Sexual predator moves in next door to victim

An Oklahoma woman has unleashed her outrage after she says the family member convicted of molesting her when she was a child moved in next door, which he's free to do under the current law.

“Meet my abuser and my new neighbor,” Danyelle Dyer wrote in a fiery Facebook post that included her uncle’s photo as it appears on the Oklahoma sex offender registry.

Harold English was recently released from prison after being convicted of lewd or indecent proposals/acts to a child in 2005.

That child was Dyer, who was 7 years old when she was molested by English, her uncle.

“It was something terrible, something that should never have to happen to someone ever,” Dyer, 21, told InsideEdition.com.

English served time for abusing Dyer, was released, and went back to prison after violating his parole, she said. Then, after being freed, he moved in next door to Dyer in Bristol.

“At first I thought, obviously, this can’t be legal and he’s going to move,” she said. “I wasn’t even worried in the beginning. Then the DA called and said legally, they can’t force him to move.”

Her inability to live peacefully left Dyer angry and eager to do something about it, so she took to social media.

In a series of Facebook posts, Dyer explained the situation and how she planned to affect change.

“Victims have to live with it for the rest of their life while the abuser gets to live almost anywhere they want including next door to their victim,” she wrote in one post. “He has been asked to leave but in Oklahoma he can legally reside there. Surely Oklahoma can do better than this. My parents and I are out to change Oklahoma law because surely he can find somewhere else to live.”

Dyer’s words have not only brought attention to an issue many never realized existed, but also have garnered the support of local lawmakers.

After being notified of English’s parole — and his intention to live next door — the Dyer family contacted Rep. Kyle Hilbert to see what could be done to stop his move from happening.

“Initially, we thought this was going to be OK,” Hilbert told InsideEdition.com. “That wasn’t the case, and he ended up moving in.”

Officials hoped that existing laws in Oklahoma that prevent sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or day care would be applicable in this case, but the home English intended to reside in fell outside of those parameters, he said.

“Immediately, I decided I have to do whatever I can to help,” Hilbert said. “Every time she comes home she has to be reminded of what happened. That individual is living next door.”

Hilbert said he intends to come up with a statutory fix that would prevent sex offenders from living near their victims, noting he has been and will continue to meet with attorneys, legislators and victim’s rights advocates to develop the best solution.

Only Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia have laws that restrict sex offenders from living within a certain distance of their victims.

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