MA: Sex offender's info was held up by long process.

July 19, 2002

by Jules Crittenden and Rich Thompson

Convicted rapist and accused murderer Paul J. Leahy's sex offender registry card is in a file with about 8,000 others still waiting to be processed before average citizens and employers can hope to have access to them.

That means Leahy's neighbors and employers did not yet have the legal right to be notified that he was a sex offender. For many felons, the Criminal Offenders Record Information Act provides another layer of bureaucratic shielding, though in Leahy's case, his record was still available to anyone who knew to look.

"I never knew anything about him," said neighbor Flavia Saade, who has three small daughters. "What is a registered sex offender? I don't know what that is. I'm so scared because I'm new here."



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Source: © 2002 BostonHerald.com