‘A problem with the system’
Victims outraged homeless Chapman won’t list current address
Serial child rapist Wayne Chapman is homeless and staying at a “medical facility,” his lawyer said Tuesday, but he would not release its address, a refusal that outraged two of his victims.
“What’s the purpose of the Sex Offender Registry Board if he doesn’t have to give his address?” said one of the men, who said he was 11 years old when Chapman raped him in 1975. “It seems like there’s a problem with the system … I’m a grown man now and can take care of myself. The fear I have is the potential for him to hurt another child.”
At a press conference Tuesday, attorney Eric Tennen said the 71-year-old Parkinson’s disease patient has been living at a Boston medical facility since he was released last Friday after being acquitted of two lewdness charges in Middlesex Superior Court.
As a Level 3 sex offender — the level deemed most likely to reoffend — Chapman has registered with the Sex Offender Registry Board, Tennen said, but he did not include an address because he has no permanent place to live.
When asked why the registry not only says Chapman is homeless but also “on the street,” Tennen said, “I don’t know who adds that identifier.”
Wendy Murphy, who represents some of Chapman’s victims, said she expects the SORB to challenge Tennen’s “absurd and frankly dumb” interpretation of the law.
“If you’re homeless but staying at a hospital, you reveal the address,” Murphy said. “A medical facility is not a park bench. If (Tennen) is right, a homeless person could stay with a friend indefinitely and never give an address.”
A SORB spokesman said sex offenders are not legally required to register a hospital address when receiving medical treatment.
City Councilor At-Large Michael Flaherty said he has “serious public safety concerns” about Chapman’s whereabouts being unverified.
“There’s basically a loophole that needs to be addressed immediately,” Flaherty said.
Daniel Christian, who said he was 7 when he was raped by Chapman, said it’s incomprehensible that authorities could release him without having an address for him.
“People should know where he’s at,” said Christian, 52, of Rhode Island. “They’re letting him out of jail, and they don’t know where he’s going to be because he says he’s homeless.”
Chapman had been civilly committed since the state deemed him too dangerous to release after his prison sentence for raping two boys in Lawrence expired in 2004.
But two independent experts interviewed Chapman last year and said he no longer posed a danger, and the state’s highest court ruled in May that the state could not hold him indefinitely. He remained behind bars after he was accused of exposing himself and lewd behavior, but he was freed Friday and dropped out of sight after a jury acquitted him.