(Columbia) June 30, 2005 - Last summer, Tarsha Perry's 12-year-old daughter was going to camp in Orangeburg. On a field trip to a local store, Perry says her little girl was groped by a registered sex offender who worked at the store, "I just kind of lost it until I saw her. I can't describe how I was feeling. I was so hurt and angry."

The man has been charged with assault and battery, but not yet convicted. He'll likely see some changes when he re-registers as a sex offender if he is convicted.

The governor signed into law two bills on Thursday. Gov. Sanford says one would require sex offenders to not only report in the county where they live, but also in counties where they own property or go to school, or work if that work is near children, "It's about a kid's ability to go out to the ice cream truck and have a parent not worry about it."

The other would require all people convicted of a sexual offense against children to wear an electronic monitoring device. Only people convicted after the program starts would be affected.

There's a problem with putting an ankle bracelet program in place in South Carolina. It could cost anywhere between $3 and $12 million. State Senator Jake Knotts (R-Lexington) says there's no money in the budget and it can't happen until it's funded, "If we can put them on Martha Stewart, we ought to be able to put them on people to protect our children."

The funding failed to pass last session, but Senator Knotts says he'll ask for it again next year. The governor said he'd support money for the program as well, if only to give parents like Tarsha peace of mind, "The one thing that lives with you constantly, you wonder where that person is at all time and you don't know."

By Heather Brown
Posted 7:22pm by BrettWitt