Special Report: Loophole Allows Certain Sex Offenders to Live Near Schools
MONTGOMERY COUNTY -- Schools are supposed to be a safe haven from sex offenders. State law prevents offenders from living within a thousand feet of a school or daycare. But a FOX 45/ABC 22 investigation found a huge loophole in the law.In an effort to streamline transportation, Dayton public tightened eligibility requirements for busing. Thousands of additional students are walking to school for the first time."We don't let her walk,": said Danielle Macky, "I don't care if she's with a group or not, she's not walking." That's because she knows her daughter would be walking by the front doors of hundreds of sex offenders."I'm definitely going to keep her close to me," said Manday Lindal, "It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that. I did not know that at all."Manday's kids go to Ruskin on the east side. 78 registered sex offenders live within a mile of the elementary school. You have to live more than a mile and a half away to be bused."They shouldn't be able to live that close to a school," Lindal continued "Especially sex offenders with charges against children.""If they're child molestors, they don't need to be anywhere near kids," said Allen Wright, who also has a child at Ruskin "That's sickening."But these ruskin parents are actually the lucky ones. E.J. Brown has 101 registered offenders living within a mile of the school. John Collins lives just 528 feet away from the elementary's front door. He is one of hundreds of sex offenders in Montgomery County that do not have to follow the law."One of the reasons we chose to live across the street from a school is we didn't think we had to worry about things like that," said Aleicia Eisen, who lives next door to a sex offender."We get a lot of calls from people wondering why they're allowed to live there," said Sgt. Julie Stephens with the Mont. Co. Sheriff's Office, "Aand sadly I have to explain the loophole in the law to them."It's a loophole that's quite large. The law preventing offenders from living within a thousand feet of a school went into effect on July 31st 2003. Convicted offenders who committed the crime before that date have no housing restrictions at all. Larry Widder and his wife can live across the street from Wright Brothers Elementary. He's grandfathered into the law because he was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, three years before it was passed. Widder's wife says they're living here because they took over a family member's lease."He's just like everybody else," said Charity Widder, "We're so tired of people discriminating against him. It's ridiculous people say oh he's a sex offender, you better stay away from him and it's not like that. Not all sex offenders are bad."Some disagreed. George Ester, who's a grandparent of a student at Cleveland PreK-8 said, "That's ridiculous. There should be no grandfather rule for sex offenders. A sex offender is a sex offender."The law was upgraded in 2007 to include pre schools and daycares. The initial law only specified "schools". That means convicted offenders who committed the crime after July 1st 2007 are restricted from living within a thousand feet of those facilities. All other offenders are alotted a lax loophole. "There's not a whole lot of restrictions on sex offenders out there as much as people would believe there are," Sgt. Stephens continued. "I'm in shock, it's sickening," added Manday Lindal, "It's not right I don't think they should live that close to a school. It's not right. It's dangerous."Which is why Lindal is going home to look up sex offenders who live close to Ruskin. With more than a thousand registered offenders in Montgomery County alone, the sheriff's office is hoping you do the same thing too. To find out if sex offenders live near your child's school, or to register to receive alerts if an offender moves in close to your home, click news links.
