NEW ULM - More than 100 citizens voiced their concerns to law enforcement and corrections agents Wednesday night at a public meeting in the former New Ulm Middle School auditorium regarding a 46-year-old registered level 3 sex offender who recently moved to South Front Street.
James A. Binger, a 5-10, 150-pound white man with brown hair and hazel eyes, was released Dec. 18, 2009, from a Minnesota Department of Corrections facility.
He served 11 years of his sentence after he was convicted of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct in Nicollet County.
Binger has a history of sexual contact with juvenile males ages 7-16. The contact included fondling and penetration, according to New Ulm Police Department fact sheet.
He has 26 release conditions, any one of which could send him back to prison.
They include no direct or indirect contact with minors, no alcohol, drugs, pornography or Internet use except job searches from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The auditorium went dark at 6:39 p.m. after a breaker outage at the Center Street substation cut power to parts of town for 10 minutes.
Flashlights were used to continue the meeting that evolved to questions and answers.
Several residents shouted at once.
"This is a tense situation, please find a way to do this orderly," said a DOC agent.
Pat Moen of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) urged citizens to pay attention to who their children associate with.
"Talk to your kids. Know who they spend time with. If you don't know what to do, call law enforcement," she added. "Most sexual abuse is not reported."
"Are you aware he (Binger) has an eight-year-old niece and a young nephew?" asked a woman. "My six-year-old son is their cousin. What about them?"
Agents said they were informed of Binger's nieces and nephews before they placed him in a Goosetown apartment.
"Why in hell is he in our neighborhood?" asked a man.
"He has more rights than our children," said a woman.
"Where are our rights?" asked another man.
Moen said statistics show sex offenders are re-offending less then they used to due to more effective treatment.
Pat Booker, DOC District Supervisor in Mankato, urged citizens to call police if they see anything suspicious.
She told people to call or write their legislators if they don't agree with sentencing laws.
New Ulm Police Dept. Commander David Borchert said complaints will be investigated.
"If we file a complaint on him (Binger), he'll be in front of a judge within 48 hours," Borchert added.
Booker said Binger would be immediately jailed before he sees a judge.
"But that's too late for the child who is molested," a woman said.
Booker said Minnesota has the best ISR program in the country.
"Less than 1 percent of convicted sexual predators re-offend," Booker said. "They usually commit an offense like having a beer and wind up back in prison. We'll do the best job we can for New Ulm. ... I live here too."
Moen urged people to "be vigilant, but not vigilantes."
"Be watchful, but not to the point where you don't notice others," said Moen. "There are other sex offenders who haven't been caught."
Five DOC agents will monitor Binger who is now on Intensive Supervised Release (ISR) until his sentence expires on Nov. 16, 2014.
ISR elements include house arrest, electronic monitoring including passive GPS, random drug/alcohol tests, unannounced residential and work visits by supervising agents, mandatory 40 hours per week of work or education, pay supervision fees and restitution to victims.
A DOC Powerpoint presentation showed there are 151 Level 3 (highest public risk) sex offenders in Minnesota. Two-thirds of them are no longer supervised. Most of the rest are in prison or half-way houses.
There are 55 registered predatory sex offenders in Brown County, 34 in New Ulm, 53 in Nicollet County and 124 in Blue Earth County.
Moen said predatory offenders have been around for many years. Minnesota's Community Notification Act became law Jan. 1, 1997.
For more information, visit the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at www.bca.state.mn.us/bca.asp click on POR, then POR Public website; Minnesota Department of Corrections at www.doc.state.mn.us, click on search offender locator, Level 3 Sex Offender Search; United States Department of Justice www.nospr.gov (National Sex Offender Registry); Jacob Wetterling Resource Center 1-800-325-HOPE, www.jwrc.org; Stop it Now MN 1-888-PREVENT, www.stopitnow.org/mn; MDH Sexual Violence Prevention, www.health.state.mn.us/svprevent; Office of Justice Programs, Crime Victim Services 888-622-8799, www.ojp.state.mn.us
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
