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A sex offender is on the move and police are revising policies after an uproar at a Titusville condominium complex.
Residents at the Village Square Condominiums on Harrison Street, called Protect Our Children February 8th, asking for information about Stephen Ervin: a registered sex offender living in the West Titusville community.
That evening, a volunteer with the advocacy group appeared at the Village Square clubhouse prior to the monthly meeting of the resident’s association. Attendees were handed packets containing copies of Ervin’s criminal record, including details of two sexual assaults he committed against young girls.
A small group formed on the sidewalk, flipping wide-eyed through the papers. Residents said Ervin (53) had been working as a handy-man, doing minor repairs and painting. They said children live at the complex, which has more than one hundred units.
Ervin was released from prison in March 2010. He was convicted of raping a nine year-old girl in 1987 and assaulting a thirteen year-old in 1997. Court records show he has been arrested five times for violating his probation. He served the balance of his most recent sentence in prison, and is not under supervision.
State law requires Ervin to register as a sex offender and abide by local laws restricting his residency. Homeowners noted that a day-care facility was located on nearby Barna Avenue.
Brevard County sex offender ordinances prohibit offenders from living within one-thousand feet of such a business. An investigator with Protect Our Children verified the comment, and found Kindercare, a commercial facility for children under twelve, appeared to be too close to Ervin’s residence, to comply with county law. Police were notified by telephone.
Agents with the Sheriff’s Sex Offender Registration and Tracking unit used a computer mapping system to guage the distance between Ervin’s residence and Kindercare. They said the distance was just over seven hundred feet…about three hundred feet short of being legal.
The revelation caused a flurry of activity later that week between Brevard Sheriffs and the Titusville Police. Titusville has no ordinance of its own regarding sex offenders, relying on the Sheriff’s Office to cover most of the duties involving registration and tracking. Officers in the North Brevard city verify the addresses listed by offenders when they register. They use a special “One-On-One” deployment, in which a single officer is assigned to each offender in the city.
The Village Square affair exposed a deficiency in the system: ” One hour after we got a call from Lieutenant Todd Goodyear, we had a new policy.” said Titusville P.D. Assistant Chief, John Lau. “We realize that our people need to check the vicinity around the offender for places where children congregate.”
Goodyear heads up Sheriff Parker’s S.O.R.T. team – a group of sex crimes specialists assigned exclusively to policing sex criminals. He worked with Titusville Police to close the gap in their monitoring procedures.
Brevard County law prohibits registered offenders from living within one thousand feet of schools, day-care facilities, parks and playgrounds.
Lau said the new policy will go in to effect immediately. He said the procedure requires officers to use mapping software as well as the city’s own business permit records, to assure compliance. Police will also canvass the area around the offender’s home in order to check for child-oriented locations.
Ervin is relocating to an residence on Mt Vernon Drive, in Titusville. His registered address is due to change on February 17th.