The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Lebanon official concerned funds being used to house sex offenders

Councilman’s main concern lies with the residential neighborhood of Walnut Street.

Matt Rodriguez is concerned taxpayer money is being used house sex offenders.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 10:53 AM Monday, April 11, 2011

LEBANON — A Lebanon councilman said he is concerned taxpayer dollars are being used to house convicted sex offenders who are also classified as having mental illnesses.

Councilman Matt Rodriguez said he is disgusted that the Mental Health Recovery Services of Warren and Clinton Counties and organizations it contracts with are using taxpayer dollars to pay for the housing of sexual offenders in residential neighborhoods in Lebanon.

Rodriguez’s chief concerns lies with a home in the residential neighborhood of Walnut Street. Rodriguez has receipts of payment that shows the housing for one resident who is also listed on the Warren County Sheriff’s list of convicted sex offenders was being paid for by MHRS through an intermediary.

The Warren County website shows that two convicted sex offenders currently occupy the four-unit residence, although neither of those residents has been accused of any wrongdoing since moving into the building.

A third man, Richard Stout, who lives in the home, is not a convicted sex offender but has been arrested on multiple occasions for exposing himself in public and was indicted on such charges in March by a Warren County grand jury.

“I’m calling out sexual predators and the professionals who are housing them,” Rodriguez said.

“I think we need to review these programs and if by law they have to house people [who are] convicted as sex offenders, they should be put in some sort of rural housing where they can be monitored away from the general population.”

Earlier this year, Rodriguez attempted to push through stricter restrictions on where convicted sex offenders could live within the city. The measure failed after other members of council became concerned such a law would open the city up to civil rights lawsuits.

Lebanon is currently developing an anti-loitering restriction that would punish convicted sex offenders caught being around areas where children congregate without a valid reason.

According to the Warren County Sheriff’s webpage, there are 204 registered sex offenders living in the county. Of that number, about 40 live in Lebanon.

Sex offenders are a concern to many people because studies, including one conducted by the Justice Department in 2003, report that sex offenders released from prison were four times more likely than other ex-convicts to be rearrested for a sex crime within 10 years, although sex offenders were less likely than other ex-convicts to be rearrested for any crime.

Brent Lawyer, the executive director for the MHRS, said he is not allowed to comment on specific cases or even confirm or deny who is being treated or housed by MHRS and its affiliated organizations. MHRS does not handle any direct counseling or treatment of clients but contracts the work to a number of organizations.

In general terms, however, Lawyer said that MHRS has the proper supports put in place to address anyone in their care.

“People that Mr. Rodriguez is concerned about wouldn’t be in the system if they didn’t warrant and need services. If we aren’t helping them, where are they going to go?” Lawyer said. “They will still live in their communities because these communities are their home.”

Lawyer cautioned against making overly broad generalizations about the people assisted by MHRS, which covers the gamut of mental illnesses.

MHRS assisted 6,500 clients in 2010, Lawyer said. Of that number, only 200 received housing from the board and its contracted outlets.

The in-house care patients are divided into three categories — those who live independently, those who receive part-time support and those who require full-time monitoring. Lawyer said there are 29 people who require full-time monitoring.

“There is a real danger in tying to lump everybody into one category,” he said.

MHRS is funded mainly by tax dollars, with the majority coming from a local county levy and other dollars coming from state funding, Lawyer said.

Rodriguez, whose Lebanon council seat will be up for election in November, said his push is not politically motivated but comes out of concern for the safety of his community.

Share this article