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Paroled Sex Offender Banned from Oregon Library

Police in Salem, Oregon, banned a 39-year-old man August 29 from entering the city library, as well as the public parks and parking decks, after he was caught viewing online pornography in violation of SPL rules on two consecutive days. The order against Larry Lee Edwards, who spent 18 years in jail for the abduction and sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy, remains in effect until November 1.

According to the September 3 Salem Statesman Journal, a library worker ordered Edwards out of the main library building August 28 after he was observed using a workstation to access pornography. When he returned the next day and engaged in the same behavior, a staff member called the police.

Designated a sexually violent, dangerous offender by the state parole board, Edwards registered with the state police as a Salem resident in mid-August after completing his post-prison supervision, and so cannot be charged with a parole violation. “We didn’t want him on city property where children could be,” Salem Detective Craig Stoelk said in the Statesman Journal, adding, “In essence, he’s got as many rights as anyone else in this community. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to ignore him.”

Should Edwards be caught in violation of the two-month ban, he will be charged with trespassing, the Statesman Journal reported.

Posted September 8, 2003.

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