ELDORADO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A town in Fond du Lac County is fighting the release of a sex offender there for the second time in about a year.
The state Department of Health Services wants to move the offender, Terry Olson, to a home on Nitschke road in Eldorado.
Monday Fond du Lac County Judge Richard Nuss granted a restraining order to keep Olson out.
Olson was convicted of sexual assault of a child in 1990. Officials say he hurt as many as 30 children.
Olson is from Washington County. Under state law an offender is typically released back into his or her convicting county, unless suitable housing cannot be found there.
Three locations in Washington County were found suitable. According to the Department of Health Services however, they didn’t pan out.
“While that was happening both properties had fallen through. The vendor had contacted us and advised they were no longer for sale,” said Scott Timm with DHS.
So DHS focused on the Eldorado home where another sex offender already lives.
Fond du Lac County Sheriff Mylan Fink tells WLUK he does not want Olson housed there and neither do local residents.
“I believed that the public safety, especially the children of that area, was at risk should we place that offender there”
According to Fink the Department of Corrections agreed Olson should not be moved there.
Fond du Lac County’s Corporation Counsel Meggin McNamara says DHS did not give that information to the judge in Washington County who ordered Olson moved to Eldorado.
“I think it’s very disappointing because we expect our judiciary to be making decisions based on being fully informed with the best evidence available”
McNamara says Fond du Lac County and Eldorado officials were not given proper notification of Olson’s release.
“So that’s problematic from a county perspective when you’re trying to provide those resources and protect and serve when we’re not fully vetted and we’re not fully engaged in the process”
Meanwhile, a Washington County judge has suspended Olson’s relocation. That judge asked DHS to do more research on the possible locations in Washington County.
The sheriff and Eldorado residents fought against the release of a Milwaukee County sex offender to the exact same house last December. He was ultimately moved elsewhere.
