NYT: Fears Anew in Area Rife With Sex Offenders

[varkam]

Corey Kilgannon
1/24
New York Times
Link

MASTIC, N.Y. — Last Thursday, a sixth grader waited for the school bus across the street from her house in this working-class community on Long Island.

Before the bus arrived, a burgundy Hummer with no license plate pulled up. The driver lowered the window.

“He told her, ‘If you get in, I’ll give you a ride to school,’ ” recalled the girl’s father, Richard Alliegro, 51. “She told him no, but he kept trying to talk her into it. Then the bus pulled up and she ran on, and the guy drove away.”

...

On Tuesday, the Suffolk police announced that they had arrested a 39-year-old Mastic Beach man in the case of Mr. Alliegro’s daughter. The man, Wayne McGowan, was on probation in a federal drug case, the police said. They charged him with stalking and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

You have to read the whole article to get the gist, but essentially what's happening is in response to a few high profile cases there has been a backlash against sex offenders in the community even though no sex offenders have been involved in these cases.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.