Students warned that sex offenders may lurk

Students were warned in a school assembly last week that even a small community like Sisters may harbor threats to personal safety.

According the Sisters Police log, on Wednesday, September 4, the occupant of a small, blue pick-up stopped at the corner of Highway 126 and Highway 20 and was talking to two 18-year-old girls.

An officer on duty recognized the 29-year-old man as a sex offender registered with the Oregon State Police. When the officer drove up, the pickup took off.

Administrators at Sisters Middle/High School were contacted.

"I felt it was my obligation to notify school authorities that a registered sex offender was hanging around after school," explained Sisters Police Chief David Haynes. "But as far as I know, both girls were 18 years old and there was no offense."

School authorities took the warning seriously and held an assembly on Thursday, September 4.

According to middle/high principal Dennis Dempsey, "the chief called me that there was a registered sex offender in town, and wanted me to remind the kids about personal safety."

Dempsey said he told the kids to be aware and that "because you live in the woods doesn't mean you're immune to big city problems. Don't walk home by yourself at 9 p.m. after basketball game."

Parents were concerned. Several contacted the newspaper, anxious to learn what prompted the warning to students.

The man in the pickup told The Nugget that he stopped at the intersection because two girls had gotten out of a car and had started hitting a third girl. He said he stopped just to find out what was going on, and left when police arrived.

It had been more than a year since his original offense, he said. His mother interjected that the original offense was for "putting his hand on a girl's bottom." It was, she said, a misdemeanor.

That is essentially correct, according to the Oregon State Police, who said the listed offense was for "fondling a female minor."

Another officer with the OSP said that "under the new law, that (sex offender status) is a jacket you have for the rest of your life." Any conviction requires registration, registration requirements do not expire with the end of probation and failure to register is itself a crime.

The sex offender registration program is designed to give police a place to start investigating if a new sex crime is reported to authorities, he explained.

In this case, there does not appear to be reason for major alarm in the Sisters community, although, as one mother told her young daughter, "the rules are the same. Don't talk to strangers, don't get in anybody's car."