INDIANAPOLIS -- While it is illegal for registered sex offenders to live within 1000 ft. of a school, park or youth center, the law does not prevent them from living near student bus stops.
Under Indiana law, a child is protected from sex offenders who are labeled sexually violent or who have committed crimes against children only once they arrive on school grounds.
“There is nothing in Indiana code that prohibits a sex offender from living near a bus stop,” said Tracy Berry, program director of Sex Offender Management and Monitoring with Indiana Department of Correction.
Ginger Moore, a mother of three children in Lawrence Township, became concerned when she found out her child’s bus stop was right in front of a sex offender’s home.
"It's not something I ever thought would be an issue,” said Moore. But when she found out the close proximity to her child's stop, she said it “sickened” her.
To solve the issue, Moore contacted the district’s transportation department but then she then learned many other parents also had no idea this could happen to their child.
Lawrence Township responded to her request stating it’s “logistically impossible” to keep track of sex offenders when planning bus routes and stops.
Moore disagrees and she wants to give parents a bit of advice when sending their children to school. “Be vigilant, make sure you’re aware of what’s around you,” she said.
Other school districts, including Lawrence Township, said if a parent alerts them of a bus stop issue, they will work to resolve it best they can.
They are now in the process of changing the stop in Moore’s neighborhood, but they offered to do so only after RTV6 reached out to them on the issue, she said.
Parents can look up whether a sex offender lives in their neighborhood at this website: icrimewatch.net/indiana
Editor's note: A previous version of this story misquoted Moore, stating she said it was "logically impossible" to keep track of sex offenders.
