There’s a sickness that has crept over our area.
A preponderance of child predators have unfortunately set up shop throughout lower Delaware.
The Lewes pediatrician case is only the latest in a string that have plagued downstate towns for years. The murder of the Salisbury girl in Delmar over the holidays emphasized the despicable trend.
Let’s not forget the 10 men arrested in 2007 after police uncovered an international child pornography ring. Many in that group of downstate men — much like Dr. Earl Bradley — taped their actions leaving authorities no doubt about what happened.
2009 witnessed two other high profile child pornography internet cases — one a Georgetown man and another a Felton man who had a sophisticated computer system set up in his mobile home.
We’re living in an age where pedophiles have become emboldened and increasingly aggressive. Though not common knowledge, two different men approached Caesar Rodney students before the holiday vacation. To date, the predators remain at-large. It may only be a matter of time before one of them succeeds in luring a kid into their car.
It’s become such a problem that residents need to start questioning why there are so many child predators in the area.
Has the lower-economic areas where we live become a haven for these predators because it’s cheap for them to live? Or has there been an orchestrated effort to relocate these types of offenders to the area because the rent is low?
A couple of decades ago there was a Smyrna boy who murdered a young girl after sexually assaulting her. After serving his time, he was released and government officials intended to place him in a group home in a nice middle-class neighborhood in south Dover. That is, until neighbors got wind of it and set up such a protest that he was placed elsewhere.
Not sure where he ended up after that, but it’s disturbing to think that there was no consideration for the neighborhood children where officials intended to place the convicted offender.
It’s only when residents start asking questions, that information comes out.
And residents need to start asking a lot of questions these days.
There are too many police reports detailing intricate Internet child porn rings to not.
As parents, caregivers or responsible citizens we need to be aware of what is going on right next to us.
And we shouldn’t rule out intuition.
If something doesn’t seem right there may be a reason for it. Go with your gut feelings no matter what. A child’s life may depend on it.
Milford, Del. —
