MEXICO — Besides overwhelmingly approving all town budget articles Tuesday, voters also OK’d new sex offender and curfew ordinances.
At an earlier Planning Board meeting, police Chief Roy Hodsdon said, “Most towns will have an ordinance that states sex offenders can’t live within a certain distance of schools or other public places where kids may be. Mexico doesn’t have anything like that. When I was appointed chief, I said that one of my goals was to crack down on sex offender violations.”
The ordinance defines sex offenders as person(s) convicted of sex offenses committed against a person who is younger than 14 years old at the time of the offense, regardless of whether the offense was committed in Maine.
Restricted properties include the Mexico Recreation Center, Mexico Recreation Park, Mountain Valley Middle School, Meroby Elementary School, Mexico Public Library and any licensed and registered day care facilities.
The ordinance says the town may file a legal action against the violator, and also seek a penalty of at least $500 per day, with each day constituting a separate violation.
Hodsdon told the Planning Board he was in favor of a curfew ordinance, but wanted to make sure it was fair to minors. He said he wanted to make sure Mexico’s curfew ordinance wouldn’t “ding minors coming to and from work, or different events.”
He said, “If we’ve been having a lot of burglaries in the area, and we see someone out, we can talk to them. However, it’s not against the law for someone to walk down Main Street at midnight.”
In the ordinance, curfew hours are from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. A minor is defined as anyone 17 years old or younger.
Before taking any action to enforce this ordinance, a police officer shall ask for the person’s age and may ask for proof of age. If the person is a minor and can’t produce identification proving otherwise, the officer can ask the reason for the apparent offenders being in a public place.
The officer shall not take action to enforce the curfew unless it’s believed an offense has occurred and based on any responses as well as the circumstances. Then the officer may take the minor into custody for the purpose of contacting the minor’s parents/guardian to take control of the minor.
The officer may summon the minor and the minor’s parents to District Court for violation of the ordinance. The penalty for a minor who violates this ordinance is, for the first offense, taking the minor to the Police Department and notifying the parent/guardian and providing a copy of the curfew ordinance.
Second offense is five hours of community service and/or a fine of $50 and any court costs. Third offense is 10 hours of community service and/or a fine up to $100, plus court costs. Subsequent offenses are a fine of $150 plus court costs.
Penalties for parents or guardians are: First offense, a fine of $100 plus court costs; for each subsequent offense, a fine of $200 plus court costs.
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