According to a Floral Park Police Department report, at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, a 14-year-old Garden City boy was playing handball in Floral Park when he noticed Kevin Cloherty of Garden City, a convicted sex offender who served four years in Elmira Prison for second-degree attempted sodomy.

The boy called police from a cell phone. Police Officer Groshans, who responded to Floral Park's recreation center, questioned Cloherty, 40, who offered police his brother's address. The subject was later charged and arrested for trespass and criminal impersonation.

Cloherty was convicted back in 1994 and registered under Megan's Law, a not-for-profit national community and victim's rights organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of childhood sexual abuse through the provision of education, advocacy, counseling, policy and legislative support services. After serving his maximum jail term, Cloherty was released from prison in June of 1998.

Megan's Law, named after a 7-year-old Hamilton Township, New Jersey girl, who on July 29, 1994, was lured into her neighbor's home with the promise of a puppy and was brutally raped and murdered by a two-time convicted sex offender, took effect Jan. 21, 1996. A 1997 injunction challenging the law currently prevents any law enforcement agency from releasing information about any sex offender that was in jail, on probation or on parole the day Megan's Law took effect. "Cloherty was in jail the day Megan's Law took effect," Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, noted.

Due to this injunction, each convicted offender must have an individual hearing; Cloherty, according to Ahearn, has not had his yet. Although he is a registered offender, his risk level (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 or violent sexual predator) has yet to be determined, she added.

According to Parents For Megan's Law, an offender is considered Level 1 when the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) determines that the risk of re-offense is low. Information on Level 1 offenders is not available to the public. Neither the police nor the SORB has authority to disseminate information to the general public. Rather, information may only be given to city and town police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for law enforcement purposes.

An offender is considered Level 2 when the SORB determines that the risk of re-offense is moderate and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a public safety interest is served by public availability of registration information. The public shall have access to the information through local police departments and the SORB.

An offender is considered Level 3 when the board determines that the risk of re-offense is high and the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active dissemination. The public shall have access to the information regarding a Level 3 offender through local police departments and through the Sex ORB.

If the board, in finally giving an offender a Level 3 classification, also concludes that the offender should be designated a sexually violent predator, the board transmits a report to the sentencing court explaining its reasons for such a designation, including specific identification of the sexually violent offense committed by the offender and the mental abnormality from which he/she suffers. The sentencing court at that point may determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, whether the offender is a sexually violent predator. The public shall have access to the information regarding a sexually violent predator through local police departments and the SORB.

"Seven states in the country have lifetime supervision for sex offenders and New York is not one of them. This is a serious problem," Ahearn said. "A guy like this is free to go about wherever the heck he wants. Even though you can register him under Megan's Law, this is a guy who can go anywhere where children are congregating without consequence."

Concerned residents can verify Cloherty's registration status by calling New York State's 1-800 number: 1-800-262-3257 or visiting www.parentsformeganslaw.com.