Loophole frees sex offender

2-11-2010 Pennsylvania:

A legal loophole allowed a convicted sex offender to go free last week.

Matthew D. Benkoe, 25, who was convicted of sexual offenses against children in Ohio, worked last summer for an amusement company at the Lycoming County Fair in Hughesville.

Following his arrest for public drunkenness at 1:30 a.m. on July 23, it was learned that Benkoe also had failed to register as a sex offender as required by Megan's Law.

Last week, however, he was found not guilty because the law doesn't cover transient workers from out-of-state who are here for less than 30 days, according to an opinion by county Judge Marc F. Lovecchio.

Megan's Law was named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl, Megan Kanka, who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered by a man who had two prior convictions for sexual offenses and lived across the street from her family.

Benkoe has a violation for being a habitual sex offender in Ohio, according to Assistant District Attorney Mary C. Kilgus, who suspects the hole in the law is a dangerous loophole.

Lovecchio stated the prosecution may have faced "an insurmountable burden" because Megan's Law does not address a situation where an individual employed by an out-of-state company is performing temporary work here.

"Megan's Law does not cover the situation where a person does not have a fixed place of habitation of some degree of permanence," Lovecchio said.

Lovecchio said he was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Benkoe was convicted of a similar offense in Ohio and that he knew he was required to register in Pennsylvania. The problem Lovecchio said he struggled with was the "residency" issue.

He cited Commonwealth v. Wilgus, a Superior Court decision handed down in June 2009, a month before Benkoe arrived in Lycoming County.

It is a case "this court is bound to follow," Lovecchio wrote. The term residence connotes a fixed geographical location within a neighborhood whose residents are entitled to notice and protection," the judge wrote.

At the trial, Benkoe's time cards were introduced and testimony indicated he was not going to be in the state for more than 14 days.

Benkoe arrived in the borough on July 13. He lived in bunkhouses at the fair.

His pay stub didn't show any rental fee deductions, only those for taxes. Lovecchio didn't believe the housing alternatives would qualify under a "residence" under Megan's Law.

Meanwhile, Kilgus said the state legislature has to address the misgivings of the law designed to protect the public from sex offenders.

"The statute requires we have to prove Benkoe or other sex offenders who are transients reside in Pennsylvania in excess of 30 days," Kilgus said.

According to Kigus, Benkoe didn't report on his employment application to the amusement company that he was convicted of any felonies.

"I'm sure you can see the danger to the public from sex offenders who come here as fair, carnival or gas line workers," Kilgus said.

"We are unable to prosecute sex offenders who are transient, who come here to work on a temporary basis, or who we can't show have lived somewhere for 30 days." ..Source.. MARK MARONEY