PARIS — A registered sex offender admitted Tuesday to violating his probation by volunteering on a school-sponsored bus trip in September.
Rodney A. Heath, 38, of 970 Gore Road in Otisfield, who also goes by the name of Rodney Shackley, was charged with prohibited contact with a minor after attending a field trip organized by the Oxford Hills Technical School in Paris.
A hearing on whether his probation will be revoked was continued to Dec. 14 in Oxford County Superior Court.
The director of Oxford Hills Technical School, Shawn Lambert, said the field trip was a weekend volunteer event, and students were invited to bring family members. Heath was a relative of one of the students and helped students in a cleanup project in Fryeburg. Lambert said the school does background checks for volunteers on official school trips.
Student journalists interviewed Heath and took his picture for a story published in the Advertiser-Democrat, although Heath declined to give the reporter his last name. According to the Advertiser-Democrat, Heath’s parole officer, Wayne Sturdivant, recognized him in the photos.
Heath, a tattoo artist, was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct, aggravated criminal trespass and domestic assault in 2007 and sentenced to eight years, with all but five suspended, and three years of probation.
In 2008, while serving time at the Maine State Prison, Heath pleaded no contest to a charge of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He was sentenced to one year, to be served concurrently with his previous sentence. He is a lifetime registrant on the state sex offender registry.
treaves@sunjournal.com
Easy, he broke his probation.Lock him up! Also BDN the state of Maine doesn’t have parole it’s called probation,just thought you would like to know for future reference.
Violated probation : YES.
Lock him up : NO.
Aint gonna happen.
This is Maine , remember?
Actually Maine still has inmates on parole. Since they got rid of it the numbers on parole have gone down.
Let’s not be too hard of this man. He was obviously born this way and he shouldn’t be judged for acting out his desires no matter how objectionable they may be for some.
Perhaps pedophiles and other sexual perversion should be legalized….We all know that people who are born with deviant tendencies should not be stopped in their pursuit of happiness. That’s all this man has done. How about a YES on 1 for decriminalizing all sexual perversion ? Can I get an “Amen?”
I know you are being sarcastic, but do not equate homosexuality with pedophilia, please. I have no business judging what consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms, but children cannot consent. Child molesters are a danger to children. Gay people are not, because contrary to what the Catholic church would have you believe, most child molesters are actually straight but have a sexual preference for children.
P.S. Clearly you are upset that Question 1 passed. Sour grapes does not become you. “Don’t crow if you win, don’t cry if you lose” is what I was taught about good sportsmanship as a child. It is still good advice.
Lock him up and give him time to think about the consequences of ignoring his conditions of probation.