Target 8: Motel or sex offender house?

WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) - The Web site for the Grand Rapids Inn on 28th Street SW lists its many amenities: free USA Today newspapers, jacuzzi rooms -- and kids stay free.

It is also home to 60 registered sex offenders -- most staying at the expenses of the state.

A woman living at the motel with her three young children, ages 3, 8 and 12, was surprised to learn from 24 Hour News 8 that registered sex offenders were living there. Most of the rooms directly above her are occupied by men on the state's sex offender registry.

"Not 60?" she said.

A clerk at the motel, 250 28th St. SW, said it was kid-friendly, with an arcade and swimming pool.

The state Department of Corrections pays the bill for most of the men -- more than $18 a day -- a total of perhaps $20,000 a month. Some of the offenders pay part of their bill, said Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan.

Most are parolees, part of a state program to move them back into society.

"I'm helping the state to house them in transition until they get integrated back to their homes where they came from," said motel manager Albert Helme.

The state says the program is working.

About half of all parolees -- not just sex offenders -- go through the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Program after leaving prison. The program includes finding places for many of them to live while they make the transition.

The program looks for homes in neighborhoods, at apartment complexes and, sometimes, at motels, Marlan said.

Since it began in 2005, 16,000 parolees have gone through the program statewide, and the recidivism rate has dropped: from 1 in 2 committing another crime, to 1 in 3, Marlan said.

The Grand Rapids Inn illustrates the dilemma facing parolees who are also on the sex offender list: state law won't allow them to live within 1,000 feet of parks, schools and playgrounds. They have few choices, state officials said.

The Grand Rapids Inn is in a commercial area, surrounded by restaurants, banks and gas stations. Of the 215 sex offenders in the 49548 zip code, 60 are living there.

"It's a place where sex offenders live because, in many cases, they have no other place to live in our community," Wyoming Police Capt. Brad Schutter said.

Most of the sex offenders at the Grand Rapids Inn are in treatment programs, Marlan said. They wear GPS tethers, allowing the state to monitor their whereabouts, he said. The state, he said, works closely with Wyoming police, notifying the department whenever an offender moves in.

Wyoming police say they keep track of each sex offender in the city, and those at the motel haven't led to a jump in crime there, Schutter said.

The motel manager says he also keeps track, with video surveillance cameras, and strict rules. The men, he said, aren't allowed to mingle with others, or use the motel pool.

"They are under control," Helme said. "They cannot visit anybody. They are not allowed to visit anyone, or stay in the hallway."

Thursday, however, several men who lived in rooms listed as the homes of registered offenders were seen milling on the balcony.

The manager says only a few families stay there. He says children are safe.

"I don't have any problem, and they are not allowed to interact with anybody to begin with," he said.