Parents Outraged After Discovering Sex Offender Has Been Living Near Sierra Madre School For Months
SIERRA MADRE (CBSLA.com) — Parents in Sierra Madre are worried and upset after discovering a convicted sex offender has been living near an elementary school for months without their knowledge.
Andrew West Reid Jr. was released from federal prison in January after serving eight years for molesting and photographing a 6-year-old girl and trading child pornography in the city he's calling home once again.
Jennifer Higdon's kids go to school at St. Rita, just around the corner from Reid's home. She joined dozens of other parents Wednesday night at a back-to-school safety meeting with police.
"We are all up in arms about this," she said. "We're angry we're just hearing about this. And we all came tonight to find out what the loopholes and conditions were of his parole," Higdon said.
Police say a mistake with corrections officials delayed putting Reid's picture online for six months.
KCAL9's Erica Nochlin reports Sierra Madre police are also just learning that because Reid served all of his time in federal prison, as opposed to state prison, he's not bound under Jessica's Law, a state mandate that requires sex offenders to live at least 2,000 feet from schools and parks and to wear a GPS monitor.
"The fear is the unknown. We would be perched outside his house every day to make sure our children are safe," Higdon said.
Nochlin reports Reid does have to follow some probation guidelines that are stricter than the state law; for example, he's not allowed to go within 100 feet of any child under the age of 18.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office plans to put out a formal opinion about the issue next week.