Sex Offender Moves Following Threat of Protest

ORANGE — A man who was the second repeat sex offender in Orange County to have his whereabouts announced in the neighborhood under Megan’s Law left his home after concerned parents threatened to stage a protest, authorities said Thursday.

Mark W. Mahoney, 48, a parolee who was imprisoned for fondling several boys, was living at an apartment complex within two blocks of Palmyra Elementary School, said Lynda Ward, regional spokeswoman for the state’s parole department.

Mahoney served five years for fondling the boys, ages 11 and 14, in Orange and San Diego counties. He also was convicted in 1980 of oral copulation with minors, Ward said. That crime also happened in Orange County, authorities said.

Prompted by a new law allowing police to notify the community in which a serious sex offender lives, police officers began passing out hundreds of fliers Tuesday evening. Mahoney moved in with relatives Wednesday night. His belongings are stored in the apartment until he finds a permanent home outside the city, authorities said.

“He’ll be coming back and forth to get his belongings, but he will not be there for any length of time,” Ward said.

Neither the police nor parole officials would reveal Mahoney’s new location, but said he is being monitored and will not be spending another night in Orange. Mahoney has lived in the Almond Avenue apartment complex since June 1995, after he got out of prison. He has been working as a telephone salesman and has not violated the terms of his parole, Ward said.

Susan LanFranco, president of the Parent Teacher Assn. at Palmyra, said area residents were planning a protest, but changed their minds when they got word of Mahoney’s move.

“We feel like we’ve accomplished what we wanted to,” LanFranco said. “We’ll continue to follow up to make sure he doesn’t surface.”

Mahoney was the second man targeted in Orange County under Megan’s Law.

Earlier this year, Placentia and Fullerton police notified neighbors about twice-convicted child molester Sid Landau, prompting protests and even death threats. After several moves, Landau landed back in prison after striking a television cameraman at an Orange motel.

“We do believe the public is better off knowing than not knowing,” said Orange Lt. Ed Tunstall. “But the problem that we’re dealing with now is where are these people going to live? That’s something that has not been resolved.”

Tunstall said the department mulled over Megan’s Law for weeks, seeking legal advice and investigating the repeat sex offenders to determine whether they posed a threat to the community. Police decided to notify the community because of Mahoney’s criminal past and his residence’s proximity to the school.

“If we don’t make notification and if he were to commit another crime, we’d have to live with that,” Tunstall said. “We would have erred on the side of public safety.”