Many residents in the southwest L.A. neighborhood where the Rochester House is located knew the historic white mansion was home to numerous men.
Last month, they learned that the private sober-living facility on Rochester Circle houses more than two dozen registered sex offenders, despite a state law that appears to limit that number to six. Now, residents want the men moved out.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday April 06, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 84 words Type of Material: Correction
Sex offenders -- A map in Friday's California section showed the approximate location of registered sex offenders living in the Jefferson Park area of Los Angeles. Of the two sources listed for the map, Los Angeles County's Megan's Law website, upon which the drawing was based, updates its information on a monthly basis. The California Department of Justice website updates its map daily and is thus a more timely resource. Some locations shown on the map may no longer appear on the state's website.
"I think it's a shame that they would put something like that in a community and not let the residents know that kind of activity is going on," said Ed Jones, a 10-year resident of the neighborhood near Jefferson Boulevard and Western Avenue. "They need to get rid of that activity in a residential area and move it into a commercial or industrial zone."
The computerized state registry for sex offenders, created by Megan's Law, shows 25 registered offenders reported the Rochester House as their address, according to a review by The Times. Elected officials say as many as 31 may be living there.
The house, however, appears to fall under a loophole in state law, according to the state Department of Corrections. Sober-living facilities that don't include medical treatment, such as Rochester House, apparently are not subject to the six-person cap, said Ivory Roberts, the Department of Corrections' assistant regional administrator for Los Angeles County. Moreover, sober-living facilities are not subject to state regulation and do not require licenses, he said.
"We had our legal department render an interpretation, and our legal department interprets [the statute] very broadly," Roberts said.
A recent inspection of the residence revealed no violations of state laws, so the department considers the matter closed, he said.
Even if the corrections department placed only six parolees in a facility, other agencies are not precluded from sending registered sex offenders there as well, significantly increasing the number of people who may potentially live in one residence, said Margot Bach, a spokeswoman for the corrections department.
Frightened neighbors and city and state officials, however, say they want many of the offenders at Rochester House relocated. They plan a protest at 5 p.m. today.
"Legal or not, you cannot convince me, nor can you convince my constituents, that this is reasonable," said Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes the neighborhood. "Such facilities are merely exploiting the lack of reasonable regulation and oversight."
