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February 20, 2012
Paroled Massachusetts sex offender arrested outside elementary school in Maine
A Level 3 Massachusetts sex offender arrested outside a Maine elementary school routinely got permission from the state Parole Board to travel out of state for work, but he did not have the board’s approval when he drove to Maine Thursday, officials said today.
John A. Rosa was arrested by Sagadahoc County Sheriff deputies after a wary grandparent found Rosa sitting in his car parked outside the West Bath Elementary School around 8:35 a.m. Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Rosa was in the school’s parking lot as children were arriving for school. The grandfather alerted the sheriff’s department, which located Rosa at the Bath District Court where he was scheduled to challenge a speeding ticket, officials said.
The school and courthouse are about a third of a mile apart on New Meadows Road. But Sagadahoc County District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said in a telephone interview that Rosa was in the school parking lot for nearly 15 minutes.
“It’s more time than mere confusion about where I am supposed to be,’’ Rushlau said. “He wasn’t just turning around in the parking lot, he was sitting there.’’
Sex offenders classified Level 3 are those deemed most likely to reoffend.
Rosa, 59, of North Street in Lexington, was wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet on one of his ankles when he was taken into custody, officials said. Rosa was not charged with committing any crime in Maine. He was arrested for violating his parole because he was at an elementary school and “has a significant history of indecent assault and battery on children under 14 years of age,’’ according to Maine authorities.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Parole Board, which recently underwent a major reorganization, said Rosa had left a voicemail with his parole officer, saying that he was going to Maine to pay a speeding ticket.
Because Rosa did not get advance approval, he is deemed to have violated the terms of his parole, said Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety. Moreover, the terms of Rosa’s lifetime parole include a ban on spending time near elementary and secondary schools.
“As a condition of parole, he is not supposed to frequent any place where individuals under 18 years old congregate,’’ said Harris.
According to Harris, as well as Rosa’s entry on the Sex Offender Registry Board’s website, Rosa works for a vending machine company. Harris said Rosa has routinely been given approval to travel outside Massachusetts, but only when he seeks it in advance.
Harris said it was likely Rosa got his speeding ticket when he was up in Maine on an earlier work assignment. According to Maine authorities, Rosa received the speeding ticket in October and chose to fight the ticket in court rather than pay a fine.
Harris said the Parole Board planned to bring Rosa back from Maine as soon as possible. Harris said Rosa was placed on parole by the judge in his most recent conviction. He’s been supervised by the Parole Board since 2010.
According to the board, Rosa was convicted in 1980 of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, and convicted of the same crime in 1988 and in 2002.
http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2012/02/paroled-massachusetts-sex-offender-arrested-outside-elementary-school-maine/TaNJVSV4uLruMvUsgALCeO/index.html
Posted by Nealus at February 20, 2012 02:44 PM
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