N.Y. teen sues molester who moved back next door

Advocates call for restriction

Victims advocates question whether restrictions could be placed on the county’s sex offenders to prevent a similar situation. It’s “completely outrageous” and “unacceptable” Caruso was permitted to move back next door, said Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law and the Crime Victims Center, a nonprofit based in Stony Brook dedicated to preventing child sex abuse.

She’s “very surprised” prosecutors didn’t object and suggested the county pass a residency restriction law prohibiting sex offenders from moving near victims. Suffolk County’s residency restriction law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within a quarter-mile of victims. She acknowledged Caruso would be likely grandfathered into any law. “At the very least, they could protect other victims in the future,” she said.

A residency restriction law previously passed by the Putnam County Legislature that barred offenders from living near places children frequent was struck down in 2010 after a judge found it unconstitutional.

Larry Neely, chair of the legal project at Reform Sex Offender Laws Inc., based in Cambridge, Mass., who has a felony sex offense conviction, but is not required to register in his home state of New Mexico, fears the Caruso case could result in more restrictions on New York sex offenders. It’s “unfortunate” a solution couldn’t be found other than Caruso living next door, he said.

“The state had an opportunity to be heard and the court is in the best position to balance the interests of the offender and the county and the victim,” he said. “I’m afraid there will be a proposal to put this into statute to prohibit a judge from doing this again.”

Article Appeared @http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/09/teen-sues-molester-next-door/5326449/

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