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Pedophile-free zone law challenged in Manalapan
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/24/06
BY JAMES A. QUIRK
FREEHOLD BUREAU
MANALAPAN — A convicted sex offender's refusal to leave his parents' home, located just behind the Monmouth County Library, will soon test the legal strength of a township ordinance designed to prevent such a person from living there.
On Jan. 9, Lawrence J. Cohen, 40, returned to his parents' home on Alexandria Drive after serving a seven-year sentence for disseminating child pornography and attempting to lure an 11-year-old boy into a weekend of deviant sex in a motel room in Wall. That "boy" was actually an undercover police officer who was communicating with Cohen in an online chat room.
Shortly after his return, township police served Cohen with a notice that he is in viola-tion of Manalapan's Sex Offender Residency Restriction Ordinance, commonly known as "Miracle's Law" after the woman who created it, Capt. Christopher Marsala said.
According to Marsala and township attorney James Kinneally, the notice advised Cohen that he has until April 2 to leave his parents' home or he will be served with a citation. From there, a municipal prosecutor will argue in municipal court that Cohen is in violation of Miracle's Law, which prohibits sex offenders who must register with the state under Megan's Law from living within 2,500 feet of a church, school, day care center or library.
On March 14, Cohen filed a handwritten legal complaint against the township contesting the validity of Miracle's Law.
"I was ordered by Chief (Stuart) Brown on Jan. 31 that I will be in violation of township ordinance #2005-29, and I must leave my home by March 31, and become homeless," Cohen states in his complaint. "I ask for a public defender to defend my rights against this unconstitutional and unjust ordinance."
Cohen's challenge of Miracle's Law will be heard in Superior Court in Freehold, Kinneally said. Deciding whether or not Cohen should be penalized for failing to move will be up to a municipal judge. A sex offender found in violation of the ordinance may face a maximum fine of $1,250 and no more than 90 days of community service for each offense.
A loophole to Miracle's Law is that it does not apply to sex offenders who were living in town before the ordinance was adopted late last year. Cohen argues this loophole applies to him; that he has technically never left his residence.
"That's an argument for the courts to decide," Marsala said. "Even though he was in prison for eight years, he argues that technically his address was still Alexandria Drive. There's other towns in Monmouth County that have similar, pending cases. It's not as cut and dry as we'd like it to be."
Earlier this month, Cohen was classified as a Tier 2 offender under the State Police's Megan's Law system. Now, residents can log onto the State Police's Web site to see a photo of Cohen and read his history.
But resident Tom Grande beat the State Police to the punch by photographing Cohen on the street shortly after he returned to Manalapan. This photo, which is much more detailed than the image on the state's Web site, has since been circulated around town in an e-mail network of concerned parents. In his complaint, Cohen states that the scrutiny by neighbors has negatively impacted every facet of his life.
"Public humiliation, harassment, negative publicity, so that I have been unable to find a job, go shopping without being stared at, have pictures taken of me, told anti-Semitic remarks, I am afraid to leave my home alone to even attend services," wrote Cohen, who wears a yarmulke in public.