FAQ

To ensure that criminals who have committed violent crimes against innocent victims serve their maximum sentences, and that victims and their families are well represented in the parole process.

Our founder and president, Bret Vinocur, started the the organization in 2002 after seeing the cases of Danielle Van Dam and Samantha Runnion on television. Danielle and Samantha were kidnapped in their neighborhoods and later found murdered. Mr. Vinocur was frustrated there was so little information about missing and murdered children on the Internet at that time, so he created Find Missing Kids, Inc. A short time later, he uncovered the case of Laura Skinner, who was raped and murdered by her mother’s boyfriend. After learning Laura had no voice, and that her killer had been paroled multiple times with no opposition, Mr. Vinocur began focusing on parole cases. Block Parole Inc. was created a short time later.

We seriously considered becoming a 501(c)3 organization when we started our work. However, the government restrictions that would have been imposed on us would have greatly limited our ability to help victims and their families. In addition, filing for tax-exempt status would have prohibited us from advocating for laws and exposing elected officials who are not acting in the best interests of victims and the public. While this decision has made it difficult for us financially, we feel it is more important to do the right thing.

You can click here to to make a financial donation. You can also visit the Parole Petitions page and submit a petition to block a parole.

Please fill out our Assistance Request Form.

We do require that monetary donations be made to Block Parole Inc. for all parole cases involving victims over age 12. The exceptions are the cases where we reach out to victims/ victim’s families to offer assistance. No donations will be required in those instances. The amount of the donations depends on the facts of the case, the financial situation of the victim/ victim’s family, and our current caseload. All donations received will be reinvested back into our organization so we can effectively assist more victims/ victim’s families.

No. We only handle violent crime cases that involve innocent victims. Examples of cases we would not handle are drug deals gone bad, crimes related to gang activity, cases involving organized crime and accidental crimes such as a bar fight that got out of control.

While we are based in Ohio and the majority of our cases are from Ohio, we do handle cases from other states.

First, we review each case to determine whether it meets our criteria. We then accept cases on a first-come, first-served basis. Since each case is very labor-intensive, we can only handle a limited number of cases each year. We recommend contacting us as early as possible.

We take the security and safety of our victims, victims’ families and supporters very seriously. We have strong concerns about many of the petition websites on the Internet and do not support or recommend them.