Concerned residents in King Township aired their frustrations at a public meeting focused on a high-risk offender, who is now living in the community.

Residents spilled out into the hallways of the Trisan Centre in Schomberg on Sunday – all looking for answer to why Keith Theodore Constantin is in King Township and what risks he poses.

“I have an 8-year-old son and he has a lot of friends and I am terrified based on what this person’s record is,” one woman said at the meeting.

The 35-year-old was released after serving a four year sentence for sexual assault with a weapon and an 18 month sentence for breach of a curfew condition. He is now living in a rural area of King Township, near Highway 9 and Highway 27.

“The house is alarmed; he can’t go out of the house, he can’t even open a window without the alarms going off,” Det. Bryan Arnold of York Regional Police says.

Many in attendance were concerned about him being in the community and breaching the terms of his probation. Police have said Constantin poses a risk to the community, especially children.

“If something happens to one of these children, I think we all are to blame. I look around – I coach some of these kids. I would hate to see anything happen to any one of them,” one man said.

Members of YRP’s high-risk offenders unit have implemented a management program to handle Constantin’s arrival. Part of that program requires Constantin to be supervised 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by at least three people.

“Someone has to be with him, five to 10 feet from him 24 hours a day,” says Arnold. “They are mandated to be awake, so there’s no staff sleeping while he’s sleeping. The staffs awake.”

Arnold says there are no plans to even let him leave the residence and if he did, it would require approval by parole officials and York Regional Police.  

“Any exposure he would have to the community has to be approved through us and the probation office, prior to him actually leaving the residence. It would be a 24 hour notification to us and the probation office before he would even been allowed to go and we have to approve that in advance.”

Another big question on everybody’s mind was, why King Township? According to officials from Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services it comes down to conditions.

“The conditions sometimes have an overriding effect on the placement and that’s the reality,” says David Mitchell, regional director of central region for correctional services.

Mitchell couldn’t speak towards Constantin’s case specifically.

Constantin must adhere to an order that requires him not to be alone with anyone under the age of 16 unless the minor is accompanied by an adult over the age of 18.

The order also stipulates he can’t be in any daycare, swimming area, school ground, playground and community centres where child are present. He can’t drink, purchase or possess alcohol or drugs.

Constantin has been convicted for sexual assault, assault with a weapon, assault, robbery and possession of explosives.

Some left the meeting with a better grasp of the situation, but still have questions they hope can be answered.

“I think they have a handle on the situation, my only question is how long is it going to last? How long will he be supervised? We don’t want this guy here,” says resident Leslie Bernard.