Sex offenders in Sapulpa are put on notice

By DAVID SCHULTE World Staff Writer
10/25/2007

They are being told to move because they live too near a new park.

SAPULPA -- Police on Wednesday began notifying dozens of registered sex offenders who live in motels near a new park to move, but whether they must do so remains unclear because of upcoming changes in the state's sex-offender laws.

In September, the city of Sapulpa bought about a half-acre of land for a park northwest of the motels, which previously served as a safe haven for sex offenders who are required by state law to live outside a 2,000-square-foot radius of schools, parks, playgrounds and child-care facilities.

The majority of the motels, including Interstate Inn Express, Gateway Motor Hotel, Rest Inn and Crystal Motel, are near the Town West shopping center, between the 5400 and 5600 blocks of West Skelly Drive.

The park, recently named the W.G. and Dolores Bushyhead Memorial Park, opens Friday, and Sapulpa police are delivering notifications to sex offenders saying they need to leave or face felony charges.

"We're going to give them until Dec. 31 to move," said Capt. Pete Sellers, who monitors sex offenders living in Sapulpa.

If they remain in the motels after the start of the new year, police would ask prosecutors to "charge them with being in violation of the state's Sex Offenders Registration Act," Police Chief Jim Wall said.

Any charges would be filed by the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office because the motels are in Tulsa County, he added.

District Attorney Tim Harris said that because of upcoming changes in the state's sex-offender laws, he is uncertain about whether the sex offenders living near the park would be forced to move.

According to the law that goes into effect Nov. 1, "establishment of a day care center or park in the vicinity of the residence of a registered sex offender will not require the relocation of the sex offender or the sale of the property."

Wall said the Police Department did not receive any notice about changes in the state's sex-offender laws until Sept. 11, but he added that the city began making plans to put a park near the shopping center more than six months ago.

When told of Harris' uncertainty about whether the sex offenders must move, Sapulpa police stood firm on their position that when the park opens Friday, it is time for the sex offenders to find new places to live.

"We're still under the old law for these people near day-care centers and parks," Maj. Mike Haefner said. "They have to move."

Haefner and Wall maintained that current sex-offender laws do not provide a grandfather clause that would allow sex offenders to remain at the motels.

Last May, Charlie Price, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, agreed with Sapulpa officials that no residency grandfather clause exists in the state's sex-offender laws.

Sapulpa City Attorney David Widdoes informed the City Council during a recent meeting that he believes that the sex offenders would have to move because state law does not consider motels to be permanent places of residency.

David Schulte 665-8093
david.schulte@tulsaworld.com

Copyright Tulsa World 2007. Format differs from original publication.