted the video but left it running while we talked?  What if it had run for enough time to get to the illegal part without my being aware of it?  What if the video suddenly began to work, showing illegal images while that senior was standing there?  Does anyone here believe that senior would not have immediately concluded they’d caught me searching the internet for those images?

Or what if I had been just a little bit less attentive to the sound track that day and not noticed that first ugly reference to a type of child pornography?  What if I had been distracted by the video problems and had persisted in trying to get the video to work long enough for it to suddenly pop on at the point where illegal images were on screen?  For me these are truly frightening counter narratives.

Or what if they had targeted this sting on someone else--and for that matter, what if they already HAVE targeted this sting on someone else--someone less active in our movement, someone less suspicious about the messages they’re receiving in their email account every day, someone who wasn’t listening carefully when the video came up, someone more naïve or just unlucky on that day.  This may have already happened--arrests may have already been made and we won’t even know about it until the county sheriff makes his big announcement about how great he is for “cracking down on sex offenders.”  By that time facts no longer matter.

I fear that law enforcement will draw the wrong conclusion from this attempt to sting me.  The right conclusion of course would be that there’s nothing nefarious to find here, just me and my one email account and no home internet service to investigate; the wi-fi card has been removed from my home laptop; I have no data plan on my phone, and that wi-fi is permanently turned off.  But I fear they will instead conclude that they’ll have to be sneakier about it if they want to catch me doing these things I’m not doing.  If they do decide to get sneakier, I fear that I could get tripped up in any one of a thousand innocent scenarios like the examples above that could get me falsely arrested.  And I hate law enforcement for forcing me to live in this paranoid state.

I also keep asking myself, why me specifically?  Why did someone contact NARSOL looking for me by name?  The only answer I can come up with is that this person thinks I’m some big deal activist, and it could discredit our movement to lure me onto a CP site.  Of course I’m not some big deal activist; I’m just the travel guy.  But it occurs to me that if they’re looking for me, they could be looking for other “big deal activists” too, especially those associated with Orange County or other Florida counties receiving sting grant money.  So actual big deal activists should be extra careful.

Lastly, what if this incident has made me completely paranoid and it’s not a police sting?  Who else could it have been?  It has to be someone who (a) knows me by name and by my two online outlets and (b) thinks NARSOL is a good place to look for me.  Could it be a vigilante or a scam artist?  If so, they must have access to information about me only the cops should have.  Or could this be a real online minor-attracted person delusional enough to think I want to be part of a CP-adjacent podcast?  It’s hard for me to believe, but I’d be interested if someone can come up with a believable innocent explanation.

Meanwhile I’m trying to get this story posted on as many sites as possible, both as a warning to others and as a way of getting my side of this incident--which is to say the truth--out there before somebody else tries to twist this truth into a lie and an arrestable offense.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area: A Special Report

From the 50 State Visitor Guide (Kentucky):

K.R.S. 2019  §§17.500 through 17.580.  502 K.A.R. 31:020

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

K.R.S. §17.510 states 5 working days for initial registration and updates.  Registrants employed in the state must register if present for a period of 14 consecutive days or 30 days in a calendar year.  Per Kentucky SOR office, visitors are not required to register unless present for 14 consecutive days, or 30 days in a calendar year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: 1,000 ft. of schools, day care facilities, and publicly owned playgrounds; must move out of residence within 90 days if a new facility opens.  §17.545.  The state notes that the Kentucky Supreme Court forbid retroactive application of this law to those who committed offenses prior to July 12, 2006 and states “The Kentucky State Police do not evaluate or approve particular locations for compliance with sex offender residence restrictions. If you have any questions concerning whether you are subject to the residence restrictions in KRS 17.545 or whether you may legally reside at a particular location you may wish to consult an attorney.”

Presence restriction:  May not be present on grounds of school or daycare without advanced written permission.  K.R.S. §17.545.  Registrants are prohibited from using certain social media and chat rooms, and are forbidden to photograph or videotape minors without parental consent.  §17.546. 

Per Kentucky SOR office, a procedure is available for removal from registry after departure.

Duration & updates:

20 years or lifetime, depending on offense. §17.520. Updates annual or every 90 days, depending on offense. §17.520. No tiers.

From the 50 State Visitor Guide (Tennessee):

Tenn. Code Ann. 2019  §§40-39-201 through 40-39-306

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

48 hours for initial reg. and updates, but “within 48 hours” is defined to not include weekends and holidays.  §40-39-202(32).  

Visitors must register “within 48 hours” of entering state. Per Tenn. SOR office, the 48 hour clock starts upon crossing the state line but will be interrupted from midnight to midnight on weekends and holidays. Also, per SOR office there is no limit on number of repeat visits per week, month or year.

“Primary residence” established after 5 consecutive days. “Secondary residence” means any residence for 14 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or 4 or more days in a month.  “Residence” means physical presence. §§40-39-202, 40-39-203.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence & Employment Restriction:  1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, or the offender’s victim or victim’s family. §40-39-211.  In 2019 TN applied new restrictions to residence with any minor; these restrictions are under a Temporary 

Restraining Order pending trial (see NARSOL Digest 8/19 p. 5).

Residence restriction:  Violent offenders and those with convictions against minors may not reside in on-campus housing of any institution of higher education. 

Presence restriction: 1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, with exceptions. §40-39-211.  Tennessee libraries have authority to restrict access by Registrants.  §40-39-216.

Per Tenn. SOR office, these restrictions DO apply to visitors during the 48 hour grace period.

Duration & updates:

Life.  Petition to remove – 10 years from end of probation.  §163A.125.

Violent offenders update quarterly; all others annually.  §40-39-207

Most recent visit: June 2024

Land Between the Lakes is not a national park but rather one of the crown jewels of America’s National Recreation Area system, which is in turn administered by the National Parks Service – which means, like Great Smoky Mountains National Park which is also partly in Tennessee, that it is “out of the jurisdiction” of state and local law enforcement.  The harsh residency and presence restrictions of the states where it’s located are not enforced here.

Land Between the Lakes is a creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, situated between two long skinny lakes (Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley) created as a result of the construction of Kentucky Dam at the confluence of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.  The two rivers, and therefore the two lakes, run parallel to each other for over 50 miles and the TVA acquired this land as part of its water quality control plan.  

Now it’s a National Recreation Area with lots to offer in a part of our country where high quality outdoor recreation opportunities can be hard for registered people to find.  According to Kentucky state statutes, no registered person may reside within 1,000 ft. of schools, day care facilities, and publicly owned playgrounds.  K.R.S. §17.545.  Per the state SOR office, yes these restrictions will apply to you during the 14 consecutive days or 30 days per calendar year you are allowed to be in-state before you have to register.  

So what this means is, yes you can go to Kentucky state and local parks but you can’t camp anywhere within 1000 feet of a playground.  And guess what?  Most Kentucky state parks have playgrounds conveniently located in each of their campgrounds.  Oh well!  But Land Between the Lakes is out of their jurisdiction. Yey!

Tennessee is even worse, as I have pointed out in other blog posts.  Tennessee has statewide 1000 ft. residency AND presence restrictions preventing you from getting anywhere close to having any healthy outdoor recreation at their state and local parks.  Who knows what additional punishments local governments have piled on.  Oh well!  But Land Between the Lakes is out of their jurisdiction. Yey!

Now let’s be clear – there is a reason why Land Between the Lakes is not a national park.  It doesn’t have natural wonders or places of historical or cultural significance.  It just happens to be a (large) spit of land between these two hydroelectric reservoirs.  

BUT!  If you want to go boating, swimming, water skiing, ATVing, dirt biking, hiking, backpacking (they have a 57.8 mile long “North-South Trail”), visit the planetarium at the visitors center, or for that matter go admire the dam which is an amazing piece of engineering, you can do so at Land Between the Lakes without fear of violating any state or local rule, and without worrying that some dickhead sheriff’s deputy is going to hassle you.  And that is a very good thing.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.  It’s a place every registered traveler should know about, and visit often.

 What if your travel plans crumble?

On my most recent cross-country trip my travel plans really did go kerfluey, so I decided the best public service I can perform is to tell you about it, and tell you how I fixed registry-related issues as I went along, so you too will know how to repair travel disasters on the fly.

My story actually begins a few weeks before I began this road trip, when I had to junk my old beast of a car and get a “new” one – new to me anyway.  And I must say I am so far very happy with my new car, despite the fact that later in this story it will be the cause of one of my registry-related road trip disasters.

Until now, everything I owned was registered and plated in Florida.  I have a Florida driver’s license.  But now I was junking the old beast in Iowa, registering and plating the new Sienna in Iowa while still retaining my Florida driver’s license.  Question: Is that a thing?  Can I really do that and will either state’s DMV or SOR office care?

Answer: Yes, I can and did do that, and nobody cared.  I even pointed it all out to everyone at both registry offices and DMV’s (little did I know how soon I’d be back in Florida so I could take care of that part) and they told me point blank – nobody cares.

There were two little problems, however.  One was that my old car’s title was in Florida and I had to have a friend find it and mail it to me.  The other, more germane to you if you’re a registrant, was that while my Iowa registry office was happy to remove my old car from my sheet, they insisted on keeping the old Florida license plate number on it, apparently out of fear I would use that plate to go commit a sinister crime (!), until I could produce an official Florida return of license plate receipt.  

My new car - with Independence Hall in the background

After groaning over that for a while I just tossed my plate in the car, figuring it’ll be where I need it when I get back to Florida next winter.

A few weeks later I went to the Johnson County sheriff’s department to report travel.  For this trip I had cobbled together four unrelated errands all of which were somewhere in the eastern U.S.:

1.  Attend the NARSOL conference in Atlanta.

2.  After stopping at my sister-in-law’s house in New Jersey to take measurements for #3, go to Maine to make this year’s attempt to go whale watching (see my Maine blog entry).

3.  After stopping at my brother’s house in Rhode Island, go back to my sister-in-law’s house to do the strangest errand of this trip, namely load into my new Sienna an old school telephone booth to be transported to Iowa.  I’ll explain that later.

4.  Join my family, who were also on the return leg of their vacation by this time, in Philadelphia, to spend three days exploring Pennsylvania before we went our separate ways back home.

Now, how shall we report this travel to my local sheriff?  By the way, how to report multi-destination travel is a frequently asked question for me as a travel advisor.  I decided to give them as destinations any place I would be staying more than one night.  These were: the NARSOL conference hotel in Atlanta; the state park in Maine where I would camp while trying to see whales; and two nights at a hotel near Hershey, PA with my family.  Everything else, including visiting my brother and sister-in-law, was no more than an overnight stay while traveling to the next destination. My sheriff’s department was happy, and of course that’s what I live for.  Now let’s see how all this turned out.

1. NARSOL Conference in Atlanta 

NARSOL Conference

So I set off for Atlanta, and wow that was a great conference.  But while there I got on the hotel computer to pursue a different project that few people outside the Florida Action Committee know about.  I am determined to take control of my own end of life destiny by establishing my own assisted living / rehabilitative care / end of life care facility which (a) will accept registered people (including me) and (b) complies with all of Florida’s horrible residency requirements.  Because all the goodwill in the world is worthless if I can’t register that address at the sheriff’s department.

2. Maine whale watching  Divert to Tallahassee

So the first step in this project is to find and purchase the right property.  And much to my surprise a property had just then come on the market that was absolutely perfect.  I would never be closer to Tallahassee than I was right then in Atlanta, so I dropped everything and headed south that Sunday to participate in a frenzied bidding war that I ultimately lost.  I hadn’t put my finances in enough order to be in a bidding war anyway, but I’m now fixing that and will be ready next time.

However … this little Florida escapade raises a couple of registry questions.  Most obviously, the second thing I had to do Monday morning was call my Iowa sheriff’s department and attempt to delete the Maine state park and replace it with my home address in Tallahassee for those three days.  Fortunately the woman behind the bulletproof glass remembered who I was and cheerfully made the change.  I would even able to catch up to my previous travel plans by proceeding to my brother’s house in RI with a stop in NJ to take measurements.  

But here’s the odd thing: Because I was originally supposed to make both of these one night stops while returning from Maine to Philadelphia, they were not “destinations” on my sheet.  My next “destination” was the hotel near Hershey, PA.  By catching up to my original plans I would be, in fact, off the registry’s radar for several days, in a completely different part of the country from where they thought.  Hmmmmm …

But why was my call to Iowa the second thing that morning?  Because they were in a different time zone from me, so I could first go to the Leon County registry office to “check in” AND “check out” because I’d be leaving 48 hours later.  I took that opportunity to delete my old car and add my new one, just as I was supposed to.  Then after calling Iowa once that registry office opened I moved on to Priority #3 which was finding my old FL license plate right where I had tossed it, turning it in at DMV and obtaining the all-important official Florida return of license plate receipt.

Last Florida thing – I knew from past experience that if I tried to report the rest of my trip as being from Florida they would require me to change my home there from “open ended temporary residence” to “permanent residence” and have a return date.  That certainly would be a disaster.  So I told them I was returning to Iowa, to the permanent residence they had on file for me there.  As far as I’m concerned that was a true statement – they were returning me to the tender mercies of the Iowa registry, and if anyone wanted to call the Johnson County sheriff’s department they, after all, would know right where I was.  Well, once I was in RI they would.

3. Car trouble in Rhode Island

Then as I was leaving Florida on my way to get back on track, I started having car trouble!  Specifically my car started misfiring –which to my chagrin was the same problem that caused me to junk my old car! (see my Missouri blog entry for more on this).  But this time it was only at high speeds.  I only had to back off to 65 mph to make it all go away – so much so that by Virginia the idiot lights even went off, a sure sign my car hadn’t misfired in a long time.

Still, while I was in New Jersey that first time I went to my sister-in-law’s car repair guy (her husband was a car repair guy so I trust her judgement) that Friday morning to get diagnostics.  His verdict – Ignition coil #2.  Just take it easy until you get back to Iowa and you can get it fixed then.

So off I went to Rhode Island.  But as I was passing through Westchester County suddenly my car started misfiring again, with a vengeance and at every speed.  Shit!  I limped on and the Connecticut Turnpike was a nightmare.  I called ahead to my brother and said “As soon as I get there you have to take me to the nearest Toyota dealership!”  They were the only place I knew would be open both Friday evening and all day Saturday.

When we got there I admit I was a total jerk.  NO, you cannot schedule this job for Monday!  NO, this has to happen right now!  You have to push all your other customers out of the way and work on my car NOW!

But aside from being determined to get my trip back on track, there was also a registry-related reason that I was acting like such a jerk.  Anyone who’s ever participated in an ACSOL monthly zoom call knows that Rhode Island has the shortest registration grace period of any state – just 24 hours.  Janice announces it every month just like clockwork.  I who have a brother living there know this very well but as Janice always points out, it’s a small state and I’ve never had any reason to be there more than 24 hours (see my Rhode Island blog entry).

Well guess what?!  There might be a first time for everything after all!  I had entered RI at about 4:00 pm, so I had until 4:00 pm on Saturday to get the hell out of there!

Downtown Providence on a summer afternoon

Now let’s be realistic for a minute.  I already told you I had not reported Rhode Island as a “destination.”  Nobody either in Iowa or Florida even knew I was there – even though it was exactly where I was supposed to be on that day when I originally reported my travel in Iowa.  Once I was in RI my trip was officially “back on track.”  So if I were to stretch the boundaries of Rhode Island’s registry law, no one would ever know.  On the other hand, any encounter with law enforcement while stretching that boundary would be … unfortunate, not to mention so paranoiac I’d probably have a heart attack.

But despite my behavior … or perhaps because of it … Toyota didn’t get to the diagnostics until Saturday morning.  So my brother took me on a walking tour of downtown Providence – which turns out to be a really cool place – followed by dinner out joined by my sister-in-law (his wife).

The following morning Toyota got around to the diagnostics.  Their verdict – Ignition coil #2.  Mercifully they had one in stock!  They also wanted to replace all my spark plugs so I said fine.  $788 later I was out the door by 1:00 pm and out of RI by 1:30, leaving 2 1/2 hours to spare.  After one pre-planned stop in CT I was on my way to the Garden State.  And I must say, my car has been purring like a kitten ever since.

4. Loading a phone booth

So what’s this about a telephone booth?  Well, after my brother died my sister-in-law asked us whether we wanted any of his personal items.  I thought about it for almost a year before saying, “I want the phone booth.  I’m going to bring it to Iowa and set it on my patio and have it to remember him by.”

Yes it fit!

Now, when you say something like that you’re kind of obligated to getting around to picking it up and taking it to Iowa.  That’s what this errand was all about.  That’s why I’d had to go meet two days ago with a couple of my brother’s car buddies who had been enlisted to help me load it – they couldn’t believe it was going to fit in the back of a Toyota Sienna until they measured it for themselves. I was back that Sunday morning to get their help sliding it in. Then I was off to my next stop, Philadelphia, to meet up with my family.

5. Touring PA with family

The next 2 1/2 days went very smoothly, I stayed at the same hotels as my family, just a different room, we toured Pennsylvania Dutch Country which I hate (see my PA blog entry) but everybody else loves. On the day the kids went to Hersheypark my BFF & I instead went to the American Antique Car Association Auto Museum also in Hershey. It’s really great and I have mentioned it before (PA blog entry again).  Then we did laundry together, which is super romantic.

Cool looking mural in Philly

On the third day we separated, but before heading home to Iowa I had one more overnight stay, this time at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Maryland.  When I set this stop up I asked them, this is the night of July 3 – are you sure that’s okay?  Are you going anywhere for the holiday?  But they said no problem, come visit.

6. DC on 7/4

Once that was settled I started to think – Hey, I’m going to wake up on July 4 just minutes away from Washington, DC.  Wouldn’t it be fun to spend that day as a tourist in DC?  I didn’t think about this seriously until after I left Iowa, so does adding this extra travel day present any registry issue, either in Iowa or DC?

Answer: No worries.  My experience in both Iowa and Florida is that nobody cares if return a little late – just settle up when you check back in at the end of the trip.  In this case I had actually told the lady behind the bulletproof glass that I was returning Friday late, so I’d be back to check in on Monday.  If this little side trip delayed me until Saturday it wouldn’t change anything.

I must say that the epic failure of my trip to DC wasn’t registry related.  Perhaps you will recall it was only a few days before July 4 that (a) Biden had a poor debate performance and (b) SCOTUS made things infinitely worse by granting all presidents immunity for “official acts.”  I don’t know about you but I became very distressed over this, even as I was travelling with family in Pennsylvania.  

In my distress I realized I was going to be in Washington, DC on July 4.  I fantasized there might be protests or marches on that holiday, and I would be there for that …

Then two things happened: (a) I realized that this was perhaps the most unrealistic fantasy I’d ever had (and that’s saying something!) and (b) I found the act of making my own protest signs to be quite cathartic, so by the time I finished them I no longer felt the need to use them for anything.

And so, of I went to Washington, DC with not greater aspiration than to make the Supreme Court one of my stops and perhaps yell at them for a few minutes.  Of course my rant would include cussing them out over Smith vs. Doe.  But unfortunately I got off at the wrong Metro stop ( Note to self: Capital South is the closest station – not Judiciary Square) and after wandering aimlessly lost for a while came out on the National Mall near the Smithsonian.

At that time the annual DC Fourth of July parade was assembling in that area and beginning its march down Constitution Ave.  I noticed that many of the causes or populations that I might sympathize with had been co-opted by the parade.  Many had floats and teams of marchers.  No wonder they weren’t protesting.  Got a worthy cause to promote?  Join the parade!

Worthy groups who might have reason to be a little worried about the future.

Notice police in the background.

Later I told one of my Florida advocate friends that I no longer want to go vigil on the Supreme Court steps next year.  Instead I want a float in that parade!  I want WAR to bring their coffin and display it on our float.  And I want Derek to be on the float with a microphone reading his list of victims of vigilantism as we march down Constitution Ave.  Yes Derek I was really inspired by that …

Well there goes another unrealistic fantasy …

After having lunch from one of those super expensive food trucks that are all over the place in DC ($12 for shaved ice??) I returned to my car and left for Iowa. The rest of my trip was uneventful.  And yes, when I returned to the Johnson County sheriff’s department to “check in’ the following Monday, I tried to slide the official Florida return of license plate receipt under the bulletproof glass but the lady refused to even look at it up close.  She just deleted my old license plate and was done with it.  I guess she was aware of the stupidity of her job.

Phone booth standing on my patio

 Iowa

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

Iowa Code 2019  §§692A.101 through 692A.130.  441 I.A.C. §103.3(692A)  661 I.A.C. §§83.1(692A) through 83.5 (692A)

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

5 business days for initial registration, updates, and visitors who enter the state. §§692A.104, 692A.105.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restrictions: Registrants with convictions involving minors for “aggravated sexual abuse” in the 1st or 2nd degree, or in the 3rd degree except for a conviction under I.C. §709.4(2)(c)(4), may not reside w/in 2,000 ft. of daycare center.

Presence restriction:  Registrants with convictions involving minors may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present at, any school, day care center, public library, or any place intended primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained.  No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be employed at residence facility for dependent adults.

Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements.  §692A.127.

Procedure for removal from registry after departure is set forth in §692A.106.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life.  Updates depend on tier level: TI – annually, TII – every 6 mo. TIII – quarterly. §§692A.104

June 2024 – An Iowa Road Trip

Iowa allows five business days for initial registration, updates, and visitors who enter the state. That’s a fairly short time period. However, there appears to be no limit per month or year.

While in-state as a visitor you may need to be a little careful if your offense involved a minor because if so you may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present at a school, day care center, public library, or any place intended primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained.  No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be employed at residence facility for dependent adults.

Des Moines Farmers Market

Here’s a piece of good news: Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements.  §692A.127.  Therefore, wherever you go in Iowa at least you know what the rules are.

Also, you may have noticed that there is no prohibition against being at or loitering near a public park, museum, or historic site – unless of course it includes a “place intended primarily for the use of minors,” like a playground, in which case you just need to stay 300 feet away from that place. Outside Iowa City there is a shopping mall that includes the Iowa Children’s Museum.  The food court is right next door.  If you ever find yourself in this shopping mall, you can’t go to the children’s museum or loiter within 300 feet of it, but the rest of the mall is okay and no one has ever accused me of "loitering" just because I had lunch at the food court.

It has now been three years since I made Iowa my summer home and primary residence state.  In that time I’ve really come to like the place and would recommend it as a travel destination.  You get four business days plus a weekend to see our sights and attend our quaint small town festivals – so why not slow down for a spell on your way across country?

Lobby of the Parkside Inn in Mason City, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

This year Iowa Public Television has been running a series called “Iowa Road Trip.” I recorded most of the episodes, marked my state map with notes and for my first four day mini-tour I decided to focus on the northeast and central parts of my state. Beginning in Davenport I traveled north on the Great River Road, which is a designated U.S. scenic road on both sides of the Mississippi River from its origin in Minnesota all the way south to New Orleans.  

Recommended sights along this route:  “American Pickers” home store in LeClair, Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Mississippi River Museum and river cruises in Dubuque, “Field of Dreams” movie set in Dyersville, Effigy Mounds Nat. Mon. near Prairie du Chien.  Spook Cave is unusual in that it’s a boat ride (!).

Turning west I made my way to Mason City, home of the Parkside Inn, a hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  There being “no room at the Inn,” however, I camped at a nearby state park.  Next day I traveled south along the Jefferson Highway – yes that’s a real thing too – to Iowa Falls, where there is a namesake falls and a weekends only boat ride in the summer.  

Des Moines Botanical Garden

The next morning was a Saturday, so I made my way to downtown Des Moines for their weekly farmers market, reputed to be one of the biggest in the Midwest and which lived up to its billing.  After visiting the botanical garden I set off for home near Iowa City.  All this in just one quadrant of my beautiful state.  Come visit, eh?

Iowa fairs and festivals

In the time I’ve lived in Iowa I’ve been to a number of fairs and festivals, and yet now that I’m reviewing my Iowa blog entry I see I’ve never introduced you to any of them! 

Let’s fix that.  The biggest thing going is the Iowa State Fair which takes place every August.  They claim it’s the biggest state fair in America – all I can say is yes it’s really big.  I go every year and always see something new.

West of Iowa City is the Amana Colonies.  It’s a national historic site based on an 1800’s German settlement, so it’s trying to be a Midwest Colonial Williamsburg.  They have seasonal festivals to draw tourists, like Oktoberfest and Maifest.

Local Amish-made foods purchased at an Iowa small town festival

Looking for an authentic, non-commercialized Amish experience? You’ll find it in southeastern Iowa.  Amish heritage is showcased every September at the Kalona Fall Festival.

I have been to My Waterloo Days twice (June).  Once I was there for the parade and liked it, the other time not so much.  I have also been to the Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant twice (Labor Day weekend).  That was really something both times!

January 2024 – Traveling to my “primary residence” state as a visitor

So you may be wondering – why I would want to leave the warmth of Florida and travel to Iowa in January in the middle of a blizzard and below zero temperatures?  Also, for those of you who, like me, have moved away from the state where you offended, are there any lessons to be learned from my experience traveling as a visitor to my new “primary residence” state?  Did I have to “check in” even though I was there for fewer than five business days? etc.

As to the first question, it turns out that there is an interesting difference between Florida and Iowa (aside from the obvious weather difference).  Florida doesn’t let anyone with a prior sexual offense vote, whereas Iowa does.  And as I always say, no one can appreciate their right to vote more than someone who’s had that right taken away.  One of my first acts as an Iowan was to register to vote.

Furthermore, as a Iowa voter I am eligible to do something very few Americans can do, which is to participate in the Iowa Caucuses.  And another thing I am fond of saying is that my recent life experience has brought me to a point where if there is something I am allowed to do – that the cops can’t stop me from doing – that is a thing I will definitely do. 

So a couple of months before the caucuses I booked non-refundable plane reservations from Orlando to Eastern Iowa Airport (lay-over in Chicago), departing Friday January 12 and returning Tuesday the 16th.  Because Monday Jan. 15 was a holiday, I would be in Iowa for only two partial business days, far fewer than the five business days that would have triggered an obligation on my part to “check in” at my local sheriff’s department.  Instead, all I needed to do was report my travel as required by the state of Florida, where I was traveling from.

My neighborhood near Iowa City after the January 2024 blizzard.

Temperature at the time: -10 F

Little did I know that when the time came for me to go to Iowa it would be in the middle of a blizzard with a foot of snow on the ground, drifts blowing everywhere and temperatures below zero.  My Friday flights were canceled and I got rebooked onto the same flights the following day – with one big difference, to wit my 1:00 flight from Chicago was stand-by and they booked me on a back-up flight that didn’t leave Chicago until 7:00 pm.

So here’s a question:  I told Florida I was definitely leaving on Friday, but I didn’t do that.  I left on Saturday instead.  Was I required to go back down to the Orange County sheriff’s department and redo my travel report?  Answer – I couldn’t do it anyway because the sheriff’s department was closed for the holiday weekend and Florida requires this change to be reported in person.  So I just did everything I could to get myself to my travel destination as fast as possible.

Sure enough I didn’t get on the 1:00 flight, which meant my Cedar Rapids car rental crashed.  The airline offered to re-book me to a 2:15 flight to Moline IL, which is “sort of” close to Iowa City, so I gave up my 7:00 ticket.  Unfortunately that flight was unable to land in Moline and got re-directed right back to Chicago!  So at 6:00 pm I rented a car in Chicago and set out for Iowa City in a blinding blizzard.

Wow that was scary!  When I arrived at my home it was midnight and -15 degrees.  But now I want to point out that by crossing the Iowa state line at about 10:30 pm I had spent less than one day in Illinois and had not spent the night there.  In doing so I had avoided using up any of my precious allowable three days per calendar year in Illinois (see my Illinois blog).  I certainly didn’t want to do that in the first month of the 2024 calendar year!

Also, by arriving in Iowa late Saturday night instead of Friday afternoon I would now be there only one partial business day – Tuesday – when I’d have to get back on the road at 7:00 am (temperature -13) if I had any hope of returning the rental car in Chicago at noon.  I’d be out of state before my Iowa sheriff’s department even opened that day.  I also had to totally blow off my non-refundable flight from Cedar Rapids.

Now I will say a few words about the Iowa Caucuses, my reason for spending hundreds of dollars to fly into a blizzard.  It was actually pretty interesting.  Even though my party wasn’t holding a presidential preference vote because they have an actual incumbent president instead of an insurrectionist ex-president, they conducted other party business like selecting delegates to the party’s state convention (in March) and formulating party platform statements.

So the following morning I left early, I did get to Chicago on time, and my flight arrived back in Orlando on time.  Tadahhhh!

Czech & Slovak Museum, Cedar Rapids

 Missouri

Meramec Caverns

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

R.S. Mo. 2019.  R.S. Mo. §43.650.  R.S. Mo. §566.147 through 566.150.  R.S. Mo. §§589.400 through 589.426.  AWA Compliant .

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 days for initial registration and updates. 

"Residence" is defined as “any place where an offender sleeps for seven or more consecutive or nonconsecutive days or nights within a twelve-month period” §589.404(5). 

Visitors: “Any registered offender from another state who has a temporary residence in this state and resides more than seven days in a twelve-month period shall register for the duration of such person's temporary residency” §589.400.11. However, “temporary residence” is not defined. 

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  offenders may not reside w/in 1,000 ft. of school or child care center.  §566.147.

Presence restriction: offenders cannot be present w/in 500 ft. of school, day care center, park with playground equipment, childrens athletic facility, pool, or Missouri department of conservation nature or education center.  §§566.147-566.150. Updated Aug. 2022.

Missouri applies Halloween restrictions to all registrants, including sign posting mandate. §589.426.

Duration & updates:

15 years to life. Updates: Tier III – 90 days. Tier I & II – every 6 mo. §589.400

 

View of Downtown Kansas City from the WWI Memorial

Most recent visit: May 2024

Missouri is a beautiful state, but you’ll have to be pretty darned careful if you travel there.  Visitors must register if in the state for more than 7 days in a 12-month period. §589.400.11.  That makes this state precisely twice as restrictive as Indiana, which allows visitors 7 days in any six month period.  However Missouri defines “residence” as a place where you sleep.  So presumably, like Illinois, if you can drive through without ever stopping to sleep that partial day won’t count against your annual total – but if you do stop to sleep the partial days on both sides of that restful night will count and you will have chewed up two of your annual 7 day total. 

Worse, Missouri imposes several onerous restrictions that you should assume will apply to you as a visitor: 

• Offenders may not reside w/in 1,000 ft. of a school or child care center.  §566.147.  Since I am from Florida, where similar restrictions apply, I can tell you 1000 feet can be a pretty hard standard to meet.  Be careful in selecting your motel room.
• Missouri applies Halloween restrictions to all registrants, including a sign posting mandate. §589.426.  So just don’t be there on Halloween.
• Offenders cannot be present w/in 500 ft. of school, day care center, park with playground equipment (which is most of them), or swimming pool.  §§566.147-150.  Recently they added childrens athletic facilities and Missouri department of conservation nature or education centers (whatever they are) to that list.  You may want to think twice, for example, about a motel with a pool.  You may say, oh please! It’s just one night and who’s going to check?  But my job here is to warn you about any potential problems you may face while traveling.

Missouri’s restriction against being present at or within 500 feet of a “park with playground equipment” is especially problematic for vacationers.  If you think about that wording – it could be a 1000 acre state park and yet if it had just one playground anywhere, you can’t go anywhere in that park.  It makes no sense, but it means most state or local parks are OUT.  For all these reasons I have to give Missouri a travel rating of 4 thumb screws.

However, when it comes to national parks you’re probably okay because quite frankly there are few if any national “parks.”  Yes, St. Louis’s Gateway Arch is definitely a park but has no playground.  What about Ozark National Scenic Riverway?  Is that a park, and if so who’s jurisdiction is it in?  Mark Twain National Forest, which is extensive and includes many Ozark attractions, is definitely not a park.  And speaking of Mark Twain, his Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal is a privately owned attraction, not a park.

I have passed through Missouri without sleeping twice this year, most recently in June 2023 on my way to the NARSOL Conference in Houston.  Traveling south on I-35 my first stop was at Jesse James’ family home, which like Twain’s home is not a park but a privately owned attraction. Then I visited downtown Kansas City, rode their trolley and saw the City Market, Union Station and the National WWI Historic Monument & Park.  There’s no playground there either so it was no problem.

Then I had Kansas City BBQ at Slap’s, but that’s in the other Kansas City in Kansas – so when I found a nearby motel I wasn’t “sleeping” in Missouri.  Therefore even though I came back and spent a second partial day it was still zero days as far as Missouri’s registry is concerned.  George Washington Carver’s boyhood home is fascinating, it’s a National Monument not a park, and it has no playground so you’re good to go.

Mark Twain House, Hannibal

In May 2023, Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home was my first stop after entering the state from Iowa on U.S. 61.  It’s an interesting attraction and includes many restored original buildings occupied and owned by the childhood friends and neighbors who inspired Twain’s most famous characters.

Continuing south, my second stop of the day was downtown St. Louis.  On a previous trip some years ago, before I was forced to register, I had been to the Arch and ridden the elevator to the top.  On this trip I decided to avoid any questions about where I am allowed to be by skipping the Arch and exploring other areas.

Again you may say, oh please! I’m only here for a few hours and who is ever going to notice if I stroll through a city park that happens to have a playground?  If you are a Missouri registrant you may say I’m being too paranoid – that the police in St. Louis have much more pressing priorities than to bust registrants for the crime of being 490 feet from a park.  But here again my job is to warn you about the restrictions you may face as a traveling registrant, and to act accordingly in my own travels so I can report it all to you.

Upon leaving St. Louis I crossed over into Illinois, so I did not sleep in Missouri on this trip either.  My previous overnight stay was in April 2022, more than 12 months before, so I assumed I still had a clean slate of seven days and six sleeping nights available to me any time I need them.

In May of 2024, traveling from Iowa, I began a four day tour of Missouri with the first night’s stay at a motel (with no pool) in St. Louis, but after that I was turned back by car troubles so severe that upon returning to Iowa I ended up junking my car and getting another (used) Toyota Sienna.  Now I have a car that’s registered and tagged in Iowa but my driver’s license is still from Florida.  Neither Iowa DMV nor my Iowa sheriff’s department seem to care about this, but what will Florida say when I return there next fall?  I’ll let you know …

But meanwhile there I was in St. Louis overnight at a really crappy Days Inn, so I made the most of it by going on the Anhueser-Busch brewery tour. Very enjoyable!  Then the next morning I decided to live a little dangerously by going to the St. Louis Art Museum, which is justly recommended by all the tour books as a St. Louis must see.  Unfortunately it’s located within Forest Park which is another recommended must see but problematic for a registered traveler.

St. Louis Art Museum. That's the actual saint himself riding his horse out front.

It’s a huge park and although I didn’t see any playgrounds either while entering from the west or later exiting to the south (after stopping at the Jewel Box), I assume there is probably one on the far side of the park at the Visitor & Education Center.  I just stayed as far away from that as possible.  Upon entering the museum I also checked the map thoroughly to make sure they didn’t have an on-site playground or children’s rec area.  I am happy to report there are none, so if you want to follow my lead and see great art while visiting St. Louis, do so.

Now that I have a summer home in Iowa and a winter home in Florida I travel back and forth several times per year, and one of the best routes for this long two day trip is south through Missouri.  However the half-way point for this route is not in Missouri but rather at either Memphis (if I continue south on I-55 from St. Louis) or Nashville (if I turn east from St. Louis).  Therefore I have been safely passing though without sleeping, hoarding my 7 days per 12 months for when I wanted to spend more time in this beautiful state.

April 2022 was the first time I purposefully slowed down to actually see some of Missouri as part of my Deep South Tour.  Entering from Arkansas late in the afternoon my first task was to find a campground.  And remember, it couldn’t be at any state or local park for fear there might be a playground lurking somewhere.  Fortunately Mark Twain National Forest was there with several options to choose from.  As I noted above, however, staying at a National Forest campground automatically logged in two days toward my seven per 12 months, even though I had only been in state for a few hours before settling in for the night.

South Central Missouri is cave and cavern territory, so once I started cruising along I-44 there were lots of billboards advertising them.  The most advertised is Meramec Cavern, which is privately owned and not to be confused with Meramec Springs State Park.  The cavern tour was worth the stop.  After that I roamed northeasterly through the state until I joined up with my usual route up US 61, crossing the state line in mid-afternoon on my way to a fabulous Iowa cheese creamery and reaching my Iowa home by supper time.

  Georgia

Savannah waterfront 

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

2019 O.C.G.A. §§42-1-12 through 42-1-19

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 140-2-18.

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Registration required within 72 hours of establishing a residence or entering the state. §42-1-12(f).  Visitors: registration required if in the state for 14 consecutive days, or for more than 30 days in calendar year.  §42-1-12(e)(7). Per SOR office, residency & presence restrictions applying to visitors are those applying to you in your state of registry. Updated Aug 2022.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Registrants may not reside, loiter, or be employed within 1,000 ft. of child care facility, church, school, or “area where minors congregate” defined to “include all public & private parks & recreation facilities, playgrounds, skating rinks, neighborhood centers, gymnasiums, school bus stops, public libraries, & public & community swimming pools” §42-1-12(3).  Certain employment restrictions apply.  §§42-1-15 through 42-1-17.  It is a misdemeanor to intentionally photograph a minor in Georgia without parental consent.  §42-1-18.

Visiting Registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED. (per Rolfe Survey and confirmed by state registry office).

Duration & updates:

Life.  Sexually Dangerous Predator updates every 6 months.  All others update annually within 72 hours of birthday.

Most recent visit: April 2024

Georgia’s SOR statute states that registrants may not reside, loiter, or be employed within 1,000 ft. of a child care facility, church, school, or “area where minors congregate.”  The term “area where minors congregate” is defined to include “all public & private parks and recreation facilities, playgrounds, skating rinks, neighborhood centers, gymnasiums, school bus stops, public libraries, & public & community swimming pools” §42-1-12(3).  That’s a pretty tough set of rules.  

Downtown Savannah

Furthermore, according to the person I spoke to at the Georgia SOR Office in 2020, these rules apply to visiting registrants even during the 14 consecutive days or 30 aggregate days per year before you have to register in that state. According to that set of rules, you can go to any of the state’s tens of thousands of churches – even historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta – to pray during your visit to Georgia, but you can’t “loiter” within 1000 feet of one!  Suppose you check into a hotel for the night in Georgia, only to discover that it’s within 1000 feet of a child care facility, church, school, or “area where minors congregate?”  Suppose the hotel has a game room?  What then?

The good news is you would also be prohibited from visiting Stone Mountain State Park, Georgia’s now-infamous monument to the Confederacy.

However! When I called back to update my state-by-state research in August 2022 I got a completely different story.  This time the nice lady at the Georgia SOR office said  residency & presence restrictions applying to visitors are those applying to you in your state of registry. By that rule, in my situation I would follow the rules for either Iowa or Florida, depending on which state I had reported my travel from.  

Also, according to the state SOR office, national parks and forests are “out of our jurisdiction,” and there are quite a few of those, especially in northern and central Georgia.  Since most of my cross-country travel plans involve camping overnight at national park or national forest campgrounds, that’s good news for me.

NOTE:  Georgia is one of about 15 states where there is no procedure for removal from the registry upon returning to your home state.  So be extra careful.

In April 2024 my ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever and I were traveling on our way back to Florida from attending a wedding in New Jersey when we decided to stop overnight and spend a little time in Savannah.  We entered Georgia from South Carolina on I-95 and checked into a hotel near Savannah Airport.  Given its location in a primarily airport-industrial area I didn’t worry about either Georgia’s residency or presence rules, or Florida’s.  We just checked in and got some sleep that night.

The next morning I continued to not worry about Georgia’s presence or loitering rules. Instead my BFF and I toured downtown Savannah, checked out the waterfront and tourist commercial district, had lunch at a local restaurant and were on our way, arriving home in Florida in time to have dinner with family.

That’s two partial days in Georgia, far fewer than the 14 consecutive days the state allows.  That’s also a nice morning touring Savannah with my best friend without being excessively paranoid about state rules.

Previous visits: April & Nov. 2022

In November 2022 I visited the North Georgia mountains together with family, coming from Florida.  I did none of the driving on this trip. Instead I was a passenger with my ex-wife while my daughter and grandchildren rode in a separate car.  We stayed for five days at a timeshare.  It was very nice.

Historic Dahlonega, GA

Following the guidance of the Georgia SOR office, I was governed on this trip by the rules that apply to me in Florida. That meant I was able to take my ex to Amicalola State Park and show her Amicalola Falls, which she really liked. She wanted to take the family to supposedly historic Helen which in my opinion is completely ruined by tourism, so I went along with it and pretended I really liked it.  I will say we had lunch at a pretty good German restaurant.  The next day we went to Dahlonega, which I like a lot better. 

On a previous visit in April 2022 I entered Georgia from Tennessee in the morning, enjoying a beautiful mountain drive through Chattahoochee National Forest.  I stopped to see De Soto Falls – very nice. Then I continued to Historic Dahlonega, which at that time I hadn’t been to for long time.

The World of Coca Cola. My advice is skip it.

After a nice lunch in Dahlonega I continued on to Atlanta, where I visited the World of Coca Cola.  That was a mistake.  I was expecting an interesting factory tour like one finds at Pabst in Milwaukee, Jim Beam in Tennessee or Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, but no such luck. The World of Coca Cola sucks.  It’s all advertising and no education. And it’s right next door to the Georgia Aquarium which I’m sure would’ve been a better bet.  Oh well.  

Afterward I had an early supper at the Varsity, Atlanta’s culinary must stop.  Then it was southeast bound to the Lake Sinclair, the southernmost campground in Oconee National Forest, the southernmost national forest in Georgia. Very nice, secluded and has hot showers.  The next morning I made my way southward toward Macon, I-75 and back to Florida.