A sex offender ordered to get out of Barre is now suing the city, claiming a residency restriction unfairly bars him from living there.
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Vermont chapter has filed the suit on behalf of 29-year-old Chris Hagan, who moved to Barre with his wife and two children this spring, not knowing that an "exclusion zone" set up as part of a safety ordinance banned him from living in the apartment he rented.
Hagan was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct over a sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl that occurred when he was 18.
Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon says the city will defend the ordinance in court, believing that a municipality’s right to keep its citizens safe trumps the right of individuals like Hagan to live anywhere.