Officials Outraged After Sex Offender Moves Next to Rolling Hills School

Elected officials and members of the community are calling on state lawmakers to bring back county sex offender restrictions after a level three sex offender moved just three doors down from Rolling Hills Primary School in the Commack School District, Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern announced Thursday.

This sex offender, who spent three years in a Wyoming prison for a child pornography conviction, is allowed to live where he chooses after the state’s highest court, the New York State Court of Appeals, ended all residency restrictions that were previously put in place by Suffolk County earlier this year, including limitations on where sex offenders can live.

New York State laws may restrict offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or other child care facilities if the offender is under parole or probation supervision.

Suffolk County passed an additional law in 2006 that extended the residency restriction for all offenders to a quarter mile, New York Times reports.

Many sex offenders in Suffolk were having trouble finding housing due to the strict restrictions, according to the Times.

The end of these county residency restrictions also means registration requirements for Level 1 sex offenders will expire in 2016 and thousands of offenders will drop off the radar, Stern said.

“This would not have happened had the numerous protections that the Suffolk County Legislature put in place remained in place,” he said.

“Our laws must afford communities and victims of sex crimes protections from those we know pose a risk to their safety,” Laura Ahearn, Executive Director of Parents for Megan’s Law said.

Stern, Ahearn, Assemblyman Andrew Rai, Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, county legislators, state lawmakers and community residents have called on state lawmakers to immediately return to Albany to address this issue and bring back the laws that restrict sex offenders.

“Let us protect our kids,” Gregory said.

Image via Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern