is this fair to treatthis sex offender?
Neighborhood 'Child Rapist' Signs
Blamed For Sex Offender's Suicide
Authors Of Signs Could Face Jail Over Flyers
POSTED: 12:01 am EDT April 22, 2005
UPDATED: 11:07 am EDT April 22, 2005
Residents in a Ocala neighborhood could face charges after a
convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs labeling him a "child rapist" posted in his neighborhood, according to Local 6 News.
Bright yellow,
laminated signs displaying Claxton's picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.
Clovis Ivan Claxton, 38, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Washington in 1991, had lived at 3230 SE. 45 Street in Ocala for about two years.
Tuesday, Claxton noticed bright yellow, laminated signs
displaying his picture, date of birth, address and the words "child rapist" hanging on power poles in his neighborhood. A county commissioner proposed posting such information in the community but Sheriff Ed Dean rejected the idea.
After seeing the signs
, Claxton called the sheriff's office and said that he felt
"extremely scared and feels that people in the neighborhood are now out to possibly hurt him."
"Once he made these type statements our
deputies took this man into custody under the Baker Act law and transported him to a local mental health facility for evaluation," Marion County Sheriff's Capt. Denis Strow said. "He was later released."
Tuesday morning,
Claxton's parents found him dead of an apparent overdose with one of the child rapist flyers
by his side.
Jane Claxton blames County Commissioner Randy Harris, who proposed the flyers
, for her son's death, according to a report.
"Just don't get on the bandwagon," she said. "There's going to be other (deaths) if Randy Harris has his way. He hasn't been in trouble for 18 years, and
he's branded for life."
Harris said sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions.
"I don't blame his death to the signs
," he said, adding he was undeterred in his quest to alert people to sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.
Dean said it is an example that police work should be left to authorities.
"We need to keep calm, do the right thing," Dean said. "Not go overboard with it. Protect our children. Use all of the resources we can but not stir a community up to a frenzy."
Claxton's death follows the high-profile arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings of two Florida girls less than seven weeks apart. State lawmakers have responded by passing a bill to require lifetime supervision of some child sex offenders.
State law allows for flyers
to be printed and distributed, Local 6 News reported. But, altering the signs or flyers is against the law.
Claxton's address had been added to the top of the flyer
along with the words "child rapist."
"It is a violation of the law," Strow said. "And should we find who perpretrated it, I'm sure it is a case that would be reviewed by the state's attorney office to see if they wish to pursue it."
The person responsible for the flyers
faces up to 1 year in jail.
The sheriff's office is investigating and an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Marion County is located northwest of Orlando and has more than 600 registered sex offenders.
