Neighbors say they were aware of sex offender

May 04, 2011|By Karl Man | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(SALINA,Kan.) — A Salina woman says she knew something was going on, but no one would help. Police just arrested one her neighbors, 52 year-old Jamie Serda is already a registered sex offender now he's accused of doing it again; charged with multiple counts of aggravated sodomy and indecent liberties with a child.

"I got a general feeling that I was being a nosey neighbor and I should mind my own business."

It’s a safe morning says Sarah Fraser as she plays out in the backyard with her daughter...safety is something she has not felt in some time.

Fraser and her family live two doors down from registered sex offender Jamie Serda. Fraser says she became suspicious of her neighbor by simply looking out her window.

"One day I saw him walking down the sidewalk with a younger boy and it just struck me as this is wrong...this person has no reason to be around these kids."

Fraser wanted her other neighbors to know that a registered sex offender was not only living in their community he was regularly around other children. She called police and the sheriff's department but says no one did anything.

"Basically I was told by the Salina police that if I do not see the crime occurring there is nothing they can do...to me that is not good enough."

This week Serda was arrested - accused of fondling three boys in December. Investigators say the boys told their mother what happened...she contacted police.

Serda is a registered sex offender but was allowed to be around children. Authorities tell us Fraser's suspicions alone were not enough to investigate.

"Unless we get specific information about a crime that has been committed or will be committed there is nothing we can do," says Salina police Capt. Mike Sweeney.

Fraser says she's frustrated authorities didn't listen. She warns other parents to pay attention to who lives in their neighborhood.

Police say two boys are in their early teens... and one is elementary school age. In 2000, Serda was convicted of first degree sexual assault on a child in Nebraska.

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