One local woman is caught in the middle of a battle over the public's access to sex offender registries and the right to keep her family together.
"Families are the collateral damage of the sex offender registry,” said Rayida Grooms, a former St. Joseph resident who married a registered sex offender in 2013. “The sex offender registry doesn't really protect anybody, because it just gives a false security.”
All 50 states have a registration and tracking system in place to monitor sex offenders, their location, identifying features and vehicles. For Mrs. Grooms, the public’s access to the database has affected the guardianship of her three children.
“Because of his status alone”
After a divorce in 2007, Mrs. Grooms said she fell in love with her neighbor — a registered sex offender who was convicted of sexual assault of a minor in Maine in 2003. Even after learning about his past, the couple got married and began a life with her children.
A nasty custody battle, however, prompted her to lose her three children.
