Neighbor puts up billboard to shame sex offender into moving

11-14-16 Alabama:

ROBINWOOD, Ala. - Jeb Lessley had a billboard made to pressure a registered sex offender to move. It shows Raymond Martin’s mugshot and lists his address and charges including second-degree rape and sodomy for a 2013 conviction involving an underage girl.

Martin and his family want to see the billboard taken down. He lives across the street from it.

“There’s people that already know my circumstances,” he told CBS 42. “They can find it on the website, but it ain’t got to be broadcast. There’s more than one sex offender that lives here.”

Martin estimates that there are more than a dozen registered sex offenders living in the neighborhood. It’s a statistic that the man who actually bought the sign backs up.

“The reason I posted the billboard is because he has been a thorn in my side since he moved into this house,” explained Lessley. Lessley said that Martin first started worrying him when he tried to talk to Lessley’s children. He has six kids, ranging from a newborn to 14 years old.

Woman accused of filing false report about registered sex offender

9-24-2014 North Carolina:

TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. -- The Alexander County Sheriff's Office charged a woman after she filed a false report about a registered sex offender living in her area.

Deputies charged 50-year-old Carolyn Harkey with obstruction of justice after she made false allegations about a registered sex offender moving to Alexander County without registering.

Harkey admitted to authorities that she lied to them on the report that she filed with authorities in March of 2014.

Harkey was placed under a $5,000 secured bond and has a court appearance on September 22, 2014. ..Source.. by WCNC Staff

Nicole Pelletier, Outraged Mom, Allegedly Assaults Neighbor Who Faces Child Porn Charges

9-27-2014 Massachusetts:

A Massachusetts mom faces felony charges after she admitted to assaulting her neighbor, who had returned home after being arrested on child porn charges.

According to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun, Nicole Pelletier, 42, entered Gary Spring's condo through an unlocked door the evening of Sept. 22.

Spring, 61, a former Merrimack College professor who was recently fired after being charged with possession of child pornography, told police that he was in bed when Pelletier entered his bedroom and punched him square in the face.

The accused man lives in the apartment directly below Pelletier and her two children, 11 and 13. The woman, who was described in the report as "crying and visibly upset" with blood on her arm and hands, called 911 herself after attacking her neighbor.

Offender’s Home Vandalized

Hummm, no comment from police that, those who did this will be prosecuted. Guess we know where police stand.

10-25-2013 Iowa:

A convicted sex offender moved into the small Marshall County town of Liscomb and quickly learned he was not welcome.

Donald Liger was greeted with smashed windows and the word “Pedophile” spray-painted on his garage. “We got spray paint on our garage last night around midnight. And the window got broken,” Liger said, pointing to the damage.

We couldn’t find any neighbors who admitted to doing this but we also couldn’t find any who felt bad about it.

“For the simple fact what’s on his garage lets everybody know who he is, where he lives,” says neighbor Joe Robinson. “I don’t know. I’m not upset about it.”

“If it’s true they got what came to them,” adds neighbor Alex Draft. “I live right over here and I got a younger sibling, she’s about 14 years old and she’s kinda been scared to come out here lately.”

Police understand the neighbors’ frustration. Afterall, Liger molested a five year old girl back in 2005. But authorities say he did his time and he has to live somewhere.

“The bottom line is these individuals are in our society,” says Marshall County Sheriff Ted Kamatchus. “We can’t victimize those people based on something that they’re legally doing.”

Liger’s wife, Sharon, says the couple just wants to live at the home in peace, “We just want to be left alone so we can live our life without all the hassles that they give to pedophiles and stuff.”

Neighbors say they know the Ligers have to live somewhere just not in their town.

“It makes my gut wrench,” Robinson says glancing at the Ligers on their front porch. “Especially to watch him sit there watching those kids. Is it going to continue? I don’t want him to be here to continue.”

Police say Liger could face charges for failing to report his change of address. ..Source.. by Aaron Brilbeck

Man cited for harassing sexual predator

1-18-2013 Wisconsin:

Delavan Police Capt. Jim Hansen said he's trying to keep "a classic neighborhood dispute" involving a convicted child sex offender from escalating into something larger.

The sex offender, Herman C. Funk, lives near a school bus stop in the 100 block of South Fifth Street.

Joseph Lers lives two doors down and said he's concerned when he sees Funk step onto his front porch and glare at children when they get off the school bus and walk in front of Funk's house.

Funk claims Lers is targeting him unnecessarily, and he filed a complaint with Delavan police.

Hansen says he's trying to keep the peace over what started with a veterinarian's $50 bill for euthanizing a cat. That's about the only thing most parties agree on.

"Herman took the cat to the vet and had the bill sent to my neighbors," Lers said. "I told him that was a rotten thing to do. That's why he's saying I harassed him, and that's why he filed a complaint."

Springfield man, detained; by neighbors, arrested on child-enticement charges as he is released from hospital

5-27-2009 Massachusetts:

SPRINGFIELD - Was it street justice that led to 61-year-old Randolph Barden's beating by neighbors earlier this month?

Or, was it some kind of vendetta on the part of the girls who accused him of attempting to lure them into his car with candy?

Barden's lawyer and a Hampden County assistant district attorney laid out their opposing views of Barden's beating in the McKnight neighborhood during his arraignment on child enticement charges Wednesday morning in Springfield District Court.

The beating that sent Barden to Baystate Medical Center for the better part of a week, occurred Friday night, according Sgt. John M. Delaney.

Officers Anthony Sowers and Craig Davis, dispatched to the area of Bay and Marion streets shortly after 9:30 p.m., discovered Barden laying on the ground suffering from injuries "and the whole neighborhood gathered around," Delaney said.

Rapist Fights Eviction in Costa Mesa

1-8-1999 California:

Courts: Landlord acted after fliers from police and complaints by tenants. The case tests the limits of Megan's Law, which allows for notifying neighbors of a 'high-risk' sex offender's presence.

A convicted rapist who faces eviction from his Costa Mesa apartment complex after police distributed fliers warning neighbors of his presence is fighting to keep his home in a case that tests the limits of Megan's Law.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey T. Glass is considering the case, which marks a rare occasion in which a sex offender has fought to stay in his neighborhood despite the uproar.

Legal experts say it could trigger several rounds of legal battles as courts wrestle with trying to balance the constitutional rights of former convicts with the community's right to protect itself against potential harm.

Under Megan's Law, police agencies are permitted to inform citizens when a "high risk" sex offender is living near them. But it also sets limits on how the information is used and prohibits discrimination or harassment against the offender.

"This illustrates how Megan's Law, which allows only the dissemination of information, can be potentially used to attempt to remove a person from a neighborhood," said Robert Pugsley, a professor at the Southwestern University College of Law.

"Some court will have to reconcile the policy behind the law with the sometimes practical outcomes of the law, which can lead to harassment or the removal of a person from a living place," he added.

At the center of the case is Chris Decker, 44, who in September was ordered to move from the two-bedroom, West Wilson Street apartment he shares with a roommate. The notice came one day after Costa Mesa police distributed fliers in the area that identified him as a sex offender.

Decker's attorney, T. Matthew Phillips, argued in court this week that the threatened eviction constituted an unjustified, "vigilante" reprisal against a man who had paid his debt to society and wanted to live in peace.

Decker, who was convicted of the 1977 rape of a Garden Grove woman, was paying his $795 rent on time and lived without incident for seven months in the 24-unit apartment complex, Phillips said.

Decker's landlord, Robert Stellrecht Jr., said in court that he felt an obligation to protect his tenants, several of whom he said had expressed concern about Decker.

He said tenants, most of them female, had complained about unwanted sexual advances and uninvited touching from Decker. Phillips strongly denies the charges, calling them "phantom" complaints designed to help get his client evicted.

The landlord said no reason was needed to give Decker a 30-day notice because Decker had a month-to-month lease. But he did say the complaints and the Megan's Law fliers influenced his decision. ..Source.. by RICHARD MAROSI

Sex offender beaten while picking persimmon

11-4-2009 Florida:

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A sex offender's craving for persimmon was cut short by a punch to the ear from a neighbor who lived near the wild tree the convicted molester was perusing, deputies said.

The neighbor, Chad T. Bunfill, 38, was arrested Sunday on a charge of battery on a person 65 or older, a sheriff's report said. Bunfill got out of jail after posting $1,500 bail, court records show.

No one answered the phone at Bunfill's home this afternoon.

The man on the receiving end of Bunfill's clenched fist, ___, 68, recently had open heart surgery and walked in the mornings while it was cool, a sheriff's report said. ___ pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious assault on a child younger than 16 in 1999, and after less than three years in prison is still on seven years probation, court records show.

The wild persimmon tree was on the edge of a vacant lot across from ___'s home and not on Bunfill's property, deputies said.

According to the report, ___ was out on his walk at 7:43 a.m. Sunday when he stopped in front of the vacant lot near Bunfill's property, across from his Mills Drive residence. ___ was checking for ripe persimmons to pick eat. That's when he heard Bunfill behind him shouting and cursing at him, calling him a baby rapist and sex offender, the report said.

___ said a yelling Bunfill approached and punched ___ on the left side of the face and ear. ___ tried to get away from Bunfill, but the neighbor followed ___ and threatened to kill him, the report said.

Bunfill told deputies that this girlfriend was taking his 8-year-old twin girls to school at the same time that ___ stopped to check out the orange-colored fruits, the report said.

Bunfill's girlfriend, Darlyn Warner, told deputies ___ had his back to them and did not see or speak to them when she left with the children. Warner said she called Bunfill to alert him that ___ was near their home, the report said.

Deputies asked Bunfill if he hit ___ and Bunfill looked down and swallowed so hard that a "gulping" sound was heard. He answered "no," the report said. ..Source.. by PATRICIO G. BALONA, STAFF WRITER

---

Sex offender wanted a persimmon. He got punched

Ross Lane Johnson, 68, who lives just outside New Smyrna Beach is a convicted sex offender. He's also an early morning walker.

He was out walking recently and happened upon a persimmon tree on a vacant lot. He thought he'd pick some fruit when a neighbor started shouting at him. And, no, it wasn't about swiping fruit.

Chad T.Bunfill was cursing and calling him a baby rapist and sex offender, reports the Daytona Beach News Journal.

That's when Johnson said Bunfill punched him on the left side of the face and ear. Bunfill, 38, was arrested on a charge of battery on a person 65 or older. ..Source.. by Barbara Hijek

Man accused of beating neighbor (RSO) found guilty on all charges

10-9-2010 Maryland:

William Bryan Bolton Jr. was convicted of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and endangerment while intoxic

A Boonsboro man accused of beating his neighbor with a club in 2009 was found guilty on all charges Thursday at the end of a bench trial before Washington County Circuit Court Judge John H. McDowell.

William Bryan Bolton Jr., 50, of 8613 Sharpsburg Pike, was convicted of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and endangerment while intoxicated, according to court records. The first-degree assault conviction carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

McDowell ordered a presentence report prepared. Bolton could face up to 25 years in prison on the first-degree assault conviction.

Shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2009, Washington County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home of John Vincent Miller Sr. for a report of an assault.

“It was around Halloween time and he really looked like a scarecrow,” Deputy 1st Class Tom Routzahn testified about seeing Miller sitting on his porch. Miller was bleeding from a large cut over his eye and “his ear was about cut in half.”

Man Threatens to Kill Neighbor Who is on Sex Offender Registry, Police Say

6-13-2013 Missouri:

The neighbor told police Daven has harassed him and his family since discovering his sex crime against a child.

A St. Charles County man faces criminal charges after he threatened to shoot and kill a neighbor because he is on the sex offender registry.

Eugene L. Daven, 52, of the 400 block of Keeney Drive in St. Charles County near St. Peters, was charged Saturday with unlawful use of a weapon, harassment and third-degree assault.

A St. Charles County deputy said Daven was yelling and cursing at his neighbor Saturday and threatened his life.

“I’ll put a bullet in you. I’ve got a gun,” Daven said. He then went inside and came out with a gun and pointed it at his neighbor.

“I’m going to shoot you through the heart because you touch little kids,” Daven told his neighbor, according to a court document.

The neighbor told a St. Charles County Sheriff’s deputy that since Daven discovered his is a registered sex offender, he has been harassing him and his family and telling everyone that he is a child molester. The man had been convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old.

The deputy found two bb guns in Daven’s home, and one matched the description given by the neighbor.

As Daven was being booked, he told officers, “When I get out I’m going to kill that (expletive).

Daven posted a $15,000 bond and was released from jail Tuesday. He has been ordered to have no contact with the victim. ..Source.. by Joe Scott

Police: Hazelwood man attacked sex offender with hammer, claimed he was doing 'God's work'

8-11-2011 Missouri:

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. ..Source.. by Valerie Schremp Hahn

Woman charged after damaging security cams at sex offender's house

5-31-2011 Ohio:

HENRIETTA TOWNSHIP, OH (WOIO) - A Lorain County woman arrested after damaging security cameras at the home of a former registered sex offender.

Annette Osborn is charged with criminal damaging.

Lorain County Sheriff's Deputies tell 19 Action News she ripped the cords off the cameras at Henry Bennett's home on State Route 113.

Bennett is a convicted sex offender out of California who no longer has to register with the Sheriff's office.

Osborn was convinced his cameras pointed towards her house, which is behind Bennett's.

However, when deputies looked at Bennett's laptop, they determined that was not true and the cameras were only pointed towards his backyard. ..Source.. by 19 Action News

Woman shoots handyman making sexual advances, sheriff says

7-18-2011 North Carolina:

LINCOLNTON - A Lincolnton woman was arrested and a man was sent to the hospital following a shooting incident Friday night, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said.

The shooting happened at the woman’s home in the 1600 block of Cloudburst Circle north of Lincolnton around 9:18 p.m.

Detectives said the call came in to the Communications Center from a woman who stated she had just shot a man outside her home.

The suspect, Ida-Monetta Duckworth, 67, of Cloudburst Circle, told detectives that Paul Michael Tucker, 60, was at the woman’s home where he had been doing some handyman type work and made sexual advances toward her.

According to the sheriff's office, the two had an on-going relationship for several years.

Duckworth reportedly told Tucker to leave when the suspect felt threatened and fired shots from a 22 caliber pistol.

Tucker was hit by one round in the stomach, investigators say.

He was transported to CMC-Lincoln and then airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte with non-life threatening injuries.

Detectives said Tucker had been working most of the week with the suspect doing repair work to several rental residences she owns and had also been living in a vehicle that the suspect was buying and parked in a lot beside her house.

Tucker was also wanted by Lincoln County authorities for Failure to Notify Authorities about a Change of Address for a Registered Sex Offender. The warrant will be served when Tucker is released from the hospital, the sheriff's office said.

Ida-Monetta Duckworth was charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill and Inflicting Serious Injury. She was placed in the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center under a $150,000 secured bond. ..Source.. by Alison Hill, Community Web Producer

MA- Coakley wins injunction against neighbor from hell

4-3-2009 Massachusetts:

Last week Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced that her office had obtained a three-year injunction against Deborah May, a Norwood woman accused of terrorizing her gay former neighbor.

The injunction comes as part of a settlement with May, approved by Norfolk Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh. In January Coakley succeeded in obtaining a civil rights injunction against May (see "AG Coakley slaps civil rights injunction on homophobic neighbor from hell," Jan. 7).

"Hate-motivated conduct cannot be and is not tolerated in Massachusetts," wrote Coakley in a statement announcing the settlement. "Everyone in this state is entitled to reside in their home free of bias-motivated harassment and intimidation. Our office will continue to aggressively pursue cases where intolerance interferes with another person’s civil rights."

According to Coakley’s office May, who does not have a listed phone number and who Bay Windows was unable to reach for comment, engaged in harassment of her former neighbor for several months, beginning in November 2007. Coakley’s office alleges that May, who at the time lived in the same apartment complex as the victim, began spreading rumors that he was a pedophile and sexual predator.

Six months later she complained to the landlord about the victim’s Pride flag hanging outside his window, prompting the landlord to ask him to remove it. On several occasions May allegedly shouted anti-gay epithets at him within the presence of fellow tenants, and on one occasion she physically confronted him in his yard. Last August she filed a baseless complaint against him to Norwood police, claiming that he tried to expose himself to her.

Under the terms of the settlement May is prohibited from threatening or harassing anyone in the state based on his or her actual or perceived sexual orientation. She must also refrain from contacting her former neighbor and his family, and she must stay 500 feet away from him and his residence and 500 yards away from his place of employment. Should she violate the terms she could face a fine of up to $5000 and a two-and-a-half year jail sentence; if she causes bodily injury while violating the agreement the penalty could be as high as a $10,000 fine and a 10-year sentence. ..News Source.. by Ethan Jacobs

NE- Registered Sex Offender Assaulted

4-23-2009 Nebraska:

Lincoln police say a Level 3 registered sex offender was assaulted after neighbors found out he was living in the area.

Police Chief Tom Casady said this is the first case of an offender being assaulted in Lincoln he can ever remember.

Officer Katie Flood said the incident happened Tuesday just before 9:00 pm in the 3100 block of Dudley.

Flood said Steven Ouillette and Benjamin Huber found out William Messer, a Level 3 registered sex offender, was living in their neighborhood.

Flood said Ouillette and Huber were angry with the situation and according to court documents the two men stood across the street for 1 to 2 hours yelling at him, calling him a child molester.

Court documents state Huber and Ouillette then crossed the street and tried to pick a fight with Messer. Flood said Ouillette even said he was going to kill him and to stay away from his kids.

Flood said Ouillette then picked up a shovel and came at Messer, who picked up a fire poker from his grill to defend himself.

Flood said Messer hit Ouillette on the arm and Ouillette swung the shovel several times at Messer.

Flood said witnesses called police and officers arrived before anyone was seriously hurt.

Ouillette was arrested and was charged Wednesday with assault, disturbing the peace and trespassing. He entered a plea of not guilty and has a trial date set for May 26.

Huber was taken to detox and cited for disturbing the peace and trespassing.

Flood said she hopes the fact that people were taken into custody will help diffuse the situation and deter other people from making similar attacks.

Chief Casady said there have been other incidents were registered sex offenders were harassed, but this is the first time to his knowledge that someone attacked an offender. ..Source.. by Reporter: KOLNKGIN

FL- Man's sex offender info posted by neighbor

If lawmakers don't pass a law prohibiting secondary dissemination situations like this will lead to someone getting killed. Further, in Florida only the police are permitted to post information or pass out flyers about sex offenders. Of course, getting the police to act -in favor- of a registered sex offender -in Florida- is an absolute impossibility, even if it is law!

5-8-2008 Florida:

HOLT — Tensions have been high on Sundance Way after one neighbor posted a flyer of another, identifying him as a sexual offender.

A deputy on Saturday responded as tempers flared, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

A man said he was at home watching a movie when his friends told him his across-the-street neighbors had posted a sign on their privacy fence.

The sign was an 8 1/2-by-11-inch piece of paper with the man's sexual offender information from the Department of Corrections Web site, a deputy said.

The man claimed the sign was part of an ongoing feud and that "obscenities are regularly exchanged by the two feuding sides," the deputy reported.

Across the street, the neighbors involved refused to speak to the deputy and requested a supervisor. When a sergeant arrived, a woman affirmed printing out her neighbor's sexual offender information and posting it on her fence. She said the man's wife came near it, so she told her not to come on the property to touch the sign or else risk arrest. She said the man then arrived and told her "I don't give a [expletive]," tore down the sign and left.

CT- Sex Offender Sues Neighbors, Claims Harassment

4-25-2008 Connecticut:

BOLTON — - Michael Grimaldi cannot escape his past, but he can get out of Bolton.

That's what his neighbors Lori and Thomas Paggioli have been working toward, Grimaldi claims in a federal suit he and his family filed this week. And the town of Bolton has played a role, too, the Grimaldis and their lawyer say.

Grimaldi, 49, is on the state's sex offender registry for a sexual encounter with a baby sitter in 1995, but he and his family put the matter behind them, moving to Bolton to build what they thought would be their final home and base for their flooring business.

But for the last four years, the suit claims, their neighbors — one of whom works in town hall — have waged a campaign of harassment, including, they say, cutting down their maple tree and dumping truckloads of chicken manure near their home, creating a black fly infestation last summer.

Lori Paggioli, 44, faces a breach of peace charge in Superior Court in Rockville for saying to Michael Grimaldi during a boundary dispute last March, "If you so much as look at my kids, I will kill you," witness affidavits say. The court has twice denied her bid for accelerated rehabilitation.

In the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New Haven, the Grimaldis accuse the Paggiolis of "extreme and outrageous" conduct that has deprived them of protections under the Constitution and federal and state laws. The suit also names the town of Bolton for subjecting them to "a different standard of enforcement of municipal regulations than that imposed upon any other town residents."

Hell to Pay

Russell Charles Markvardsen was ultimately murdered in his cabin along with a friend. (Posted in Related Deaths)

7-19-1997 California:

New law lets police divulge information about sex offenders, but is it flawed?

FURIOUS AND FRIGHTENED Santa Rosa neighbors got their wish. Convicted child molester Russell Charles Markvardsen, target of protests after Sonoma County sheriff's officials released his name, address, photograph, and criminal history on a landmark flier, is now behind bars in San Quentin.

His is the first arrest since the July 1 public release of the so-called Megan's Law CD-ROM computer system, which lists the criminal records of 64,000 sex offenders statewide. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department became the first in the state to distribute "community alert" fliers about four high-risk registered sex offenders living in the county.

This move, later mirrored in several communities, and the CD-ROM--which local and state officials now acknowledge is riddled with errors--is drawing criticism from civil libertarians who see Megan's Law as a flawed and potentially dangerous crime-fighting tool. "The law is irrational," says Kelli Evans, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. "On the one hand, we want offenders to reform, but on the other, we make it impossible for them to live in a community and hold down a job.



"So people are going underground and moving from town to town, which also disrupts any treatment plan they may be undergoing."

Last Wednesday morning, just hours before his arrest, Russell Markvardsen sat in his heavily curtained Beachwood Drive living room in the Roseland section of Santa Rosa, a seascape painting over the sofa and a pile of National Geographics under the coffee table. He spoke about the impact of the public disclosure. He denied having had contact with neighbors or making threatening phone calls as alleged by one neighbor.

Family Puts Up Sex Offender Warning Sign

10-17-2007 Indiana:

Family Says Sex Offender To Move In Next Door

VERSAILLES, Ind. -- An Indiana family who said a sex offender plans to move in next door is taking matters into its own hands, and their neighbors said their new efforts are raising a few eyebrows.

The Ratliff family and neighbors received a notice from the city stating that Everett Scholl would be moving in, but the Ratliffs put up a sign just in case anyone didn't get the message, WLWT-TV in Cincinnati reported.

They put up an 8-foot by 6-foot sign at the edge of their property so everyone would know exactly what Scholl looks like and what he's done.


"I don't want him to move in because I'm, like, scared," said Erika Ratliff, 14.

Erika's mother, Faith Ratliff, 44, confirmed Scholl's incest and rape convictions on the Internet and included them on the sign.

"It's just kind of scary that he did it to his kids and he might do it again," said Alexis Ratliff, 13.

Authorities said the Ratliffs' sign is legal as long as it is accurate. The Ratliffs said they just hope the sign can keep their family and others safe.

MAYBE THE AUTHORITIES OUGHT TO READ WHAT
IS POSTED ON THE STATE'S REGISTRY:

Information contained on this site provides no representation as to any offender’s likelihood of re-offending or the nature of any future crimes that may be committed.

Information in this registry may not be used to harass or threaten offenders or their families. Harassment, stalking, or threats may violate Indiana law.

____ I verify that I have read the information on the purpose, limitations, and proper use if this registry as explained above.

Faith Ratliff said she wanted to address those who think she took her message too far.

"Put yourself in my situation -- would you want this to happen, would you want someone that did what he did to live 100 feet from your daughter's bedroom window and let him think, 'you know what, they don't know what I did'?" she said.

She said she wishes Indiana had a better notification system to tell residents when a sex offender purchases property or moves to a new location.

In Ohio, there is a system that sends postcards, and in Kentucky, you can register your ZIP code to be notified by phone when an offender moves nearby. ..more.. by NBC6.net

Convicted Sex Offender Causes Concern In Coopertown

9-4-2007 Tennessee:

Some members of the Coopertown community in Robertson County are making it their personal crusade to warn people about a convicted sex offender in their neighborhood.

The convicted sex offender, Charles Cornelius Sloan, is living across the street from the Coopertown Middle School and next to a daycare and there is nothing authorities can do about it.

Sloan, who was convicted of convicted of aggravated sexual battery in January 1997, was living in his home at 3839 Highway 47 West before Tennessee law required convicted sex offenders to live at least 1,000 feet away from schools and daycares.

Neighbor Judy Ellis is making awareness her mission.

She said, “I don't think he deserves any protection. I don't think he needs to hide in that pretty little house of his and not have his own sign in the front yard."

Ellis said if she had it her way, it would be very clear where convicted sex offenders live within the area.

“There should be a sign in their yard until he drops dead,” she told News 2.