MANKATO — Residents from the Tourtellotte Park neighborhood came up with a lot of reasons why they don't want Gregory Eugene Ward to move into the former Riverfront Inn motel.

The reason Debra Roberts cited during a predatory offender meeting at the Verizon Wireless Center Thursday night came from the state's law books. And it resulted in a promise from Public Safety Director Todd Miller to take a second look.

Ward, 46, has a history of sex offenses dating back to the 1990s. They include fondling children he knew in Scott County and attacking a woman he didn't know on the Sakatah Trail in Blue Earth County and attempting to force her to have sex. He was wanted by police for 14 years before he was arrested in Mankato in 2010 and sent to prison to serve a sentence stemming from the Scott County offense. He will be on intense supervised release, including GPS monitoring.

When Ward moves to the Riverfront Inn at 1727 N. Riverfront Drive on Monday, he will be living in a neighborhood with two nearby schools, a park with a popular pool and busy softball field and an adult book store within walking distance. There were about 60 people at the public meeting, which was hosted by the Mankato Department of Public Safety and the state Department of Corrections. When some of those people asked if the park or schools could keep Ward from moving into the neighborhood, they were told they couldn't.

They also were told statistics gathered on the small percentage of 17,000 predatory offenders in the state who have re-offended show that living near parks or schools were not factors. If they do offend again, which is rare, they usually target someone they know, said Michele Murphy, DOC community notification manager.

Only about three percent of level three offenders like Ward, who are the predatory offenders the Department of Corrections considers most likely to offend again, are convicted of another sex crime within four years after they're released, Murphy said.

Roberts asked about the law that allows police departments to notify the public when level three offenders move into a city. That law includes a clause that says landlords shouldn't rent to level three offenders if they also have an agreement to provide housing to victims of domestic abuse. Roberts said she has been told that Blue Earth County refers people to the Riverfront Inn who have been the victims of domestic assault.

Miller said he had looked at that portion of the law, but didn't see anything that would keep Ward from moving in there. It also was pointed out, however, that police would have no way of knowing the background of others living in the former motel, which has been turned into efficiency apartments. And police didn't know if there was any county contracts in place.

"We'll look at it again," Miller said. "I appreciate you doing your research."

Murphy does many notification meetings throughout the state every year, each starting with information about how someone receives the level three label. She also provides many statistics about predatory offenders, including level two and level one offenders. There are 151 registered offenders in Blue Earth County and 116 of them live in Mankato, she said.

"I want to caution you against focusing too much on (Ward) because there are 115 other offenders in Mankato and probably many more who haven't been caught," Murphy said.

She encouraged those at the meeting to report any suspicious behavior in their neighborhood.

Roberts told Murphy she wasnÕt impressed by all the statistics.

"I was offended by the presentation tonight," Roberts said. "There were a lot of statistics that we already knew about. We're here, but it really doesn't matter. What have we gained by being here?"

A notification meeting had been scheduled for Ward when he planned to move to an apartment in Mankato's downtown entertainment district. That plan was changed because the apartment wasn't approved by the five-member DOC team that will be supervising him, said Frank Howard, a supervising agent.

Someone also asked about a Florida warrant for Ward's arrest stemming from incidents where he harassed and stalked a former wife. That person was told by Det. Cmdr. Matt DuRose that warrants can be limited to a state or surrounding states.