“They oppose sex offender residency restrictions for a number of reasons,” Roper said. “One of them is that it makes it much more difficult for people who have served time and paid their debt to society to become truly rehabilitated. They’re forced to always live on the fringe, and that greatly increases the likelihood they’ll commit those crimes again.

“The other reason is it draws attention away from where children are actually in danger — the number of times a child gets snatched from a park is miniscule compared to the number of times children are molested by Uncle Joe. Children are far more at risk from their own immediate family.”

Strangers are the perpetrators of child sexual abuse in only about 10 percent of cases, according to government estimates. Thirty percent of those who sexually abuse children are relatives of the child, the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder reports. The other 60 percent are non-relative acquaintances.

Sunbury police have said they intend to cite Teri Jo Hunt, a Sunbury resident and registered sex offender, for violating the city sexual predator ordinance on July 10. She had taken her children to a community event located in a public park.

Hunt’s incident marks the second time city officials have enforced the ordinance.

“What (Hunt) is going through now is not right,” said Thompson, who said a local rehabilitation counselor once labeled him no more danger to area children than anyone else on the street. “The city should be ashamed of itself. Whoever passed this ordinance didn’t have a conscience.”

n E-mail comments to dgessel@dailyitem.com.