Trailer park becomes 'paradise' for sex offenders

10-18-2007 Florida:

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (CNN) -- It's a community that seems serene, with just a wind chime breaking the silence. But look again and you will see many residents wearing ankle monitor systems that alert authorities if they wander too far away.

The Palace Mobile Home Park is a place that welcomes sex offenders. Ninety-five of these 200 residents are convicted sex offenders, including some pedophiles.

The adults-only, nondescript, low-income trailer park near St. Petersburg, Florida has gained a reputation among sex offenders on probation as a good place to live and stay out of trouble.

"Out there ... it's a jungle," said Michael, who did not want his last name used for this report. "In here, it's our own little piece of paradise. We're safe here."

Michael was released from prison in June. He's been a familiar face to law enforcement in Florida and Mississippi for the past 20 years, serving prison time for grand theft, drug possession and sexual battery on a child.

"I pray a lot that my victim has been given the opportunity to grow beyond the horrendous problem that I caused for them," he said.

In many ways, the Palace provides him a second chance at life. New laws across the country have limited where sex offenders and predators can live, banning them from places where children might congregate. This trailer park is far enough away from schools, churches, playgrounds and bus stops, allowing Michael to call it home without running afoul of the law.

"As a sex offender -- when you come out, you're told you can't do this; you can't be around children; you can't go to parks; you can't go to the beach; you can't go to the library," he said.

Nearly 600 sex offenders have lived here in the past couple of years, according to manager Nancy Morais, who said she was sexually assaulted by a family member as a little girl.

Not only does she allow the sex offenders to live here, she also offers therapy to help them become part of society again. "Put him on the right track, and we have a better chance of seeing society be a little bit safer with this person," she said. "Can I guarantee they're all gonna be good? Of course not."

Some experts agree that it is hope as much as fear that keeps offenders from relapsing.

"You have to offer people hope if you expect them to change," said psychologist Don Sweeney, who works with the residents here. "If society only wants to tear them down and doesn't show them any way back, then all help is lost in their minds, and they are more likely to relapse."

Morais is allowed by the trailer park's owner to house the offenders. The owner, The R2 Property Company, would not talk to CNN for this story.

Morais said she carefully screens all her potential "guests," even with their unsavory pasts.

"If they come into our program, I would look them close in the eye and will tell them very clearly: 'You want to do good? I will do whatever I can to help you do good,'" she said.

"'You mess up, I'm not gonna cry when you are handcuffed and they are taking you away.'"

Morais charges each offender $400 per month, which includes all utilities. Most have roommates, with up to three or four per trailer. But not everyone who lives here feels safe knowing they are surrounded by convicted sex offenders.

One resident, who asked not to be identified, railed against the trailer park's management for not informing them from the outset about this rehabilitation program.

"They told us nothing. My place is worth nothing now," the resident said, speaking in a whisper. Another woman said she had no problem living among the offenders, but she said it comes with consequences: She won't allow her grandchildren on the premises.

Others don't seem to mind. Teresa Atkins moved into the Palace a year ago. She is not an offender and didn't know, at the time, that almost half of her neighbors were. "I'm very safe here. None of these men want to go back to jail. They will do anything to keep from going to jail," she said.

Because of the number of sex offenders, there is a constant police presence in the park.

"We make sure that they know we are going to be an influence in here," said Sgt. Judy Vovan, who supervises the Sexual Predator and Offender Tracking unit for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

"They're gonna see us in here very, very frequently, and we're gonna make sure they are abiding by the registration requirements."

On this particular day, Vovan and deputy Tammy Nixon are going door to door at the Palace. They ensure that all offenders are properly registered. The deputies said more offenders are coming to the park from all over Florida.

"There are people living in this park that have no ties to Pinellas County. We are very much aware of that," said Vovan.

Across the trailer park, Bill Sylvis, the maintenance supervisor, is sanding down a two-by-four. Morais hired him to do repairs at the aging, rundown facility, when he was released from prison in January for sexual assault of a child under 16.

"I was gonna do whatever it took, get my own little cabinet shop, furniture shop going," he said, speaking through a microphone he holds up to his throat. Cancer took away his ability to speak.

But no one would hire him, he said. "We're the bottom of the barrel. They don't want us around. They feel insecure, whatever, unsafe you know."

So far, only one offender who has lived here has re-offended, according to authorities. That man tried to set up a photo shoot with a child on the property.

One of his neighbors, a fellow sexual offender, turned him in. ..more.. by Rich Phillips, CNN

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OFFENDERS' HOME TRIES TO BRIDGE NEEDS

10-10-2007 Florida:

A Pinellas mobile home park addresses a sex offender housing dilemma and aids oversight.

At first glance, the Palace Mobile Home Park looks like just another trailer park, offering cheap rent to Floridians with downsized retirement dreams.

The small sign out front is faded. The streets in the cramped community of single-wides are narrow. This was supposed to be the new home of Bobby Joe Helms, the man known as the "Hyde Park rapist."

But the folks who run the park wouldn't have him. Too high-profile, too much attention.

In the past two years, the Palace has quietly become the neighborhood of choice for sex offenders in Pinellas, housing almost 8 percent of all the sex offenders and predators in the county.

About 98 sex offenders - about half of the roughly 200 residents - live in the Palace. No other area in the county has such a high concentration of sex offenders, sheriff's officials say.

"I feel safe here," said Michael Yancey, 41, a registered sex offender who has been at the Palace since June. "I don't feel the weight of the community on my shoulders, the stares. When I walk out of here, it's a whole other ball game."

Palace manager Nancy Morais said she had incomplete information on Helms' past and didn't know the extent of his crimes. Morais is sensitive to public concern. She tries to keep a low profile and says it's good to have offenders live in one place where they're easy to monitor.

"We watch them very, very carefully," she said. "I just don't feel that the community is safe if sex offenders go unattended under a bridge." In many ways, the Palace has become what it is because of Morais, who also runs the nonprofit Florida Justice Alliance, which helps incarcerated criminals transition back into society.

Morais, 59, has a son who is one of Pinellas' 1,260 registered sex offenders. Marc Morais, 38, was convicted of charges including being a principal in an attempted sexual battery of a child under 12, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He lives at the Palace, and so does his mother.

Morais said she was troubled after learning how difficult it was for offenders to find even basic housing. State law does not restrict where offenders can live, but courts often include restrictions as part of probation.

When Morais came across the Palace several years ago, she soon realized it was in an ideal location for offenders. "It's in the middle of nowhere," she said. "We're surrounded by basically nothing."

The Palace is in an unincorporated area called Lealman, one of the poorest areas of Pinellas County. At one time, the area near the Palace was frequented by homeless people.

The small mobile home park consists of a few streets and 80 units at 2500 54th Ave. N. Some of the homes look new; others dowdy. A Winnie the Pooh decoration adorns one home. On Tuesday, several offenders walked around the park doing odd jobs.

Morais said she convinced the park's owners to admit sex offenders several years ago. She said they agreed, as long as no designated sexual predators were allowed.

As word spread about the Palace, more offenders kept moving in. The number shot up from about 55 in 2005 to the high 90s this year, said Sgt. Judy Vovan, who oversees the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office sexual predator and offender tracking unit.

"It's a very high number," Vovan said. "We keep a very close eye on the offenders who reside in that park."

While the Palace is in a high-crime area, Vovan said most of the arrests have been for minor offenses such as disorderly intoxication or violating probation. The offenders also watch each other and report possible crimes, she said. But "we haven't seen a lot of incidents of them committing sex offenses," she said.

The Palace is owned by the R2 Property Co. R2 officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

For residents, the Palace offers cheap rent and access to counseling services. Morais said she doesn't receive any taxpayer dollars and pays for her operations through the $400 monthly rent she charges each offender. Several live in each unit.

Donald Sweeney, a licensed mental health counselor who works with Palace residents in group sessions, said most of the offenders use the Palace as a way station, staying there for a few months after they're released from prison.

He said some work in the Palace, renovating mobile homes and making other repairs. "It was a pretty rough place before the offenders moved in," he said. "They've cleaned it up considerably."

Some people in the Palace and the neighborhood have just started to become aware of the influx of sex offenders.

At Lealman Intermediate School, which is just 0.4 miles from the Palace, school officials have put up mug shots and shifted bus routes so students don't have to walk through the neighborhood.

Frances Bailes has lived in the park for about five years. The presence of so many sex offenders has left some residents afraid to go outside, she said.

"I have people telling me that they are scared, that they are going to move as quick as they can," Bailes said.

She said she hasn't had any problems with her neighbors, except that her grandchildren can't visit her in the park.

"If I can find a place, I'm moving," Bailes said. ..more.. by Staff writers Jacob H. Fries, Anne Lindberg and researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.