{"id":12918,"date":"2015-12-16T15:08:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T20:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=12918"},"modified":"2015-12-16T15:08:46","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T20:08:46","slug":"schomberg-residents-want-high-risk-offender-out-of-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/schomberg-residents-want-high-risk-offender-out-of-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Schomberg residents want high-risk offender out of town"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

Area residents came out in droves Sunday afternoon to discuss the community\u2019s controversial new member.<\/p>\n

Most were looking for answers as to how to drive Keith Theodore Constantin, 35, out of town. The high-risk offender was placed last week in a rural facility outside the town of Schomberg.<\/p>\n

York Regional Police, the Ministry of Correctional Services, and King council members fielded dozens of questions in an attempt to put to ease the minds of the around 300 residents who packed the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be here, and you don\u2019t want to be here,\u201d said Mayor Steve Pellegrini. \u201cBut this is something that needs to be discussed openly as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constantin was released following a four-year jail term for sexual assault with a weapon, and an 18-month term for violating his curfew conditions. His rap sheet includes sexually assaulting a seven-year old boy, sexually assaulting a 45-year-old blind woman, robbing two variety stores with a starter pistol, and raping and beating a woman at knife-point.<\/p>\n

One resident claimed that her children have suffered anxiety due to the situation, a claim that was met with clapping from around the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not fair to the children of this community to have to worry about this. People move to Schomberg because it is a safe, small community, a good place for their children to grow up in.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Det. Arnold of the YRP, the facility is \u201chighly-secured\u201d to keep Constantin contained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house is alarmed. He can\u2019t go out of the house, he can\u2019t even open a window without an alarm going off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be conducting ongoing visits to the premise, talking with the caseworkers, making sure they know they can be in touch with us at any time. If they have any concerns, or there\u2019s any changes in behavior, they know to contact us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government-funded facility will be monitored at all times by three caseworkers, though some residents expressed concerns that they will remain unarmed.<\/p>\n

David Mitchell, regional director of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, said the staff are \u201cvery well-trained to handle the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants anything to happen. This is what they specialize in, managing these offenders. They have protocols in place, somebody is within five to 10 feet of him at all times. There are no staff sleeping when he\u2019s sleeping. When he\u2019s sleeping the staff is awake. They will have him monitored 24\/7. This isn\u2019t their first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are currently 320 registered offenders living within York Region.<\/p>\n

Others were concerned that Constantin will not be fitted with an ankle bracelet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, there are no provisions from the York Regional Police to put an ankle bracelet on him,\u201d said Arnold. \u201cThat is something that may come up through probation and parole, if they deem it necessary, but at this point there is no chance he\u2019s even leaving the residence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny exposure he would have to the community has to be approved through us and the probation office, prior to him actually leaving the residence. It would be a 24-hour notification to us and the probation office before he would even been allowed to go and we have to approve that in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is currently bound by three court orders including one under section 810.2 of the Criminal Code. He must abide by strict conditions including: not to be alone with anyone under the age of 16 unless the minor is accompanied by a responsible adult over 18; not to be present in any day care, swimming area and\/or public swimming area, school ground or playground where one might reasonably expect children to be present or any community centre where children are present; abstain absolutely from the possession, purchase or consumption of drugs, narcotics, controlled substances or marihuana, except in accordance with a medical prescription; abstain absolutely from possession, purchase or consumption of alcohol or alcohol-based products.<\/p>\n

Exposure to the community, however, is unpreventable when Constantin\u2019s probation period ends in 2018, with one attendee yelling \u201cgarbage!\u201d when this was announced to the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody is successful through their probation, that the courts have determined they have finished their sentence and there are no other issues, then that is not up to us,\u201d said Arnold.<\/p>\n

Many were left wondering, why was King Township chosen? Since his release, Constantin has moved between group homes in Hamilton, Stoney Creek, and now Schomberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire council of King Township is here,\u201d Pellegrini told the crowd. \u201cWe will continue to engage with the community and work on this. We\u2019ll bring it up at council.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no choice. We found out (last Wednesday), I was with the chief Thursday morning and asking \u2018how can this happen? There\u2019s a community in uproar about this, what can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the attendees they can write to their MP and MPP on the matter, as it is beyond a municipal issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a community, we send in a lot of these, our voice is heard. I recommend strongly that you write your MPP and MP.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte Area residents came out in droves Sunday afternoon to discuss the community\u2019s controversial new member. Most were looking for answers as to how to drive Keith Theodore Constantin, 35, out of town. The high-risk offender was placed last week in a rural facility outside the town of Schomberg. York Regional Police, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3mm","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 14:01:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}