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This is an Ordinance from Aston. Not that instilling same in your Borough, at this time, will help your present situation, but it may help for the future.

ASTON TOWNSHIP
CHAPTER 690
Sex Offender Residency Restrictions

690.01 Definitions.
690.02 Residency Restriction/Prohibition.
690.03 Notice to Move.
690.04 Exceptions.
690.05 Penalties.
690.06 Enforcement.
690.07 Publication.
690.08 Inclusion.
690.09 Severability.
690.10 Effective Date.

690.01 DEFINITIONS

a) Child Care Facility. A licensed daycare center, child care facility or any other child care services facility exempt from licensing pursuant to the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

b) Common Open Space. The area of land and/or water restricted from future development for the purpose of protecting natural features or for providing recreational opportunities for residents of Aston Township which said open space is regulated, maintained and/or owned by Aston Township.

c) Community Center. A building and related facility used for educational, social, cultural or recreational activities.

d) Permanent Residence. A place where a person lives, abides, lodges or resides for fourteen (14) or more consecutive days.

e) Public Park or Recreational Facility. Any recreational facility, playground or park, owned or operated by the Township or any other governmental agency including, but not limited to, the Penn Delco School District, County of Delaware or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

f) School. Shall mean any public or private school which provides education services to a minor.

g) Sex Offender. Shall mean any person over the age of eighteen (18 ) years of age, who has been convicted of any crime against a minor identified in §9795.1 which includes, but is not limited to, kidnapping, luring a child into a motor vehicle, institutional sexual assault, indecent assault, incest, prostitution, receiving sexual materials, sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with minors, sexual exploitation of children, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and individuals convicted of any attempt to commit any of the offenses enumerated therein.

h) Temporary Residents. A place where a person lives, abides, lodges, or resides for a period of less than fourteen (14) days in the aggregate during any calendar year, which is not the person’s permanent address or place where the person routinely lives, abides, lodges, or resides and which is not the person’s permanent address.

690.02 RESIDENCY RESTRICTION/PROHIBITION

a) It shall be unlawful for any sex offender to establish a permanent or temporary residence within 1000 feet of any school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility.

b) For the purpose of determining the minimum distance separation, the requirement shall be measured by following a straight line from the outer property line of the permanent residence or temporary residence of the sex offender to the nearest outer property line of a school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility.

690.03 NOTICE TO MOVE

Any sex offender who resides on a permanent or temporary basis within 1000 feet of any school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility shall within forty-five (45) days of receipt of written notice of the sex offender’s non-compliance with this Ordinance, may move from said location to a new location, but said location may not be within 1000 feet of any school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility within the Township. It shall constitute a continuing violation for each day beyond the forty-five (45) days the sex offender continues to reside within 1000 feet of a school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility. Furthermore, it shall be a violation each day that a sex offender shall move from one (1) location of the Township to another that is within 1000 feet of the school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility.

690.04 EXCEPTIONS

This Ordinance shall not apply to any person who has established residency prior to April 1, 2006, and shall not apply if the school, child care facility, common open space, community center, public park or recreational facility within 1000 feet of the sex offender’s permanent residence was established subsequent to the establishment of the sex offender’s permanent residence.

690.05 PENALTIES

Any person who violates the provisions of this Ordinance shall, upon conviction, before a District Judge, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment up to ninety (90) days and shall be fined not more than an amount which shall be determined by the Board of Commissioners for time to time by resolution for each violation, plus the cost of prosecution and reasonably attorney’s fees.

690.06 ENFORCEMENT

The Aston Township Police Department shall be charged with the enforcement of this Ordinance.

690.07 PUBLICATION

The Township Manager is hereby directed by April 19, 2006 to have prepared and placed on the Township’s Website a map of the Township depicting the areas where sex offenders are restricted from residing on a permanent or temporary basis.

690.08 INCLUSION

It is the intent of the Board of Commissioners of Aston Township that the provisions of this Ordinance shall become and be made a part of the Code of the Township and the sections of this Ordinance may be renumbered or re-lettered and the word Ordinance may be changed to “section” or “article” or such other appropriate word or phrase in order to accomplish the intention of the Board.

690.09 SEVERABILITY

The provisions of this Ordinance are severable. If any section, clause, sentence, part or provision hereof shall be determined to be illegal, invalid or unconstitutional by any Court of competent jurisdiction, such decision of the Court shall not impair or affect any remaining provisions of the Ordinance, it being the intention of the Board of Commissioners that it would have adopted this Ordinance even if the offending language had not been included.

690.10 EFFECTIVE DATE

This Ordinance shall be effective May 1, 2006.

(Ord. 834 Passed 4-19-06)

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For the Community

The 11 Methods and Styles Used by Child Molesters

One of the most difficult topics for parents to understand and comprehend is the variety of “methods” that child molesters and abductors use to get physically close to children. One of the primary reasons that this topic is difficult to confront is that the approaches used by adults who “seduce” children appear, to the untrained eye, as normal behavior. To help parents understand how to can keep their children safe from these approaches, we have compiled the following list of 11 “methods and styles of seduction” commonly used by child abductors and molesters.

The list was taken from a book written by Seth Goldstein, Esq., entitled "The Sexual Exploitation of Children". This book is used by child abuse investigators across the country and is considered the foremost textbook on this topic. Goldstein gained much of his knowledge while working as a city police officer and investigator for the Santa Clara and Napa County, Calif., District Attorney’s Office, where he specialized in child abuse cases for 13 years. During his years in the field, he worked one-on-one with many children and their families to bring the molesters to trial. Goldstein was also one of the founding members on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Goldstein worked with a group of professionals to develop the investigative techniques which have become the standard. The training curriculum they developed is used by the U. S. Department of Justice. According to Goldstein, the following common characteristics of sexual exploitation have been drawn from the vast number of cases of sexual abuse that have occurred in this country.

As you’ll see from the list, child molesters are very clever. They have tried-and-true ways to gain access to children and to disguise their inappropriate-and unlawful-activities from the eyes of caring adults. Basically their approaches with children are similar to the persuasive sexual approaches adults use with other adults; however, children don’t have the sophistication to understand what is happening. The fact is, the child molester pursues his prey with a purpose and will use any method that works. Goldstein makes a direct comparison between stalking prey and the seduction of children. “The offender, once he has targeted a child, will track down and methodically approach the child and begin to work on seducing him. All the while performing actions that appear, on the surface, to be normal. When in actuality he is introducing the child to sexuality.” All parents and guardians of children should understand these methods and styles of seduction used by child molesters so that they can keep their eyes and ears open for inappropriate actions and help children to live their young lives free from a molester’s desires.

Methods and Styles of Seduction

1. Affection and Attention
For the most part, a child is seduced in the same way as one adult seduces another. The offender takes him places, buys him things, impresses the child with his own personality, makes the child feel loved and indebted to the offender, then becomes physical with the child. It starts subtly, by holding hands, placing an arm over the shoulder, or putting a hand in the lap, then graduates to more explicit conduct.

2. Mislabeling the Activity
Another common method of seducing the child is to misrepresent what the offender is actually doing. This could be done by tricking the child into performing a sex act or by using a legitimate activity to achieve physical contact with the child, from which the offender can derive sexual gratification. In one case, a man who engaged in sexual activities with 8-to-9-year-old boys liked to play a game called “monster,” in which he would wrestle with the boys and touch their genitals and other areas. All of this was accomplished without the child’s knowing what was actually going on. From this kind of activity, the offender will graduate to more blatant touching. After the child feels more comfortable with the idea of the offender breaking the barrier of “personal space,” the offender will advance to sexual play. Another common ploy to trick the child into an act is to tell the child that what is being done is for a purpose other than the real one. For example, a young child was seduced into posing for photographers by being told that the offender was taking pictures for a publisher of medical books -- the pictures, he said, were to assist doctors in teaching others about sex.

3. Misrepresentation of Moral Values
Possessing little experience or knowledge, the child is often easily convinced that what the offender wants is a legitimate activity. It is easy to understand why children acquiesce to the demands of the child molester, considering the vast literature on sex with children and sex manuals that are on the market. The molesters frequently leave this type of literature out and available for children to “discover” by accident, or the offenders specifically show it to the child. In many cases, children have been shown films that are either sexually graphic or suggestive.

4. Slow/Subtle Exposure to the Concept of Sexual Activity
By constantly talking about sexual activities in the presence of the child, the offender slowly indoctrinates the child into the world of sex.

5. Curiosity
Another style of seduction is to pique the child’s curiosity. This is often done by leaving sexually oriented materials out and available to the children. This leads to conversations about sexual matters.

6. Narcotics and Alcohol
The use of narcotics and alcohol by the child molester is commonplace. What better way to get a child to a place he wouldn’t ordinarily go than to provide him with something he can’t ordinarily get? The use of alcohol is mostly limited to the older child; however, it is also a common denominator in some cases involving young children.

7. Misuse of Authority
This may take two forms. In the first, the offender takes advantage of his position of authority over a child, as in the following example. A Boy Scout leader told the children in his troop while on several outings to disrobe. Over a period of time he graduated from fondling them to orally copulating with them. Each time he told them not to tell anyone. In the second type of misuse of authority, the offender takes advantage of a position of special trust and represents the activity as legitimate, using his authority, stature and position to convince the child that what he wants is OK.

8. Rewards and Bribes
A very common style of seduction is the use of rewards. Sometimes the child is told in advance what he will receive if he cooperates with the offender. Other times the offender doesn’t tell the child until after the act. Soon the child learns that by doing what the offender wants, he can have his own way. The reward may be as elaborate as a car or as simple as an ice cream cone, depending on the circumstances. Children are easily lured into big money by promises to make them Hollywood stars. The hopes of grandeur, and comparisons made by the offender between the child and the child’s idols such as Brooke Shields, often make them easy prey. Modern advertising is often shown to the child, especially advertising that accents the sexuality of young children, to convince the child of the propriety of the acts.

9. Blackmail
Once the child has been placed in a compromising situation-sexually or otherwise-the offender can obtain some control over the child by threatening exposure. The offender knows that the child feels guilt and shame. The offender also knows that most children have very little self-esteem or confidence and they feel helpless in the situation. A deep concern of many children who have a close relationship with the offender is the fear of being taken away from their families. This threat may be expressed or implied by the offender, or it may be developed by the child with no direct threats being made.

10. Use of Pornography
Both child and adult pornography is often used by the child molester to seduce the child. In addition to misrepresenting moral standards, the pornography can be used to demonstrate the acts in which the offender wishes to engage. It may also be used to stimulate the child’s interest in the depicted activities and lower the child’s inhibitions.

11. Threats
Rarely is a threat of harm used to get the child to comply with the act. The only time a threat becomes necessary is to keep the child quiet and to continue participating in what the offender desires. For the most part, threats are made that imply negative consequences for both the victim and the offender if there is disclosure.

Sexual Offender Assessment Board

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SOAB's Role in Public Safety

ASSESSMENT

The Board Member assigned to the court order must form an opinion regarding whether the offender meets the legal criteria of sexually violent predator (SVP). The law defines a SVP as a person who has been convicted of a Megan's Law offense and due to a mental abnormality or personality disorder, the person is likely to engage in future predatory sexually violent offenses.

The Board is further directed to consider, but not limited to, the following criteria as part of the assessment:

1. Facts of the current offense, including:
1. Whether the offense involved multiple victims.
2. Whether the offender exceeded the means necessary to achieve the offense.
3. The nature of the sexual contact with the victim.
4. Relationship of the offender to the victim.
5. Age of the victim.
6. Whether the offense included a display of unusual cruelty by the offender during the commission of the crime.
7. The mental capacity of the victim.
2. Prior offense history, including:
1. The offender’s prior criminal record, sexual offenses,and other offenses.
2. Whether the offender completed any prior sentences.
3. Whether the offender participated in available programs for sexual offenders.
3. Characteristics of the offender, including:
1. Age of the offender.
2. Use of illegal drugs by the offender.
3. Any mental illness, mental disability, or mental abnormality.
4. Behavioral characteristics that contribute to the offender's conduct.

The assessment must be presented to the District Attorney of the county of conviction within 90 days from the date of conviction. A copy of the assessment is provided to the agency preparing the pre-sentence investigation.

[danno]

The best thing we can do is be proactive as a community, investigate all legal options open to us. This predator is living in a rented property and is not even on the lease. The property is rented to the predators relative and the owner was unaware of his presence until I phoned. The best we can hope is that this is a temporary situation and that the owner is concerned enough not to renew when the time comes. Since it is not a permanent residence, maybe the distance limitation can be enforced if we have one in our boro.

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There have been additions to the 19014 and 19015 zip codes. Please take a few minutes to review.

PA Megans Law List
Family Watchdog National Sex Offender Registry
District Attorney Mike Green's Internet Safety Tips
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force
Delaware State Sex Offenders Registry
National Sex Offenders Public Website

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Wow more

[Sandbagger]

There has been an addition to the 19015 zip code. Please take a few minutes to review.

PA Megans Law List
Family Watchdog National Sex Offender Registry
District Attorney Mike Green's Internet Safety Tips
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force
Delaware State Sex Offenders Registry
National Sex Offenders Public Website