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| http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/SOR/Subject.cfm?vREGNUM=200105KTF
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Posted on: Dateline 2008, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
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Dateline 2008, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
While working as a volunteer at the Food Bank of Omaha, Nebraska, Mr. Trent
J. Stewart took a chance.
A Level III Registered . Offender was working as a volunteer at the Food
Bank of Omaha.
Also volunteering at the Food Bank of Omaha on a near daily basis were the
special children of the Madonna School in Omaha.
The Level III . Offender's name was Terrence Williams
http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/SOR/Subject.cfm?vREGNUM=200105KTF
He fit in well with the other volunteers and paid Food Bank of Omaha Staff
and was never considered much of a threat.
Williams claimed he spent six years behind bars for having . with an
underage girl. He made his crime seem harmless and no one bothered check him
out.
Williams was a rough exconvict type who did not socialize with the other
Food Bank volunteers or staff when he did not have to.
Williams had been volunteering at the Food Bank of Omaha for at least a year
without incident.
But something began to bother Mr. Trent (TJ) Stewart about Williams'
behavior at the Food Bank.
Williams bragged about sing PCP. Williams was a bully. Williams worked
nearly unsupervised.
But one day while volunteering at the Food Bank of Omaha it occurred to
Stewart that he had easy access to the children of the Madonnal School. The
children were supervised by an adult of the school, but the adult had his
hands full keeping track of the mentally handicapped kids.
Maybe it was the fact that Stewart himself had recalled a few years earlier
being abused as a child and witnessing the abuse of other children at the
hands of Omaha Police Division officers.
Or maybe it was an ability to see a train wreck coming and giving a damn,
but Mr. Stewart began inquiring informally with Food Bank of Omaha
management as to the status of Williams and whether he was suited to be
working so close to children.
?
The inquiries WERE informal. A large percentage of Food Bank of Omaha staff
are smokers and more information gets shared in the smoker's tent at the
establishment than anywhere.
Stewart inquired with Rex, the Food Bank of Omaha warehouse manager for
decades about Williams, his crimes, etc.
It was other Food Bank of Omaha paid staff who had brought Williams' .
offender status to Stewart's attention. But no one at the Food Bank of Omaha
seemed considered beyond that.
Stewart was also in a precarious situation. His volunteer service at the
Food Bank of Omaha stemmed from his receiving Food Stamps from the State of
Nebraska. Stewart, like Williams and many other "volunteers" had to work at
minimum wage for every dollar they received in benefits.
With no power and fearing retaliation by the state of Nebraska for making
waves, Stewart declined to mention the Williams situation to his case
worker. He also had to tread lightly at the Food Bank who had the right to
dismiss him from volunteering there without any reason sending him back to
Nebraska Health and Human Services for another work assignment.
Stewart liked working with the Food Bank of Omaha staff and volunteers
including Williams, whom he did not have a problem with.
But the train was still running down the track and the potential for a train
wreck, aka a child being assaulted by the Level III, would not go away.
Unable to get the Food Bank warehouse manager to take his concerns seriously
and not wanting to find out later that a child had been assaulted by
Williams and then blaming himself for not doing more to prevent it, Stewart
had an idea.
After an article in the press somewhere gave the definition of a Level III
. offender as someone "Highly likely to reoffend", Stewart described the
potential train wreck on USENET in the hope that someone more experienced
than he in such situations might take notice.
Stewart feared he may be libel for damages or retaliated upon by Williams in
some fashion as well.
But the volunteers from the Madonna School were always a bright light at the
Food Bank of Omaha and fear for their safety as well as fear for the
repuation of the Food Bank of Omaha which supplies hundreds of organizations
and food pantries in Nebraska and Iowa overcame Stewart's indecision.
Over the next couple of months, it appeared getting the word out may have
worked. Several agency volunteers refused to allow Williams to load their
vehicles. Women in particular have a special loathing for .ual predators
since they and children are their victims nearly 100% of the time.
One day, an hour or so before Stewart arrived for his work assignment, an
altercation took place between Williams and a male agency volunteer who
arrived with an agency female volunteer at the Food Bank of Omaha.
Stewart is a white man. Williams is a black man. The female agency volunteer
was a white woman. The female's assistant was a black man.
I point this out ONLY to negate any discriminatory implication.
Apparently, words were exchanged between the agency's male volunteer inside
the Food Bank of Omaha garage near the loading dock and Williams.
Williams proceeded to retrieve a tire iron from his vehicle following the
exchange of words and return to the garage to confront the male agency
volunteer. Before the situation escalated further, Food Bank of Omaha
personnel stepped in and the altercation was diffused.
Williams was banned from volunteering further at the Food Bank of Omaha
which prevented Williams from having access to the mentally retarded
children of the Madonna School while also continuing to allow them to
volunteer at the Food Bank of Omaha.
Trent (TJ) Stewart chose to keep his involvement in it all quiet for fear of
retaliation.
Police were never called and no one was ever injured.
No child was ever .ually assaulted by Williams (presumably) thanks to this
"intervention" by a black man, a white man, and a white woman.
The Food Bank of Omaha had their reputation remain in tact as no press story
or lawsuit from having a child .ually assaulted while volunteering at the
Food Bank of Omaha occurred.
The State of Nebraska, too, had their reputation not further damaged by a
.ual assault of a child by one of their Workfair volunteers with a Levle
III . offender background.
The train wreck Mr. Trent (TJ) Stewart saw coming was prevented.
Williams received another volunteer assignment elsewhere, although Mr.
Stewart often wonders if that assignment, too, placed children in danger of
being .ually assaulted by a Level III . offender.
Several months later, Stewart was reassigned to the Goodwill in Omaha for
his volunteer work.
Several months later still, Nebraska Human Services ended their Workfair
Program which forced food stamp recipients to work at minimum wage for every
dollar of their government assistance.
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