Tinley Park 2024 Sex Offender Halloween Safety Map

TINLEY PARK, IL — Before kids go out trick or treating on Halloween, fall is a good time to take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood. Tinley Park currently has 33 registered sex offenders listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry; 23 are listed as living in town.

Three sex offenders originally registered with Tinley Park addresses are currently residing in the Department of Corrections. Six reside out of state. One's last address is not listed.

One sex offender is listed as non-compliant. Michael Wright, 57, is currently listed as non-compliant. Wright was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The victim was 9 years old; Wright was 30 at the time of the offense. His last known address is not listed.

Registered sex offender Michael Riccio was previously erroneously listed as non-compliant by the Tinley Park Police Department. He is in compliance.

Pins on the map represent addresses of offenders convicted of sex crimes. Roll your cursor over the pins, and you will see more information pop up, including the registered sex offender's name, address, current age, convictions, and the age of the offender and victim at the time of the offense.

Registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. They may not appear in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday character, such as Santa or the Easter Bunny, in public. Registered sex offenders, however, may wear a Halloween costume in their home, according to the Illinois law.

You may want to avoid trick or treating at these houses and apartments on Halloween, or merely be aware of who's living in your neighborhood during the rest of the year.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries can play only a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website, estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child.

The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.

The Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers, a nonprofit organization for clinicians, researchers, educators, law enforcement and court officials involved in sexual abuse cases, cautions that children do not face a heightened risk during the Halloween season: "There is no change in the rate of sexual crimes by non-family members during Halloween. That was true both before and after communities enacted laws to restrict the activities of registrants during Halloween. The crimes that do increase around Halloween are vandalism and property destruction, as well as theft, assault, and burglary."

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