Loophole lets sex offenders live near victims
Practice currently legal in all but five U.S. states
EDMOND, Okla. — A convicted sex offender who molested his niece when she was 7 years old moved in next door to his victim nearly a dozen years after he was sent to prison.
Outraged, the Oklahoma woman, now 21, called lawmakers, the police and advocacy groups to plead with them to take action. Danyelle Dyer soon discovered that what Harold Dwayne English did in June is perfectly legal in the state — as well as in 44 others that don’t specifically bar sex offenders from living near their victims, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“I always felt safe in my home, but it made me feel like I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t have my safe space anymore,” Dyer told The Associated Press, which typically doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault but is doing so because she agreed to allow her name to be used in hopes of drawing attention to the issue. “Him moving in brought back a lot of those feelings.”
Advocacy groups say the Oklahoma case appears to be among the first in the U.S. where a sex offender has exploited the loophole, which helps explain why dozens of other states have unknowingly allowed it to exist.
“This is something that I would dare say was never envisioned would happen,” said Richard Barajas, a retired Texas judge and executive director of the nonprofit National Organization for Victim Assistance. “In all the years that I’ve been involved with the criminal justice system, I’ve never seen a case like this.”
Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee and West Virginia have laws dictating how far away sex offenders must stay from their victims — 1,000 feet in Tennessee, for example, and 2,000 feet in Arkansas. Other states haven’t addressed the issue, though like Oklahoma they have laws prohibiting sex offenders from living within a certain distance of a church, school, day care, park or other facility where children are present.
“You assume it can’t happen and then realize there is no provision preventing it from happening,” said one Oklahoma prosecutor, Rogers County District Attorney Matt Ballard, whose agency is responsible for keeping tabs on sex offenders in his area. “To have even the possibility of an offender living next to the victim is extremely troubling.”
Oklahoma lawmakers have drafted legislation to close the loophole, using Dyer as their champion.
“Of the 70,000 square miles in Oklahoma, this individual happened to choose a place next door to the victim,” said state Rep. Kyle Hilbert, who represents Dyer’s mostly rural district and is sponsoring the legislation.
Dyer was able to go to court in July and get a restraining order, but only after English had already been living next door. That order gave him until Aug. 1 to leave, and Dyer believes he is now in a Tulsa suburb.