Sheriff Targets Sex Offenders On Halloween

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office invited TODAY'S TMJ4 to follow deputies carrying out Operation Trick Or Treat. The mission is to make sure sex offenders follow special Halloween rules.

"We've arrested approximately ten people right now," said Deputy Brad Lessila. "We have our mobile jail out right now. They've been called out all day, going call to call picking up people who have been arrested and who have been in violation."

Registered sex offenders are not allowed to leave their home, pass out candy or even turn on a porch light during a community's designated trick or treat times. Enforcement means pulling deputies from other responsibilities.

"There is plenty of opportunities for sex offenders, particularly those who have convicted of preying on children, to go out and maybe repeat their heinous acts," said Sheriff David Clarke during a Friday press conference.

Stranger danger is such a fear, parents accompany most costumed kids.

"To protect them, to keep them safe, to make sure that no harm is in their way," said Cassandra Gonzales, who was walking a Shorewood neighborhood with her children Saturday afternoon.

But perhaps putting a parent's mind at ease, a new study reveals sex crimes against children are no higher during Halloween than any other time.

In the September article appearing in Sexual Abuse: A Journal Of Research & Treatment, researchers write "these findings raise questions about the wisdom of diverting law enforcement resources to attend to a problem that does not appear to exist."

Milwaukee attorney TJ Perlick-Molinari has defended accused predators.

"It's totally a waste of resources," Molinari told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. "The whole strategy, while it's a nice public display, it's not really much of anything for public safety."

While more recent headlines are difficult to find, Clarke points to the 1973 Halloween murder of a 9-year-old Fond du Lac girl. A jury convicted Gerald Turner of raping and strangling Lisa Ann French, who had been out knocking on doors. Turned had previously been cited for a sexual offense.