Shame on you for exploiting an elderly man. He told you that he served his time. Is he not to be forgiven? Where should he be cared for if not among the other elderly and disabled? Your story also fails to point out that over half of the 53 offenders you list do not live in the care facilities mentioned anymore. It is not a perfect system but it is the one we have to work with. I found your story insufficient in addressing the issues. You provided no solutions or suggestions.

I am disgusted by such a report--NO WHERE did you indicate that any of these people were continuing to commit their crimes nor have there been any crimes committed that warranted such an investigation. When are you, the media, going to stop feeding hysteria? These people that do their time should be left along--shame on you for using the registry to suit your own purposes!!! In fact, doesn't the registry state that it should not be used for purposes to promote hysteria. Your station continues to show over and over again that you only care about ratings. Disgusting!!

Great job...pick on the old disable predators who can not even chew their own food. Report on active young criminals.. The media disgusts me.

I am disgusted, although not at all shocked, at the report you did on sex offenders living in nursing homes. How dare you exploit that elderly man who clearly had some sort of developmental disability. You should be ashamed of yourselves. And since you seem so concerned about public safety why don't you tell us, the uniformed and vulnerable public, where you suggest all these registered sex offenders, especially the elderly ones, are supposed to live when you continue to stoke the inflammatory fire of fear at every opportunity? I don't feel informed. I feel outraged. The smuggness with which that report was presented was obnoxious. This issue is extremely complex. Far more complex than your report indicated...but that is not surprising either. I am so sorry I turned on the TV this evening.

He is probably going to be harassed by people at his home and have to move. It was probably hard enough for him to find that place to live. A very small percentage of registered offenders ever actually re-offend. These people go to prison, do their time, go through treatment, and have to register for the rest of their lives. What more do you want? Would you prefer a life sentence without parole?

But I'm sure thats not the issue, the issue is that you want these people who have already served their time determined by the state to go around with a sign telling everyone they ever meet saying "I am a sex offender." What do you think he was going to do? His offense was against children, not the elderly.

Ask any expert in this field and they will tell you that the people who are already registered are not the real threat. The real threats are those people who have not been caught yet because their victims have not come forward. But because you are completely incapable of doing anything to help catch those people. Many victims do not come forward for fear of being harassed by reporters like you.

It is nice to know that their are people out there who care so much about people's safety, well-being, and above all their own ratings.

Leave it to the news media to create more mass hysteria regarding sex offenders! I suppose it would be better if these sex offenders were out living on the streets with no viable address? Punish those who violate the law but QUIT projecting that these sex offenders are going to abuse others! Base your future news articles on FACT not on fiction!

I say job well done. As an adovcate for Nursing Home residents in Illinois - it has only been recently that our Attorney General has been able to pass legislation that requires all nursing home residents to have a criminal background check so that ALL involved can know who they are caring for and living next to. Reading some of these posted comments I have to ask myself would those very same people be complaining about the media if they had exposed sexual predators or convicted felons that lived next door to them or were renting a room in their very own home where they have children? These nursing homes are the homes of very frail people - when facilities admit them they are agreeing to keep them safe. Very few media stories have been done in Illinois regarding this concern - I commend you for telling the public maybe not something that they want to hear but something that they need to hear.

It is so nice (sarcasm) to see you reporting on people who will probably never commit again. In the case of one of these people that you reported on, he can no longer speak, walk, take care of his own bodily functions and can barely feed himself. He is currently DYING and the prison system could no longer provide for him. I do not see how he can reoffend. But leave it to you to only report part of the story. I would much rather have these people where they can be monitered because they actually followed the terms of release by reporting where they lived.

Doing 'time' doesn't do a thing to eradicate this problem. old, young or in between, an offender is an offender. science has proven over and over again that offenders will continue to exibit predatory behaviors because it's in their actual wiring - their makeup. it's been equated to having a tendency to put on weight or be addicted to nicotine or have a type 'a' personality. it can be a behavior that is learned but more often it's a behavior that just IS. it's based in science and regulated through the offender's neuroendocrine system. there is an awesome book called 'behavioral endocrinology' that explains all kinds of stuff and it's accurate.
i spent many years researching this issue after learning of a child in the dalles, oregon, who was killed. what i learned really opened my eyes, only 18 of the 50 states requires autopsies on kids, very few medical examiners have any forensic training that focus on child abuse and therefore authorities estimate that more than half of abuse deaths are ever reported because they're not 'known' to be actual.

predatory behaviors that go unchecked frequently turn into something more sinister (like what could be worse than ruining someone's life, though, right?) but to say to leave the old man alone because he's served his time is ludicrous.

he's more than likely nothing more than a pervert with an active and evil mind in an aging body. don't be fooled by the wrinkles.

Yes Kim I do feel life without parole is the right sentence for sex crimes. The victims have their entire lives to deal with the physical and emotional nightmare these criminals cause, why should the offender get off easier than the victim? They are never to be trusted again.

Relating to your story. I hope that I never need a nursing home when I get old. But, if I do I hope I won't get turned away because the MEDIA has made monsters of ALL OFFENDERS. There is a percentage of offenders who never reoffend.

Try getting an apartment with a record of a felony. I am an offender and cannot find an apartment to live in so living with relatives is the only option, unless living on the street is an option to some (not me) I have a great job with a good salary and can afford an apartment of $1,000 per month but no one will rent to me. What does a person have do to make a living and be a tax paying citizen? Oh yeah, pay my taxes but dont live anywhere. That makes sense. NOT!!

The president told congress that felons need to re-enter society and become useful hard working citizens and need places to live. Well, it is not happening here (Northwest). You call any apartment company and they will tell you that they do not accept felons.

I am a level I offender. I and others like me work right along side you at work without any problems. I am just fed up with being lumped in with the most VILE offenders in this society who reoffend. But, I have to live with it.

People in this society would rather live next door to a gang banger who goes in and out of prison for killing and robbing and still returns to that way of life carring a gun everyday than a sex offender. That seems strange to me.

I can understand the point of view of some of the first bloggers about the sex offender who was interviewed being old and frail. That, however, does not mean that he will not reoffend again. As someone who has had frequent contact with nursing homes in the course of my business for a number of years, I have seen individuals who were old and frail-looking repeatedly placed in long term facilities where they had assaulted and seriously injured other residents and staff. The mental health professionals whose job it is to incarcerate those who are at immediate risk for harm to self or others often will not listen to reason when having to make decisions about people who have been removed from a number of long term care facilities because of violence against others. I agree with some of the other bloggers that the state needs to make some decisions about how they will handle these violent nursing home residents. To keep putting them back in with frail, elderly people who are peaceful is a crime.

I can't thank-you enough for doing your enlightening story about long-term facilities. I am really surprised at some of your other blogger's that thought the sex offender's have a right to be in these surroundings for their easy pick'ins. You merely pointed out that more laws need to be made to protect the elderly and frail. Obviously some of these other blogger's have NEVER had to care for a parent or friend in need. Keep up the great job and THANKS AGAIN.

Sheeople are so easy to fool when you guys fuel hysteria to people like grass. Look up the stats for reoffenses of sex crimes by RSOs and the number seems to be staggering low. To the people that say it is in their wiring to reoffend, please send a link to this information, otherwise quit making things up in order to sound intelligent. I can redirect you to the true fact @ the DOJ web site.

Once an offender, always an offender. I don't care how much time they've served. Good for you, Chris, for exposing this.

Regarding the comments by the Gerontology Student; I am not sure why you found this story enlightening. If you really want to be enlightened about long term care facilities/nursing homes then you should spend some real time in different ones around Seattle. Talk to the staff members, the social workers, nurses, and residents or work in one. Having worked in 2 nursing homes in central Seattle, I can tell you that Chris's story is far from enlightening. Nursing homes are among the most regulated businesses in the United States. This issue is far more complex than Chris has presented in his brief statement. I think King 5 is more interested in ratings than a quality story. Lastly, I don't think you can say some of the blogger's have never cared for someone in need, they just have a better perspective of society and how we need care for everyone, not just those who we choose to be deserving.

In my opinion, the lesson here is that nursing homes are rather public places. It is necessary yet difficult to protect the rights and safety of everyone. So we try.

Shame on you all for defending a sex offender. What about the victim?

I have an idea. Let's make it a crime for irresponsible media to impugn and further destroy lives with drive-by journalism. I have absolutely no compassion for sex offenders, but let's either put the more dangerous, or recidivists among them to sudden death, sent in shackles to a foreign prison colony, or allow the rehabilitated to assimilate back into society. Degrading them for the rest of eternity, while allowing them in our midst, only gives them self-justification for repeating the offense.

The media are often smug bastards indeed. After all, they often destroy more lives than any of the offenders on which they report. Let's give the more dangerous journalists prison sentences equal to the sex offenders, and deny them any rights upon their release. Any further defamatory articles, with no constructive solutions, written and published during their incarceration, or after their release, will result in further prison time. It just possibly...just might...restore responsibility to journalism. Just a thought.