Posted on 10/05/2005 6:50:41 PM PDT by xjcsa
DES MOINES (AP) --- A homeless man who's a registered sex offender was arrested after police said he grabbed a toddler and sexually assaulted her in the men's room of the downtown public library.
Police hailed library workers who pulled the girl away from the man as heroes.
James C. Effler Jr., 32, was charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree sexual assault and failure to comply with rules of the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, because he was not living at the address listed.
Police said Effler grabbed a 20-month-old girl as she played near a computer being used by her babysitter. Library employees helped the babysitter search for the child before hearing the girl cry from the restroom, which was locked, police said.
Employees called police and removed the door handle to reach the girl, then held Effler until officers arrived, Capt. Kelly Willis said.
"Most of the police work was done by the library staff before we even arrived," Willis said.
The child was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The extent of her injuries was not made public.
Effler was convicted in 2003 for a sex crime against a 31-year-old woman in El Paso, Texas. He was sentenced to three years in prison and later paroled.
Police have not determined how long Effler has been living in Iowa.
Effler is listed on the state registry, but because his conviction involved an adult victim, he is not covered by the state law that prohibits some offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or child care center.
Police said Effler was living at a homeless shelter.
When library workers heard the girl scream in the restroom, they saw an adult's shadow on the other side of the door's frosted glass, police said.
When they couldn't force their way into the restroom, they called for a maintenance worker with a screwdriver, Willis said. Once the door handled was removed, they opened the door, pulled the child out and shut Effler inside.
"They are heroes," Willis said. "They grabbed the baby and shut the door on him."
Records show that in recent months, Effler was jailed for public urination, arrested for drunken driving and charged with shoplifting.
But are the librarians allowed to stop it??
Hang him! Who's squeamish about this? It's just plain nuts to keep these perverts around.
It is not allowed. You can't view sexually explicit material on the library computer. There's a little sign that says so right above the computer. Yes they mostly certainly can and have done so before.
The only piece of "good" news: the perp was charged with first-degree kidnaping, which carries an automatic life sentence in a state where "life" means life (no parole). Not as good as frying him to a crisp, but he won't do this again.
Hopefully he will become the bride of the meanest guy in prison.
This is the lowest form of human excrement walking on the planet. He is worth one thing only. One bullet.
The solution for child molesters is 4 good men with axe handles, a rusty straight razor and a sense of justice
That pervert is in dire need of an accident.
The solution for child molesters is 4 good men with axe handles, a rusty straight razor and a sense of justice
One mother would easily do the job of the 4 men.
---Thank goodness he was REGISTERED! ---
We need some way to keep track of these people.
I think grave markers would do nicely.
Yeah. It hurts to think about those cold crude moments. Just dayum.
they ARE getting more brazen! Hope everyone watched the oprah show yesterday because she was pissed about this subject and called for first offense to be put behind bars for the rest of their lives!!
But I have to add, why the heck didn't they just smash the glass door to get to the child? perhaps it would have made the difference.
I wonder what happens when these guys get old and feeble and can't care for themselves. It must be a terrible feeling to awaken to one's sins in the severe twilight of one's life.
A shooting?
Yep. Hanging is fiiiiine with me. Maybe that's why I like Toby Keith and Willie Nelson's "Beer For My Horses"....
If he goes to prison, they will take care of him quickly.
A lot of libraries these days are essentially homeless shelters. Those folks stink and they even pee while sitting in the chairs. No need to go to the bathroom and lose your valuable computer time.
Combine that with parents who drop their kids off for hours at a time and then go out to dinner or shopping and more of this kind of thing will continue to happen.
Glad they were able to get to the perp, eventually, but frankly, if they heard a little girl scream in the bathroom and saw an adult's shadow through the door's frosted glass, why they heck did they wait for a maintenance worker to come and remove the doorknob? I would have smashed the glass immediately. I just pray that the time they wasted in trying to save the door didn't affect the little girl. (shudder)
Hmmm. Okay a mother with just the razor
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