ANDOVER, MA -- A Level 3 sex offender under indictment for failing to update her address with Lawrence Police has been spotted in Andover and North Andover in recent days, prompting a flurry of concerned posts and warnings on social media in both communities. Debbie Moccia, 63, who was formerly known as Paul Charbonneau, has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 1972 and includes 40 violent crimes. Last month she was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear for her arraignment in Salem Superior Court.

After that arrest, Judge Timothy Feeley freed Moccia, rejecting a prosecution request to hold her on $5,000 bail. If convicted, Moccia faces a mandatory sentence of at least five years in jail. "She really has nowhere to go," Feeley reportedly said. "She is well-known to local police....It won't be hard to bring her back to court." Indeed, several business owners have alerted Andover Police to her presence. But Moccia is free to go anywhere in the state and is not suspected of breaking any laws since Feeley released her last month. And her presence has both communities on edge. She has been seen panhandling at various locations in downtown Andover and North Andover, as well as Lawrence.

Moccia, a not-fully-transitioned transgender person, is currently on probation for threatening two district court judges. She has been homeless since last year, after which she spent time in Haverhiill. Officials there issued a no trespass order against her after receiving several public complaints. Under state classifications, Level 3 sex offenders are considered at the highest risk to re-offend. Moccia was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or older in 1986 and 2003, and of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior in 2007 and 2014.

Feeley, who has been criticized for a string of decisions in bail and sentencing hearings, noted during last month's hearing that failing to register as a sex offender is not an offense where prosecutors can request that someone be held without bail. Feeley noted he did not consider whether Moccia was dangerous because Essex County prosecutors had not asked him to do so. See Moccia's entry in the state's sex offender database.

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Photo by Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board.