Highest-Level Sex Offender Living in Town Has Belmont Parents On Edge

The chorus of parents on the internet and along the sidewalks around Belmont schools have been growing louder since the first day of school last week. 

The subject is one that most parents had hoped living in a smaller, suburban town would be unnecessary to discuss. But that is no longer the case.

They are talking about a convicted sex offender living on Barnard Street in Belmont.

And not just about the 48-year-old man – who was living in Lexington until last month – who spent time incarcerated for raping a young girl 13 years ago, but how state law enforcement believes he is likely to commit the same crime again.

"This level 3 sex offender lives within a few blocks of 3 preschools. Isn't there a law against this? If not, shouldn't there be???" wrote one commenter to the Belmont Mom blog. 

Saying it is the first time in recent memory Belmont has a Level 3 sex offender living in town, Belmont Assistant Police Chief James MacIsaac said the department has distributed information on the man and where he works to personnel in all Belmont schools, preschools and public buildings where children may visit during the day.

"We have been actively put out this information to the people who need to know at those locations," said MacIsaac.

You can read about the man on the Belmont Police Department's website and on the Sex Offenders Registry Board's site. Belmont Patch is not printing his name as it could identify innocent residents and young adults living with him. 

According to the state's Sex Offender Registry Board, a Level 3 sex offender is someone the board has "determines that the risk of reoffense is high and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active dissemination." 

Belmont is also home to eight Level 2 sex offenders, those who have a "moderate" risk of reoffending. The public can obtain information on Level 2 offenders at Belmont Police Department headquarters, 460 Concord Ave., after presenting identification. 

The realization that a person that state law enforcement officials believe will likely attack again has unnerved residents who have small children living near or attending daycare or preschool near where the man lives.  

"When I read this I personally could not sleep that night. I too have child at a preschool within 2 blocks of where this person lives.  The kids are out on the playgrounds, etc multiple times per day. I asked my husband how this person could live so close to so many schools as there are laws about this.  We speculated it may because these schools are private and not city funded?" wrote someone on the Mom's blog. 

While it would, at first glance, appear to be counterintuitive for law enforcement to allow a person they believe is predisposed to recommit the same crime from living near children, MacIsaac said there are no restrictions – other than limits imposed by his parole agreement – on where the man can live.

"There's nothing preventing him from where he can reside," said MacIsaac. 

For that reason, Belmont Police has been putting out information on its web site and on social media including Facebook and twitter providing information where he works (Central Square in Cambridge), his residence as well as a full description of the man. 

MacIsaac said he understands that parents are anxious concerning the news but he added that because we are living in such a mobile society, "a person is just as likely to come from outside of town than someone living here. [Parents] have to remain vigilant at all times."