Sex offender shunned
Elms says he has no place to go



GUILDERLAND — On Sunday evening, Matthew Elms felt his options had run out.

The 35-year-old man has been labeled a Level 3 sex offender — the highest level, deemed the most likely to repeat.

As such, a description of himself and of his crime is posted on-line at the town’s website and on a state registry.
Matthew Elms was convicted in Washington County Court on March 26, 1988 of first-degree sodomy and first-degree rape, says the posting on the town’s website. "Elms raped and sodomized a 12-year-old girl in Fort Edward, New York."

Elms was convicted for a crime he committed at the age of 17 and, after serving 14 years in state prison, was released three years ago.

He had been living since July on Posson Road in Guilderland near Bill Vojnar’s pig farm.

Bart Jibeault, who lives on Posson Road and described himself as a friend of Elms, told The Enterprise, "Bill’s sons had been losing work in their roofing and contracting businesses because of him. They told him he had till midnight Saturday to be out or, first thing Sunday morning, he would be physically removed by the police."

Jibeault and Elms spent the weekend trying to get help for Elms.

Finally, Sunday evening, Elms went to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.
"He told them, ‘I’ll slit my throat in front of you; I’ll kill myself if you don’t take me in. No one wants me,’" Jibeault said.

On Tuesday, The Enterprise went to the locked psychiatric ward at Ellis Hospital to talk to Elms.
"Please use extra caution in opening the door: High elopement risk," said a sign in capital letters next to the blue metal locked door.

Inside, Elms sat alone in a room with other patients, listening to music. He wore blue scrubs like the other patients. When he stood up, he looked about six feet tall, with a muscular build. He had short-cropped hair, a day-or-two-old beard, and intense blue eyes.

He agreed to talk to The Enterprise in private and led the way to a small conference room, shutting the door behind him.

Elms confirmed the events of Sunday as his friend had described them.
"I went out there to try to start fresh," Elms said of his home at 6458 Posson Road, off Route 20 in western Guilderland. "I thought everything was fine till a couple of weeks ago when the sons came down, telling me I got to go."
He went on, "People want to go back to when I was 17...I’m 35 now...I’ve been out for three years. I lived in Schenectady for over two years without an incident."

Elms said he was driven out of Schenectady once he was posted as a sex offender.
"Ever since I went to court in February of this year to fight the Level 3," he said, "it’s been bad. I was kicked out of Schenectady because of it."

After New York created its Sex Offender Registry, a federal court case was brought against the state, challenging the new law. For a time, an injunction prohibited the state from classifying any sex offender whose crime, like Elms’s, was committed before Jan. 21, 1996 to a risk level higher than Level 1 for purposes of community notification. In 2004, a settlement was reached, now allowing those convicted sex offenders a hearing to determine an appropriate risk level.

"Just to be left alone"
Elms did not have a happy childhood. He was born and raised in Glens Falls. "My mother used to work," he said. "My father was always drunk."
He went on, "My father had four or five heart attacks before he finally croaked, thank God." Elms said he was not sorry when his father died, but he said of his mother, "I wish she was still alive."
Elms was placed in the Schenectady Children's Home for stealing, he said. "I was like a wild kid, stealing, running the streets."

Asked about the rape he committed at age 17, Elms again paused for a long while. He said it was one time.
"When I was in Schenectady Children’s Home, it was done to me," he said. "I was sexually assaulted myself." The assault occurred when he was nine, he said.
"When I told someone what happened to me, they did nothing about it," he said.
He added, "I’m not trying to use that as an excuse for what I did."
Asked what he’ll do next, Elms said, "Dunno."

His girlfriend, Deborah Billetdoux, is the mother of Jibeault’s wife; the three live together on Posson Road.

Billetdoux told The Enterprise Tuesday afternoon that she and Elms plan on getting married.
"He’s a good person," she said. "People don’t know him. He’s a good boyfriend. He never hurts me. He won’t hurt a fly."
Asked about his conviction for rape and sodomy, Billetdoux said, "It’s behind him."

Tuesday night, when The Enterprise asked Elms what he would do with his life if he weren’t labeled a sex offender, he said, "I’d like to see myself with my own little place for me and her...I’d like to have a nice little job where I make the money to support us. I’d like for me just to be left alone."

"The man did his time"
Asked what prison was like, Elms was quiet for a long while. Then he said, "I was glad to be out. I went through hell in there. I thought all that would be behind me. I’m going through hell again."

Elms said he suffers from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and from depression.
He said he is currently on a drug to treat the depression. "I’ve been off it for a month-and-a-half," he said. "I haven’t been able to get the medicine. I don’t have any way to pay for it."

He said his applications for Medicaid had been unsuccessful.
Jibeault said he had brought Elms to the Albany County Department of Social Services to get food stamps and Medicaid. "He has mental-health issues. They denied him," said Jibeault. "No doctor wants to do anything for him; he doesn’t have insurance."

Jibeault said Elms had worked at a fast-food restaurant in Guilderland until his employer found out about his sex-offender status.
Jibeault said he has an idea of what it’s like. "I spent time in jail myself and, when I got out, no one wanted to hire me," he said.
Jibeault described Elms as "an excellent worker." Jibeault has his own business, B & M Construction, and Elms worked for him as a roofer, he said.
"You couldn’t ask for a better person, work-wise," he said. But Jibeault said he, too, was losing business once people found out Elms was a sex offender.
Jibeault said, "I look at it this way: The man did his time. He has to register the rest of his life. His crime against his victim was really f--ked up...People make mistakes. His was much bigger than most. He did his time. There should be no reason everyone’s still condemning him."
Asked what he’d like people to know about him, Elms said, "I just want them to know I’m not like everybody else they’ve heard about, who gets out of jail and who goes and does it again. That’s not me."
Asked what he wanted for his future, Elms said, "I wish people would just leave me alone...I’m not a threat to nobody out there. I just want the past to be the past and let me go on with my life."

Guilderland arrest
Elms was arrested by Guilderland Police on Aug. 3 for second-degree reckless endangerment and reckless driving, both misdemeanors. The arrest report says that he was driving "at a high rate of speed" in the parking lot of the Corner Ice Cream Store at 3770 Carman Road, "nearly striking several pedestrians."

Asked about the incident, Elms told The Enterprise, "That was my way of calling out for help because I was in depression."

A Guilderland resident, whose name is being withheld at her request because she fears retribution from Elms, called The Enterprise after the newspaper reported the arrest in its Blotters column.
"The Corner Ice Cream is the first place kids in the neighborhood are allowed to go on their own," she said.

She is concerned that others aren’t of aware of the threat she believes Elms poses. She said Elms rides his bicycle daily past several day care centers.

Jibeault said Elms’s car was towed after the Aug. 3 arrest and he has been unable to afford to re-claim it so he had been riding a bicycle.
"He can’t come up with the money," said Jibeault.
Asked how Elms could afford the $2,500 bail noted on the arrest report to get out of jail, Jibeault said, "His girlfriend, myself, and my wife got a bondsman for $500."

According to the court clerk, Elms appeared in Guilderland Town Court Sept. 1; his case is adjourned until Sept. 15.

Megan’s law

In 1996, New York adopted a law requiring that information about high-risk sex offenders be made public. The law was modeled on one adopted earlier by New Jersey, frequently called Megan’s Law, after Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old who was raped and murdered by a neighbor who had twice been convicted of sex crimes.

States across the country have had a patchwork of different laws dealing with sex offenders. Some sex offenders in Oregon had to post signs outside their homes to alert others they were living inside. In California, legislation mandated castration — physical or chemical — of certain repeat child molesters. A Louisiana law required offenders to publish their whereabouts and background in the newspaper. A county in Washington State sent out fliers and press releases and held public meetings.

According to New York’s 1996 law, sex offenders must register with the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. The offenders are ranked — 1 to 3, with 3 being the highest — according to their risk of re-offending. This risk is usually assessed at the time of sentencing, according to a number of factors, including the offender’s level of offense, its nature, the offender’s relationship to his victim, and if force was used. While all offenders are required to register, Level 3 offenders are subject to the community notification process.

Community notification can happen in four ways. A directory of Level 3 offenders is available at local law-enforcement agencies. A registry, which can be accessed by phone or Internet, is maintained by the state’s criminal justice department. And local law-enforcement agencies are notified when a sex offender moves into their jurisdiction.

In turn, the law-enforcement agency may disseminate relevant information to any entity with vulnerable populations.

Local notification

First Sergeant William Ward with the Guilderland Police prepared and distributed the bulletin on Elms. DCJS had sent information that Elms had moved to Guilderland in July, Ward said.
"I did the sheet July 30," he said. He hand-delivered the one-page flier to residents living near and on Posson Road. "I want to make sure everyone gets them," said Ward. He also posted the same information on the town’s website.

The Enterprise interviewed Ward on Tuesday, the same day police say a man in Washington State turned himself in to authorities there for killing two convicted child rapists, Level 3 sex offenders, saying he picked the victims from a sheriff’s website.

The Enterprise asked Ward if he worried about vigilantes taking matters into their own hands. "You have to," said Ward. "Part of the law is to make the public aware of offenders but built into it is also to make them aware, if you become a vigilante, you’re in danger of losing that privilege [of being informed]."
Ward’s sheet includes a recent photograph and a physical description of Elms, the description of his conviction, and some words in boldface type and capital letters, stating, "He is not wanted by the police. This notification is not intended to increase fear; rather, it is our belief that an informed public is a safer public."

The Guilderland Police Department has developed a point system to determine which sex offenders the public will be notified of.
"Any Level 3 generally meets the criteria," said Ward.

Elms is currently the only Level 3 offender living in Guilderland, Ward said; there were two previously who left town.
Ward said Guilderland looked at agencies across the United States to develop its point system. "We got the best out of everybody," he said.

Points are assigned for five different categories. The relationship of the offender to the victim can range from 0 points for a family member to 6 points for a stranger. Points are assigned for the age of the victim, with the younger adding more points.
Points are assigned for the level of force, ranging from 1 for statutory to 10 for use of a weapon. Points are also assigned based on the victim’s injury, ranging from 0 points for no physical injury to 10 points for serious injury. Finally, up to 5 points can be awarded for "unusual circumstances," said Ward.

If the points total more than 12, notification is made.
Asked about Elms and how he scored in each of the categories, Ward said, "He got 29 points. That means he got near the maximum on everything. He scored a lot of points."
Ward decides where to distribute the leaflets based on where the offender lives, he said. "I’ll take a big circle to see what lives in that circle," he said.

In Elms’s case, Ward said, he did not notify the school district; Posson Road is not near a school. Ward did, however, notify nearby nursery schools, he said.

Ward says he is particularly concerned about Elms and others in his position who have served a maximum sentence.

Records from the New York State Department of Correctional Services indicate Elms went to prison in 1988 and was eligible for parole in 1992. He did not receive parole, however, but served the maximum sentence, being released from Oneida State Prison in 2002.
"Because he did his maximum, he’s not supervised," said Ward. Elms is not required to check in with a probation officer or a parole board.
"He’s supposed to report to me every 90 days to verify his residence," said Ward. "I know there is concern about him living there. I’ve been frequently checking, just to make sure he’s still there."
Level 3 offenders are required to notify police if they move, said Ward. "I’ve made it clear to him, ‘When you decide to move, ask me first...We have to know.’"

Asked if he saw any problems with the current notification system, Ward said, in order to work well, another layer of enforcement is needed.
"The only bad thing I can say about Megan’s Law is it’s compliance-based. Maybe he’ll come see me and maybe he won’t. It’s almost like you’d have to create another layer of government to deal with these people. Parole can’t do it; probation can’t do it.
"The ones without supervision are going to re-offend. If they’re not proactive in getting treatment for themselves, they’ll re-offend. They often have other issues, like drugs and alcohol."

On balance, though, Ward said, the current notification system offers something earlier generations didn’t have. Ward has been a policeman for 23 years.
"It was word of mouth when we were growing up," he said. "Now we can let people know for sure. It’s not rumor; it’s fact...To be forewarned is to be forearmed."

"The public is misinformed"

Notification laws create the illusion of safety, said Melanie Trimble, executive director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, but treatment is more likely to prevent re-offense.

Trimble cited research and statistics that counter common fears and assumptions. One such fear is that the rate of sexual assault and abuse is rising fast, especially against children.

The NYCLU quotes a 2004 United States Department of Justice bulletin outlining the steep decline of child sex abuse — by 40 percent from 1992 to 2000. The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network is also cited as stating the numbers of rape and sexual assault against all victims has dropped 65 percent since 1993.

Another myth the NYCLU wants to shatter is that most children who are sexually abused are abused by someone they don’t know. According to a 2000 publication by the National Center for Juvenile Justice, only 7 percent are abused by a stranger; 93 percent are abused by a family member or acquaintance.

Finally, the NYCLU wants to combat the fear that most sex offenders are repeat offenders. Three years after release from prison, just 5.3 percent of sex offenders have been arrested again for another sex crime, according to the United States Department of Justice. And after 15 years, fewer than a third, 27 percent, have been charged with another sex crime.
"Recidivism rates are much lower for sex offenders than for other felony offenses, like burglaries," said Trimble. "The public is misinformed."
She went on, "Another false notion out there is that sex offenders are not helped by rehabilitation." The NYCLU cites a 2003 publication of the American Psychology Association that treatment has been shown to reduce the rate of sex offender recidivism by 43 percent.
About notification laws, Trimble said, "We’re worried what happens when the public is made aware of a sex offender in the area; it can cause the sex offender trouble trying to reestablish themselves in society, to keep a job and have a normal life. They tend to go underground and not register, so they can get a job."
Rather than notifying, for example, through Internet registries Trimble said, "Our recommendation is to leave it up to law enforcement to know where the sex offenders are."
Trimble is frustrated with much of the proposed sex-offender legislation. "Most of it doesn’t speak to real solutions," she said. "Experts all recommend programs that really help rehabilitate offenders and keep them from re-offending. Those programs are woefully underfunded...If legislation focused on real solutions, we could better protect the public and children."
She concluded, "We understand that people are very concerned about sex offenders living in their community but it’s important that we find real solutions to recidivism rather than discussing residential restrictions that only tend to drive the sex offender underground, out of the view of the police and the public."

Guilderland’s role

New York’s version of Megan’s Law allows people to look up information on the worst class of sex offenders. But the law doesn’t require the police, who have the information, to bring it to the public.
In 1996, the town of Guilderland appointed a Child Protection Task Force that studied the issue and made recommendations to the town board. At the task force’s recommendation, the board voted itself a "vulnerable entity," so that it would be informed of sex offenders living in town.

In 1997, the village board in Altamont decided, by unanimous vote, to release names of certain convicted sex offenders to the press. The Guilderland task force had recommended that the town do that, but the Guilderland board rejected the recommendation — which the task force considered pivotal — because it feared legal suits from sex offenders.
The head of the task force, Lauren Ayers, hailed Altamont’s decision as "truly historic," saying, "It’s the first municipality in New York State to do so."

In 2001, a man left the town of Guilderland because police notified residents that he was a convicted sex offender.

When the superintendent of schools, Gregory Aidala, was notified in August of that year, he wrote a memo to summer employees; summer school was in session at the high school, near where the man lived. The memo included his photo, but not a name.

Papers describing the sex offender were sent to all the schools in the district, Aidala said at the time. School employees were asked if they saw someone who looked like the sex offender at school activities to notify an administrator immediately, said Aidala.
"He’s moved," First Sergeant Ward told The Enterprise soon after. "He felt that, based on the community notification that we did and the fact we handed out our community notification fliers, he could not live a normal life. He moved back with his mom in Rotterdam."

That was the second time a sex offender’s name was given out in Guilderland since the 1996 law went into effect. The first time was in 1999. That man stayed in the town about a year, said Ward, and then moved to Albany.

Currently, Ward told The Enterprise this week, there is one Level 3 sex offender living in Guilderland — Elms — "one or two" Level 2 offenders, and "a handful" of Level 1 offenders.

According to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York has a total of 21,821 registered sex offenders; 5,426 are Level 3. Albany County has a total of 369 registered sex offenders — 142 are Level 1, and 123 are Level 2, and 91 are Level 3, and 13 have not yet had their risk determined.