Twelve years ago, when Wendy Whitaker was barely 17, she performed oral sex on a high school classmate who was about to turn 16. The state of Georgia convicted her of a sex crime and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
As a registered sex offender, Whitaker's freedom is severely restricted. She and her husband bought a house within 1000 feet of a unadvertised church daycare service, and a judge has decreed that she has to vacate by Thanksgiving.
In 2006, she and her husband scoped out neighborhood surrounding the Harlem, Georgia home they eventually purchased to be sure they were in compliance with Georgia's sex offender law at the time. That law prohibited offenders from living within 1,000 feet of any area where children congregate. Despite their efforts, local authorities ordered Whitaker and her husband to vacate shortly after they moved in. They had overlooked a nearby church, which was running an unadvertised daycare service.
That law was struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court last year, giving Whitaker a brief reprieve. But Georgia's legislature then passed a revised law earlier this year, one lawmakers apparently believed is in compliance with the state supreme court's decision, but that still manages to rope in Whitaker. Last week, she was told she has to move out of her home by Thanksgiving. If that happens, she'll likely have to foreclose.
UPDATE: The Agitator reports that a "Georgia judge has allowed Wendy Whitaker to remain in her home while she fights her continued presence on the state's sex offender list."
Women may lose house for sex while she was a high school student 12 years ago
