Parents upset after finding out sex offender lives near Wedgefield school

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Parents in a Wedgefield neighborhood are frustrated after finding out a sex offender lives two houses away from a school, but the man isn’t breaking any law.

Kenneth Ford was convicted of a sex crime before the law keeping offenders 1,000 feet from schools was put in place.

The registered sex offender moved into the neighborhood two days ago, and his home is a tenth of a mile away from Wedgefield K-8 School.

According to state law and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, he is within his legal rights to live there.

“This shouldn’t be allowed here,” said resident Joel Thaw.

He has two grandsons who attend the Wedgefield K-8 School on Bancroft Boulevard.

He said he learned about Ford moving in nearby after signing up for online notifications about sex offenders in his neighborhood.

“There will be 100 children passing by that house in the morning and again after school,” said Ford.

Records show Ford lives in a home with one house in between it and the school.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex offender registry shows Ford was convicted of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim between the ages of 12-15 in 2002.

The state statute banning sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school only applies to offenses that happened on or after Oct. 1, 2004, meaning it doesn’t apply to Ford since his conviction was two years earlier.

“They just had a beginning point where the law would apply and how far back it would go,” said WFTV legal analyst Belvin Perry. “Any law that is implemented is going to have some gaps in it.”

It’s something Thaw said he wants to see changed.

“Just because it happened two years sooner than that shouldn’t make a difference,” said Thaw.

The Florida Sex Offender Registry requirement applied to any convicted sex offender in the state, regardless of when the crime was committed.

Cox Media Group