A registered sex offender contacted police and the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office after a local store posted his picture in response to what employees felt was suspicious behavior.
An employee of a Portsmouth store contacted police just before 10 am to report that the convicted child sex offender kept coming into the building, portraying himself as the owner, and asking for rent money.
The man is a registered Tier II sex offender, convicted back in 2012 of attempted gross sexual imposition with a victim under 13. The employee said the store does not want the man there since they have underage employees working there through community action.
When officers contacted the man, he complained that they had posted a printout of his sex offender paperwork in the store’s windows. He told police his lawyer told him this was illegal, and he had contacted police and the prosecutor’s office about the issue. He further said he was employed as a maintenance man by the owner of the strip mall where the store is located and that he was attempting to collect rent on behalf of the owner.
Police checked with the prosecutor’s office, who said that posting the information was not illegal, though he might have civil recourse.