ND- States give sex offenders place to live

6-1-2008 North Dakota:

Ellric Giroux and Andy Perhus were turned down a combined 38 times before they found a place to live.

They don’t have bad credit. They’re sex offenders.

Some potential landlords are open-minded. Others hang up the phone after hearing that the interested tenant is a registered sex offender, Giroux said.

Giroux makes it a point to tell landlords upfront so there aren’t problems later. He also tries to thank them for their time, even if they’re not interested.

“I’m not opposed to people knowing,” said Giroux, who was convicted in 1997 of gross sexual imposition for an incident with a 15-year-old when he was 19. “People are afraid of what they don’t know; it’s human nature.”

Perhus was convicted in 2003 of burglary and two counts of criminal trespass for entering private residences and stealing female undergarments. His probation was revoked in 2006 after he was found with female and children’s undergarments, according to the city’s sex offender site.

Both Giroux and Perhus recently landed at 1315 1st Ave. N., No. 6, in Fargo following their release from prison.

The North Dakota Department of Corrections leases the apartment as transitional housing, said Barb Breiland, program manager for the North Dakota Sex Offender Specialist Unit.

For $7 a day – which includes utilities – “it beats living on the street,” said Giroux, who was homeless for a year in Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has a similar transitional housing program in Moorhead. The agency uses a home in the 1900 block of First Avenue South for up to four recently released offenders.

“Offenders are placed there so they’re not living in their car, they’re not living under a bridge,” said Shari Burt, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.

Burt said the housing allows the state to use supervision tools, such as home monitoring, for residents who usually stay 30 to 90 days while looking for permanent housing or employment.

“We believe that it improves, it enhances public safety,” she said.

Two offenders now live at the residence.

Finding housing can be difficult and frustrating for sex offenders after they’re released from incarceration, said Bernice Jamgochian, whose grandson, Allen, is a registered sex offender.

He was convicted in 2007 of gross sexual imposition for an incident involving a 14-year-old female relative. He was also convicted of corruption of a minor in 2005 for an incident involving a 15-year-old female acquaintance, according to the city’s sex offender Web site.

Jamgochian said they struggled at first, but found a place at 1423 6th Ave. S. in Fargo with the help of Cass County social services.

Pete Sabo, who owns the building Jamgochian lives in, said he has never had a problem with any of the sex offenders he has had as tenants.

“I find them to be excellent renters,” Sabo said. “They pay their rent on time. They don’t want any trouble. They go to work on time. They’ve never so much as bothered any other tenants.”

The Fargo businessman tries to look at all the circumstances surrounding a sex offender being required to register, adding he checks the story they give him with each individual’s probation officer.

But Sabo said he isn’t a fan of renting to convicted child molesters.

“If they’re molesting little girls, I don’t think a lifetime sentence would be enough for them,” he said.

Sabo said he has had a few residents complain about him renting to sex offenders, “but the ones that are complaining are the worst tenants I’ve got.”

Jamgochian’s grandson had problems with neighbors at his last residence, which resulted in him going back to jail for a probation violation, she said.

Jamgochian thinks her grandson might have better luck this time with his new neighbors.

Jim Mahlke, who lives in the same building as Jamgochian and just down the hall from another high-risk sex offender, said he doesn’t have any problem with his neighbors.

“They did their time; they served their sentence,” Mahlke said. “Everybody’s got a right to live somewhere.”

Most of the neighbors of Giroux and Perhus have been friendly, Giroux said. Several other sex offenders have lived in the neighborhood near their apartment and have since relocated. About a block up the street, two high-risk sex offenders live one house away from one another.

Neither have been a problem for neighbor Sonja Johnson, although she said she appreciates being aware of the men’s histories.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me if he lives there as long as he doesn’t bother me,” she said of neighbor Jeffrey Theisen, 1413 1st Ave. N.

Theisen was convicted of gross sexual imposition in juvenile court in 1997 for an incident involving a female known to him who was younger than age 15. He is one of a few sex offenders who have moved frequently in the past several months, according to offender relocation notifications Fargo police send to the public.

Authorities can’t force someone to live somewhere, said Fargo police Lt. Pat Claus.

Two detectives are assigned to monitor the city’s sex offenders, a task Claus said has become more than a secondary duty.

The detectives estimate that almost 50 percent of their week goes into keeping tabs on sex offenders, Claus said.

Giroux said he understands why sex offenders have to register. He said he believes it helps give the community a better sense of protection and awareness.

“I’m all for that; I have children myself,” he said. “I don’t mind them scrutinizing me. I’m not doing anything wrong.”

For the most part, he feels he is pretty much left alone by the public, although he knows there are some people who are uncomfortable with his situation.

“If people don’t like me because of that, that’s one less person that I’ve got to deal with,” Giroux said. ..News Source.. by Brittany Lawonn, The Forum