Once again, the online registry proves to be nothing more than an online hit-list for insane folks, and vigilantes, to use to harass and harm those on the list, and even their families, and shows why it should be taken offline and used by police only! How many people must be harassed, harmed and/or killed before this occurs?
08/11/2011
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
HAZELWOOD - A Hazelwood man accused of approaching his neighber, a registered sex offender, to borrow some sugar, then attacking the man with a hammer, told police afterwards that he was "doing God's work" in trying to get rid of sexual predators.
John Joseph Huffmaster, 29, of Riderwood Drive in Hazelwood, was charged this week in St. Louis County with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
Hazelwood police Capt. Greg Hall said that at about 6 a.m. on June 16, Huffmaster went across the street to the home of a 74-year-old neighbor under the guise of asking to borrow some sugar.
When the man agreed to give him the sugar, Huffmaster walked inside the house with a hammer and started attacking him, police said.
Huffmaster then called police and told them that the man was molesting a child and that he had gone there to stop it, Hall said.
Police arrived but didn't find a child there. They did find the 74-year-old man inside his home, semi-conscious and bleeding. He had multiple skull and facial fractures, according to court documents.
Hall said Huffmaster has a history of "behavioral disorders" but would not provide details. They found him at his own home across the street.
The sex offender's listing on the Missouri Sex Offender registry says he has a conviction for sexually abusing a 11-year-old girl in 1991.
Hall said the man has had some surgeries and has been released from a hospital.
