Malini Basu

KHOU-TV, Houston

HOUSTON — Almost two dozen sex offenders are living in a halfway house here, and neighbors say they are afraid to let their children play outside.

The convicts served six to 20 years in prison for rape, aggravated sexual assault and other serious sex offenses, moving into the house in February.

"My grandbabies, they can't go back out there because I have to be out there with them now," said Phyllis Thomas, who lives in the northwest Houston neighborhood.

The men are locked behind a chain fence. A church and a police substation are across the street. But neighbors have said they've seen the men cut through a neighbor's backyard to go to a store.

"You can see over my fence," another woman said. "I can't let them out, not even the front yard. We can't even rest in our house."

Ten of the men moved in first, said Glen Jackson, who lives nearby. Then the next weekend, 10 more moved in and residents received cards in the mail notifying them of their new neighbors.

One woman said she decided to learn to shoot a gun after one man accosted her.

"They groped on themselves, like rub down there and telling me to come and I said, 'No,' " Joycelynn Williams said.

A man hired to monitor the men, who would not identify himself, said neighbors don't need to worry because the men can't go anywhere.

The contractor in charge of the home, whose office is in Austin, Texas, did not return calls for comment.

"They need to move," Thomas said. "I think it's going to be a repeat offense — and someone in the neighborhood."

Texas law requires sex offenders to notify local law enforcement, and the state and often local authorities have websites that allow the public to search for sex offenders who live in their communities. But when a high-risk sex offenders moves into a neighborhood, the Texas Department of Public Safety mails a postcard about the convict to each residence and business in the area.

Meanwhile, state legislators are doing what they can.

"There is a contract in the works for their placement," said state Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat. "I do everything in my power to move that along."