BishopAccountability.org
	Bluffs Church Bails out Sex Offender KETV November 18, 2011 http://www.ketv.com/r/29800606/detail.html COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- A man accused of rape is out on bond with the help of a local church, authorities said. Mark Sands was in jail in Pottawattamie County after authorities said he was implicated through DNA in the rape of a woman in 2001. The woman said her daughter with cerebral palsy was tied up and forced to watch as the she was raped in a home in Council Bluffs. The woman told KETV NewsWatch 7 she never knew Sands, but she can't believe he's out of jail. "You know, he's got a history of past sex offenses, and I also thought he was a registered sex offender," the woman said in a phone interview from her new home near Olympia, Wash. According to Nebraska's sex offender registry, Sands became a lifetime registered sex offender after he was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1984. After he was released on bond on Nov. 11, authorities said Sands spent a few days at the Nebraska Medical Center at Clarkson Tower undergoing treatment for a medical condition. He was released from the hospital Thursday evening. Sands' attorney said his client is innocent, but with DNA evidence, the alleged victim said she doesn't buy it. "It just gives me nightmares at night. My mom, she said she could hear me screaming, and you know, it's just horrible," the woman said. Sands' attorney is asking for a continuance in the case, and a judge is set to decide on it next week. It's still unclear which church posted bail for Sands. His bond was set at $100,000.
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