Story Published:
Nov 25, 2008 at 8:27 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Nov 25, 2008 at 11:35 PM CDT
A Superior man who police say admitted to looking at 1,500 child pornography videos in the past two years, is causing a stir in his neighborhood.
63 year old Vern Michael Tucci was arrested last week following an undercover internet investigation.
He was charged with five felonies for Possession of Child Pornography.
Amy Wise is Tucci's neighbor.
She's the mother of 3 year old twins.
"I'm afraid to leave my kids outside as you can see my curtains, these are shut permanently now. I will not open them no more," Wise said.
"I have a sixteen year old and one going on 14 year old and we figured the one day there's probably like 21 kids on the street and just the thought of him being here and being around kids, its like creepy," said Iris Putnam, who lives in Tucci's neighborhood.
An elemntary school bus stop is right across the street from Tucci, and neighbors say they're not happy about that either.
"We were told that if we wanted to the parents of whoever has elementary kids that go to that bus stop can go call the school district and request that they change the bus stop temporarily so that the kids don't have to be out there," said Putnam.
The two women are working on a petition, to get Tucci out of the neighborhood.
"Getting him out of their neighborhood isn't something that neighbors will be able to do," said Superior Police Captain Matthew Markon.
At least for now.
Tucci's initial hearing is set for December tenth, but neighbors won't likely be able to get him out of the neighborhood unless he's convicted.
Superior Police Captain Matthew Markon says it's important to note, authorities wouldn't have let Tucci out on a five- thousand dollar signature bond, if they thought he was a threat to the community.
Tucci must also follow some restrictions.
"No possession of any child pornography and no unsupervised contact with any minors," said Markon.
He says worried neighbors should simply be sure to keep a close watch of their children.
Markon says if anyone knows of Tucci violating the restrictions of his bail, they should immediately report it to the Superior Police Department.
Wednesday, Nov 26 at 2:27 PM jc wrote ...
Where will he go if he's kicked out of that neighborhood? Likely into the low income areas where there are MANY more children. How logical is that? The people with money don't want him, so the poor people have to deal with him? Sex offenders have to go somewhere, and they usually end up in neighborhoods where there is a higher incidence of poverty, and unfortunately, less supervision for the children. Send the perverts to prison and keep them there.