Sex offenders on probation have to check in on Halloween

ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) — It wasn’t much of a party. About 88 sex offenders on probation in Anderson County were required to spend Halloween in an auditorium with their probation officers.

It’s the first time the county office of the state probation department has required them to check in on Halloween.

The state has a three-year-old Halloween curfew for sex offenders who are on probation or parole. They must stay inside their homes with the outside lights off, and cannot give out candy between 5 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Usually, police and probation agents drive around to make sure the offenders are obeying the curfew. But Gerald Black, Anderson County’s top probation agent, said his department wanted to save the cost of gasoline, so it ordered the offenders to come in.

Three other counties — Aiken, Charleston and Chesterfield — require sex offenders to attend events at sheriff’s departments on Halloween.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)