Child Molesters in My Neighborhood: When a Typo Endangers Innocent Lives

Several years ago I lived on the same street as two child molesters. In legalese, sad to say, one pedophile and one convicted sexual offender occupied our block. Both were surprise revelations, including that of a longtime neighbor.

By then my step-daughter was a preteen, and over many years had interacted with the well-disguised beast. However, it was a pedophile victim's loved one that ultimately endangered all of our lives.

First Child Molester Discovered, The Holidays

Today I was reminded of these creatures while on an unplanned walk. An area where safe and unsafe can be counted in footsteps. Such is the domain of child molesters.

Why I entertained thoughts of these child molesters years later is irrelevant, with the exception of timing.

Surprisingly or not, the neighboring child molester, maintained one of the most well decorated Christmas lawns in middle-class existence. In fact, all of the major holidays had the house dressed to the hilt.

A fantastic and fantastical presentation some would pay to see, if offered, to get a closer look. His intention? I know not. Though I also consider his wife's in-denial effort at some sense of normalcy. Holidays are meant to be joyous, but evil doesn't take a break. Dwelling on this fact does little good, but cognizance can save lives.

Ultimately, the pedophile and his wife were compelled to move following discovery of the middle-aged man's interest in the local elementary school. His children were grown.

The For Sale sign came none to soon, but on its tail another molester was revealed.

How Not to Expose a Child Molester

One evening the father of one of our daughter's friends knocks on our door and claims he saw a sign identifying our address as the house of evil, one where an unpunished child molester lives. He seemed nearly as puzzled as we were, though comparatively less mortified.

We soon learn that a cardboard sign displayed our address in blood red, alpha-numeric lettering. The looming post was tacked to a utility poll flanking the main street to our housing division. More than a few neighbors would see it.

On closer inspection, which involved leaving our vehicle, we note that the last number was blurred by dripping spray paint. What was intended as a "3" appeared as an "8," and appeared as our home address. *

With solicited assistance, we isolated the extent of this makeshift public awareness campaign -- at least as it existed in our immediate vicinity. Subsequent cardboard posters announcing the child molester were found, each of varying legibility, and each sign exposing an address.

Within minutes, and considering the first child molester, it took little imagination to envision a brick hurtling through the living room window, or a riffle-touting father in wait on our doorstep.

Like most neighborhoods, this one wasn't full of vigilantes, but where child molestation is involved convention is shaken.

Days passed and we remained unharmed, but those first few nights were absent any peaceful slumber. Many neighborhoods, notified of a child molester in their midst, would respond first and ask questions later.

Meanwhile we had obtained updated information on child molesters in the vicinity and learned this particular sex offender was a minor. Consequently, some public details, such as home address, were excluded. Likely the pedophile's anonymity further incensed the victims and this prompted a careless, albeit understandable, reaction.

While it's barely possible to remain calm and rational when a crime as terrible as child molestation occurs, it is imperative that public awareness efforts concerning child molesters be accurate and unmistakable.

A mere typo could seriously harm innocent lives.

What I Learned About Child Molesters

Stomach knots develop when I think of the inviting holiday house and the over-the-fence chats between my step-daughter and the neighboring pedophile. It happened that my daughter loved to talk and the neighbor loved gardening. We thought him a patient man, perhaps missing youthful days with his own children.

Additionally, she was in self-defense (a young brown belt) and knew stranger danger, but these lessons were of little help here.

Regardless, I typically interrupted them quite readily, though I wasn't sure exactly why. In hindsight, a barely decipherable uneasiness would occur when I was around him.

But like the minor-aged child molester, this wasn't a TV series perpetrator, with so-called child molester traits. I largely chalked the indescribable unease to general personality differences and my caution as a learned behavior.

Had we not acted as "over-protective parents," a devastating outcome may have occurred. Past this thought, on this road, my mind stops.

Protecting children against child molesters includes judgment calls, educated guesses, common sense and our sixth-sense. It is not a science and efforts may overreach into paranoia. It is also our duty to stay informed about local child molesters and to involve our communities -- but to do so in a manner that protects the innocent, the victims that evil targets in the first place.

*Though a true story, some minor details have been altered.

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