KENT - A registered sex offender who moved to town, only to move out after some parents expressed concern, has relocated to Dutchess County.
David McColl, 46, moved to 82 Losee Road, Wappingers Falls, according to the state's sex-offender registry. His last contact with police in Wappingers was on Monday, according to the registry.
McColl was convicted in New Jersey in April 2005 of a felony sex offense for attempting to have sexual contact with three girls, two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old.
His move last month to Nemarest Club Road in Kent prompted several parents to approach authorities about enforcing a sex-offender law that Putnam County lawmakers enacted last year but never used due to concerns over its legality.
McColl moved out of Kent on Nov. 2. He is considered a sexual predator and, as such, must check in with authorities at least once every 90 days.
"Everything's still on file, but there will be no other action on our part," said Lt. Alex DiVernieri of the Kent police yesterday.
Among the restrictions the Putnam law places on registered sex offenders is that they cannot live within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate. That includes child-care facilities, parks, playgrounds, youth centers, theaters and recreational facilities. The law also forbids them to live in mobile-home parks, condominiums, apartment complexes or housing developments with 10 or more single-family homes on less than one-third of an acre.
Several parents living near Nemarest Club, a small neighborhood of summer residences off Peekskill Hollow Road that were converted to year-round homes, asked authorities to check whether McColl's presence violated the law.
Authorities said the small cottage McColl rented appeared to comply with the law - it's about a half-mile from a day care operated out of a nearby home - and the Nemarest Club enclave did not meet the law's definition of cluster housing.
Nonetheless, members of the Putnam Legislature's Protective Services Committee took a second look at the law last week, agreeing to amend it and send it to the full Legislature for a vote.
One proposed change had differentiated between levels of sex offenders. It allowed Level 1 offenders who were living within the 1,000-foot perimeter prior to the law's enactment to remain there. Level 1 is considered the least likely to reoffend. McColl is classified as a Level 2 offender.
But committee members decided to strip that grandfather clause from the law, over the objections of the county Law Department, which worried that challenges to the law could be costly to taxpayers.
Melissa Orser, a mother of five from Kent, said yesterday that she was glad McColl moved out but felt authorities could have done more as far as informing the public and using the law. Orser said she intends to follow the amended law through the Legislature to ensure it's enacted.
Reach Terence Corcoran at tcorcora@lohud.com or 845-228-2275.
