VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla.,None — Children went back to school Monday in Volusia County and some had to wait at a bus stop that's just a few hundred feet from a sex predator's house. The school district says it has no plans to move the stop even after Robert Bishop gets out of jail.
Bishop's house is at 1200 Orange Camp Road in DeLand (see map of home). It's visible from the new bus stop for middle and high school students (see map of bus stop).
Bishop was arrested for crimes on a child. Court documents indicate he served 14 years in prison for having sex with a child and his most recent conviction came after he fondled himself while watching kids in the children's section of a local store.
In DeLand's Victoria Park community, the placement of the school bus stop is rattling some nerves.
"It's disheartening. It's scary just to let kids out in the neighborhood," Lisa Kopp told WFTV.
Kopp has been worried since last year when she found Bishop registered to live at 1200 Orange Camp Road with the school bust stop one-tenth of a mile from his home, near the intersection of Orange Camp and Kevin Lane.
"When I drop my daughter off in the morning, it's very dark, no street lights," Kopp said.
Kopp told WFTV she tried to get the district to change it, but got no response.
Monday, the district told WFTV, under the law, based on his crimes and when he committed them, Bishop isn't banned from living near where children congregate, even though, in 2008, he fondled himself in front of children inside a store.
In fact, the district said, it has 780 offenders and predators in the county and only seven have to live more than 1,000 feet from schools and bus stops.
As of August 16, Bishop was in the Volusia County jail for probation violation from a few months ago, after he didn't complete his sex offender treatment. But, parents told WFTV, he was there near the bus stop long before the latest arrest and they fear he'll get back out.
"I would like to see the stop moved to the back of the subdivision," Kopp said.
Bishop could get out in less than a month when he goes to trial on the new charges.
After WFTV started asking questions, the landlord claims he's going to the probation office to tell them Bishop will not be welcome back.
WFTV
