7 LEVEL 3 SEX OFFENDERS LIVING IN A ILLEGAL BOARDING HOUSE.

96 Milton Ave Dorchester, MA- the illegal rooming house has registered level 2 sex offenders as well as seven level 3 sex offenders living under one roof. We demand the removal of the registered sex offenders. The rooming house is illegally harboring predators putting every child in the area at risk. The community was not notified of their residency which is a huge concern. With Laurens Law it would no longer be up to the community to keep track of these offenders. Below is what initiated this petition. The Plymouth county DA admitted to "human error" in the case of Richard Gardner by not moving to file a civil commitment rendering him as a dangerous person. Richard Gardner was dumped into our community, subjecting an entire generation of children to him again. This petition was started after we, just like the families of Dorchester, where unaware and not properly notified of the dangers our children where in. On November 1st Richard Gardner will be back in court. Together we hope to reform and change the laws to protect the victims not the predator. Until then we demand our elected officials shut down the rooming house.

Laurens Law:

Requires mandatory sentencing for Rape. 50 years’ mandatory sentence. Any Level 2 or 3 sex offender is required to register at an address. No longer can any level 2 or 3 register as homeless. No level 2 or 3 can register within 500 feet of a school, licensed daycare or playground. GPS tracking is mandatory for level 3 sex offenders. Reform in categorizing sex offenders Level 1, 2 & 3.  Any registration the community must be properly notified prior to the sex offender residing at the new address.

October 9, 2016

I live in the neighborhood where Richard Gardner, level III sex offender lives with his parents as of 10/3/16. The public was not made aware of his return until Thursday 10/6/16. As a mother to a little boy and an active member of society, I fear for the safety of not just our children, but for the children in the surrounding communities as well.

Richard Gardner has committed heinous crimes that include breaking into a home, flashing a light into a child's eyes and kidnapping him at knifepoint while his parents slept. He raped him and let him go to find his way home. In another case he tied a child to a tree in Wompatuck State Park in Hingham and brutally raped him. He has been kidnapping children as young as 6 years old. He was sentenced to 190 years in prison in Rhode Island that was somehow reversed and he is now a free man 27 years later.

This neighborhood is secluded with many families with small children. There is a licensed daycare 4 houses from his parent's house and a memorial playground that is a 3-5 minute walk from said house. In order for him to get to the closest bus stop for work- he must pass by Sacred Heart Parish and elementary school. He is a registered level III sex offender which means he WILL MOST LIKELY REOFFEND. Richard Gardner has no place in the Idlewell neighborhood of Weymouth MA.

Upon further research, Massachusetts does not require registered sex offenders out on parole or probation to be on GPS tracking devices if their crimes were committed before 2006 because it is an "unconstitutional burden of their freedom." And will be handled on an individual basis. We demand Richard Gardner be placed on a GPS tracking device until he is off probation, if he is not so already.

In addition, I have not been able to find any regulations regarding a level III sex offenders' restrictions of proximity to children, schools, parks, etc. in the state of Massachusetts.

I am a mother to a baby boy and a licensed veterinary technician in the state of MA. My husband is a Marine Corps veteran and a Firefighter. I love this neighborhood and I enjoy walking around this neighborhood with my baby in stroller. I enjoy taking my dogs to the memorial playground to play with the tennis ball. I can no longer do that. I as well as many others in this neighborhood and community are now living in fear. This person in particular has plead guilty to breaking into a home to kidnap and rape a child. I don't feel safe in my home. My family and I are living with restrictions while Richard Gardner is a free man living with none.

Convicted level III sex offender's rights surpass the rights of their victims as well as child protection and public safety. It is not right. Level III sex offenders should not be aloud parole or probation and certainly should not be aloud to be living next to multiple families, a daycare, a memorial playground, or elementary school; let alone all of the above. We as a community want Richard Gardner out of our neighborhood. Put the safety and security of our children before his "constitutional rights," What about the constitutional rights of all the children whose lives he ruined? The decision to grant him probation should have been appealed by our district attorney. How does someone who kidnaps and rapes multiple children go from being sentenced 190 years to 30 years? Richard Gardner was a threat to public safety then, and remains a threat to public safety now. An entire community is on edge. Please sign this petition and please help us reclaim the safety and security of our neighborhood. Below is the link to the FOX news story.

http://www.fox25boston.com/news/convicted-child-rapists-return-to-weymouth-puts-community-on-edge/454730723

Massachusetts is far too lenient with level III sex offenders. The public has a right to know the stipulations of a sex offenders parole. We want all level III sex offenders on GPS tracking devices especially Richard Gardner. We demand that the public in the community in which sex offenders are paroled be made well aware of their return and should be debriefed on how we can protect our families. 

Lastly, MA laws and regulations need to be stricter to ensure the safety of the public and in the best interest of the public, not the convicted level III sex offender. We need reform. I walked by with my son the other day and he waved to me, and I had no idea who he was because local law enforcement were not diligent in informing the public and this neighborhood in particular about his return. The residents of the Idlewell neighborhood demanded that his face and information be made publicly available. Weymouth Police should have notified us the moment he was released not days after and only after neighbors (including myself) went up there to complain and inquire about what we could do to ensure the safety of our children.