Sex Offender Battle Heading to Court

1-15-2015 New York:

West Seneca, NY – New York State moved seven registered sex offenders into group homes in West Seneca last year without telling the community. Ever since that happened, neighbors have been trying to get them to leave.

The sex offenders moved into the two group homes on Leydecker Road without warning last January. It has already been more than a year, and neighbors are still trying to find out how and why the state chose those houses on their road.

A group of concerned families meets regularly at the VFW on Leydecker Road. Wednesday night, they got an update from Assemblyman Mickey Kearns. Kearns told them a court date is tentatively set for next Friday in Albany for the judge to hear oral arguments.

When a Freedom of Information request revealed limited information, Kearns filed what's called an Article 78. It is designed to appeal the state's decision to release very little about the sex offenders in West Seneca.

"They're creating a policy, an insular policy, without informing us and informing the public. The public is scared. They don't like the decision that they made, and when I as an Assemblyperson, as an elected official, has to sue the state to get answers, that's wrong," says Kearns.

Neighbors vow to stay involved in the process, but many are not sure whether they will be able to take the day off to travel to Albany for the court date. Kearns will be there though.

"We don't want his to happen in any neighborhood. It's going on throughout all New York State. And, if we don't have a policy that takes care of all three groups of people, we're going to have a lot of problems not only in West Seneca or on Leydecker Road, but everywhere," says neighbor Lina Damore.

The three groups of people Damore is referring to are neighbors, the registered sex offenders, and the people who lived in the group homes before the sex offenders moved in. Neighbors are also worried about whether those individuals are still getting the care they need.

Kearns thinks the judge will make a quick decision about whether the state has to release more information. He is also calling on legislators to come up with new laws to protect communities this year.

"That's our job as legislators, to come up with a policy to make sure that where ever they are, they have to live somewhere, that it's not in a neighborhood, and it's in a safe place," Kearns said Wednesday.

In October, a judge granted the state's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the department in charge of group homes, a change of venue in the legal battle to reveal the state's policy on housing and moving sex offenders. Instead of being heard in Erie County, the Article 78 case will be heard in Albany. ..Source.. by Kelly Dudzik, WGRZ