A Disturbing Sign
By Jane | April 29th, 2009 | Category: Crime Beat | 4 commentsThis morning as I drove by Baxter Village I noticed two handmade signs at the Market Street entrance. They pronounced a man’s name, his address, and the fact that he pled guilty to child molestation. I was surprised by the sign for a number of reasons.
First, I wondered about the legality of putting up a handmade sign like that, on public land, that espoused a man’s name and address as well as the accusation of a sexual offense.
Second, I wondered whether York County had a policy in place wherein if a sexual offender moved into the neighborhood, would the neighbors be informed.
I made a couple calls to the York County Sheriff’s office and spoke to a couple of people over there. I was told that while putting up signs like that is not illegal per se, if the person putting up the sign is caught they can be charged with littering. The detective I spoke with also recommended that if a known sex offender moves onto your block, to let you neighbors know on a one-on-one basis rather that posting a sign.
As to the second question, York County will not notify you if an offender moves onto your block, however, they do have a website set up through CrimeStoppers which allows you to put in your address and email contact information. You will then receive email notices whenever an offender moves to within a mile of your address.
As for the gentleman who was listed on the signs I saw at Baxter (which were removed sometime between 7:30 a.m. when I drove by and 9:30 a.m. when I drove by again), the detective informed me that the man pled guilty to a lesser charge yesterday, and so he will not be on the state’s sexual offender list. So in that regard I can see why someone would want to post signs. But on the flip side – there are better ways of making sure people know, such as the one-on-one that the detective recommended.
Update at 3:00 p.m.: The Herald just posted a brief bit about it.
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I don’t find the sign disturbing at all. What I do find disturbing is what this sex offender did to a child. I also find it disturbing that this sex offender lives less than a mile from an elementary school. And I also find it disturbing that this sex offender will not spend a single day in jail.
The judge who tried this case gave the sex offender a six year sentence suspended on a year of probation (a slap on the hand). I might also mention that the judge ordered that Childers MUST be on the child abuse registry (which contradicts what you were told by the detective???)
Now about a person’s name and address being on a sign – this is all public information. For starters his full name will be in the newspaper. Add to the fact that York County has GIS online where you can input a persons name (and/or) address and find out much more personal (or public) information. Or you can even go onto the York County Court system online and find out much more fun stuff about your friends and neighbors if you so desire.
I would like to thank you ScoopMill for posting the link to the sex offender registry and hope that people will check it often.
And to whoever made the sign – MORE POWER TO YOU!!
OMG I just realized after I typed the response above that the detective is correct, this person WILL NOT be on the sex registry list but on a Child Abuse Registry!!!
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
ToadYa, I agree that it’s a travesty that this person lives so close to a school, and that the sentence was reduced to a point where he won’t even appear on any sex offender list. In this case, it was a 62 year old man that molested a young teen – in my mind that deserves harsh punishment (unlike, say, the 22 year old that dates a 16 year old with parental permission and then gets arrested for statutory after they break up). DSS keeps their records private, so no one can even search DSS records to find out about any convicted offenders.
Also let me add – also plastered all over the neighborhood were smaller pieces of paper that listed a woman’s name – same last name as the man convicted yesterday. The picture is obviously a mugshot, so I wonder if she has a direct connection to the case from yesterday?
It’s a shame we have to rely on gossip to discover that a child predator lives nearby. I applaud the sign. It was a flyer in my mailbox that alerted us in Tega Cay about a sex offender from Lancaster in the area soliciting work as a “pooper scooper service”. To the credit of the author of the flyer, all the info was referenced for fact-checking on the sexoffender registry.