Sex Offenders Near Albany Schools

Sex offenders in Albany County can't live within 1,000 feet of a school. That's the law that was passed in September of 2006. Anyone moving too close to a school or daycare center after that date is in violation. But what if I told you that there are 11 level 2 and 3 sex offenders breaking this law just in the city of Albany?

How did it all begin? Upon realizing that there are no state laws restricting where convicted sex offenders can live - Dan McCoy of the Albany county legislature drafted such legislation at the local level. Dan McCoy was upset to find out that there were so many offenders in violation.

“When we started this everyone was hot to trot and they were on top of it and we did sweeps throughout the county,” said McCoy.

I visited the home of sex offender Scottie Bibbs who lives just 486 feet from the Delaware Community School. He was convicted of raping a 10 year old girl in 1999 when he was 36 years old. I timed the walk from his house to see how long it took to reach the elementary school. It took just over 3 minutes.

I also spoke with parents picking up their children after school. None even knew that there was an offender close by.

“How is that possible? Aren't there people who check on them to let the people in the community know where they live? i don't think a lot of people around here know that,” said Ellen Pentland who has great grandchildren at the Delaware Community School.

“I did not know that,” said Areatha Bryant, a mother with children at the school.

When I asked her how it felt to hear the news, she responded, “Very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.”

There are many more sex offenders living near schools and daycare centers... many who have been grandfathered under the legislation. These offenders will not be moved.

But Scottie Bibbs is just one of the men who is in violation of this Albany County law.

There are plenty of others. The district attorney's office in conjunction with the police departments within Albany County did a sex offender sweep shortly after the law was passed. The D.A. says offenders are constantly being released from jail and are moving around. Therefore the offenders we found may not have been in violation during the initial sweep. But with about a year since the original sweep and the number of sex offenders moving close to schools and daycare centers growing, there's community concern that the laws aren't being enforced.

Check out part two of this story to find out why the Albany Police Department says they haven’t been arresting the offenders in violation and if they plan to do so anytime soon.