EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Local police will warn neighbors when sex offenders move to adjacent addresses as part of the town’s response to a resident’s complaint about an offender moving into her neighborhood, officials said Tuesday.
The Board of Selectmen agreed during a meeting Monday to have police issue warnings at every home abutting a sex offender’s address. Board members opted not to pursue a sex offender ordinance. No votes were taken.
The town website, eastmillinocket.org, also will carry a link to the Maine Sex Offender Registry, which allows users to receive notifications about sex offender activity as far as 30 miles from their ZIP code areas. The link will be placed in a discreet location on the town’s website so as not to leave visitors with an alarming impression of the town, board Chairman Mark Scally said.
An ordinance would be impractical and possibly illegal in East Millinocket, Scally said.
Most municipal sex offender ordinances ban sex offenders from moving to within 750 feet of a publicly owned property frequented by children. State law prohibits ordinances that bar offenders from exceeding the 750-foot boundary.
East Millinocket is slightly smaller than 8 square miles. It has three schools, a town office, public safety building, library and several public parks where children can congregate.
“The advice we’ve gotten is that an ordinance is ineffective. In such a small town as ours, there are very few places where they [sex offenders] could stay,” Scally said Tuesday.
Police Chief Cameron McDunnah did not return a telephone message Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Maine Sex Offender Registry listed one offender living in East Millinocket. According to the list, Eric English, 42, was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor and gross sexual assault in Maine and four counts each of rape and incest out of state.
Selectmen have described English as a former Massachusetts resident who moved to town after someone else bought the house he lives in. English had been in East Millinocket for a few weeks before town police were alerted. When he received the alert, McDunnah immediately notified a local newspaper, which printed a brief article about English that week.
The resident who appeared before selectmen Feb. 9 said the article wouldn’t reach enough people. The woman said McDunnah should have done more. Selectmen said McDunnah isn’t required to take any actions to notify residents and handled the issue appropriately.
Scally said during the meeting Monday that, including English and as far back as he could recall, only two convicted sex offenders have lived in East Millinocket.
As of Tuesday, 51 sex offenders lived within 30 miles of East Millinocket including English, according to the registry. The state registry lists individuals required by law to register as either a 10-year or a lifetime registrant. The state site can send notices electronically to “all the appropriate agencies where an individual lives, works, or goes to school.” All new additions, changes and list removals are downloaded nightly to the site to help ensure the list is timely, it states.
Selectmen will reconsider pursuing a sex offender ordinance if residents seek one, Scally said.