State Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, has put forth a bill – for the second year in a row – that would require managers of care facilities to notify residents and sponsors when a sexual offender is taken as a resident.
This was spurred by the 2005 rape of an 18-year-old Fairfield woman at a home for the developmentally disabled by Rickey Smith, a registered sex offender also living at the home in Fairfield.
“These citizens are the elderly, the mentally and physically disabled, and those who could not otherwise take care of themselves,” Combs said. “In the state of Ohio these citizens could be housed with sexual offenders just released from prison and they would never know it – leaving them exposed to unspeakable dangers.”
Combs said his bill and 20 others have languished while House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, has dragged his feet for six months on appointing a new chair to the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.
The previous chairman resigned to become a Cleveland city councilman.
“The result of this committee’s inaction is putting our most vulnerable citizens at risk,” Combs said in a letter to Budish Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Budish could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
Combs’ bill last year was unanimously passed by the House but never had a hearing in the Senate. This year, state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Youngstown, has introduced a similar bill. Gov. Ted Strickland and state Attorney General Richard Cordray have both said they would support such a bill.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.
About the Author
