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East
Gardena Neighborhood Wants Sex Offenders Out
Officials say
residential care facility is in full compliance with state law
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
GARDENA – Residents
in an East Gardena neighborhood are taking matters into their own hands
after the state said it does not plan to take action regarding a group
of sex offenders residing in a single-family home there.
Up until last week, six paroled sex offenders were confirmed by the
Sheriff’s Department to be living under the same roof at 15517
Sandel Ave. in the unincorporated county area sandwiched between Gardena
and Compton.
Four still remain after two were forced to leave early last week when
the county enforced an ordinance preventing more than four adults from
living in a single-family household, said Renita R. Bowlin of Supervisor
Yvonne B. Burke’s office.
Attention at the county level was drawn to the situation after roughly
60 concerned members of the community Saturday, April 26 staged a protest
outside the residence demanding it be shut down.
State officials said they consider the location a residential care
facility, and therefore it is in full compliance with the law.
California law allows up to six registered sex offenders to live in
the same residential care facility unless legally related by blood,
marriage or adoption. It allows only one to live in a single-family
home. Offenders must not live within 2,000 feet of a school or park.
Neighbors argue that it is not a facility, but a single-family home
in a neighborhood full of children and seniors, and they want the sex
offenders out.
Many of them gathered at Beulah Land Baptist Church on 154th Street
last Tuesday in hopes of obtaining answers from authorities.
Unfortunately for many, they did not receive the answers they were
hoping for.
Although their three children are grown, Phyllis and Mallory Funches,
who live next door, are both highly concerned. They’ve lived
in the neighborhood since 1965.
“We’re a neighborhood, you know, with families all along
the street. These people are transients. They’ve got new people
moving in every week,” said Phyllis. “We’re close
on our street. We all know each other. We talk to each other. They
aren’t part
of our community, and they are not going to be integrated into our
community.”
Sharon Cruse, president of the East Gardena Neighborhood Watch, said
no one from the state ever notified the neighborhood that sex offenders
were moving in.
“I understand that people need someplace to stay, I know that.
But the thing is this, there was no proper notification,” she
said.
State officials said that for certain low-level offenders, neighborhood
notification is not required.
So Cruse has taken it upon herself to identify the men she sees entering
and leaving the home three houses down from hers through the Megan’s
Law Website. She then emails their photos to neighbors to keep them
informed. She also keeps track of their comings and goings and reports
inconsistencies to the parole officer.
Last Wednesday afternoon, she was busy at home printing up color photos
of three of the men she’s been able to identify to distribute
to neighbors.
In her opinion, the state is dropping the ball and targeting her neighborhood
by “dumping” the offenders there.
“This is why we need to take it to the streets,” she said
during the meeting. “The state ain’t gonna do a damn thing
about this.”
She was also last Wednesday finishing up an angry e-mail to the governor
and state officials.
The offenders’ state parole officer and a supervisor showed up
early to last Tuesday’s meeting and told Cruse they would not
speak to or field questions from residents because a public information
officer was not present.
Cruse said that is “totally unacceptable,” especially when
her tax dollars are being used to house the men there.
“So I said, ‘Why are you talking to me then? You can’t
talk to the community as a whole?’ They wanted to try and explain
codes. Well, I don’t want to hear about any codes, I just want
to know why are you dumping these people in my community?”
The previous owners had put the home up for sale last year, said Cruse.
Someone recently leased it out and turned it into a boarding facility.
The offenders began moving in at the end of February and the beginning
of March, she said.
The state is currently contracting with the individual leasing the
home to house the offenders as they transition back into society. Offenders
are monitored and must adhere to curfews and other restrictions as
terms of their parole.
But that, say some parents, simply isn’t enough.
“My children are no longer allowed to play outside,” said
LaVern White, who has two young daughters and lives directly across
the street
from the offenders’ residence on Sandel.
She’s especially concerned because one of the offenders is guilty
of performing lewd acts with a child under 14, according to the Megan’s
Law site.
“I am very disturbed. I’m outraged. I just moved into the
area and I’ve been here less than a year. When I moved there,
it seemed like a very safe environment. It felt very comfortable because
it was
a cul-de-sac. And now I have sex offenders living steps away from my
door?
“I feel like I don’t have a voice and my kids don’t
have a right,” said White. “They’re taking our safety
away.”
Asked if she believes the offenders have the right to live somewhere
as they try to reintegrate into society, White said not in her neighborhood.
“They don’t have the right to live steps away from my door.
They did a crime, and I didn’t, and my kids didn’t, and
we should have a right to be safe and feel safe in our community.”
Cruse said she’s worried that with the housing market as it is,
as homes are foreclosed upon and go up for sale, anyone can come in,
lease or purchase one and contract with the state to house multiple
sex offenders.
For now, the neighborhood has banded together and is planning to stage
additional protests in front of the home in addition to the home of
the individual who has leased the property and is contracting with
the state.
Cruse said she doesn’t know what else they can do.
“We’re trying to do it by the book, but the book is trying
to slap us down.”
Compton Station Capt. William Ryan said the department’s hands
are tied because no laws are being broken. The neighborhood is within
the station’s service area.
“On our end of it, we’re doing everything we can,” he
said. “Based
upon existing law, the registrants in that house are in compliance.”
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