SPRINGFIELD — Children dressed as superheroes, a ghost and one with an inflatable bat costume were running down the sidewalk trick-or-treating but when they hit Merimac Street they found one home dark and unwelcoming.
While the children may have been disappointed to have to skip the house, a team of officers from the Hampden County Probation Department were happy to see it looking forbidding since at least two men who live there are registered sex offenders.
When John Sandillo pounded on the door unannounced, they could hear movement inside, a dog started barking and after a few minutes, three men who are housemates and at least two who are on probation answered the door.
Sandillo greeted the men, at least one of whom he knew, and explained his team was checking in with them to make sure they were following their conditions of probation and weren’t trying to draw children to their doorstep on Halloween night.
“We don’t pass out candy and the lights are off and the shades are drawn,” said one man who has been on probation for six years and is currently working to reduce his remaining sentence.
Apparently, (some parts of,,?) Massachusetts have a “No Lights” requirement:
How dehumanizing.
100% of all …[People Forced to Register] were once non offenders. The average age at which the average …[PFR] committed his crime is 14. Fear facts.