ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — Residents in St. Francis are raising concerns after police announced a registered sex offender now lives near two schools.
The sex offender, who has been on the registry since 1995, lives near St. Thomas More High School and Deer Creek Middle School, causing alarm among nearby residents.
"Yeah, we're very concerned," said Sophia, who lives nearby. "I was very alarmed by the proximity of the school and thought, like, isn't there a law against this, or an ordinance against living so close to a school where there are going to be high-traffic kids every day?"
According to the Wisconsin Legislative Council, state law only restricts where an offender on supervised release may live, leaving further restrictions up to individual municipalities.
Watch: Sex offender moves near two schools in St. Francis:
St. Francis's city code prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of restricted areas like schools. However, the ordinance includes exceptions that allow offenders to live with relatives if those relatives have resided in the home for more than two years.
South Milwaukee and the City of Milwaukee have similar exemptions for offenders living with relatives, while neighboring communities like Cudahy and Oak Creek do not offer such exceptions.
"That seems like a very arbitrary rule, and it should be changed, especially knowing that there are neighboring cities that don't have that exemption that you can live with relatives, regardless of how close they live to a school," Sophia said.
While Sophia understands that people on the registry may benefit from family support, she hopes for changes to the ordinance when offenders live in such close proximity to schools.
This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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