PECULIAR – A 55-year-old Kansas City, Kan., was charged with one misdemeanor count of being within or near a school building as a sex offender after checking in as a vendor at Raymore-Peculiar High School on May 8.
According to a probable cause statement, the student resource officer at the school was notified through the school’s background checking software that visitors and vendors use to check in that David Spears, who was working for a company that maintains vending machines on campus, was a possible registered sex offender. The deputy provided Spears’ identifying information to her dispatcher, who confirmed that Spears was registered as an offender in Kansas with a 2020 offense for indecent solicitation of a child.
His conviction date was listed as May 8, 2023, exactly one year before being found on campus at Ray-Pec.
According to the deputy, Spears “stated he wasn’t sure with his work if that made a difference, and I told him it did not. At that time, I escorted the defendant out of the building.”
According to Michele Stidham, director of communications for the Ray-Pec district, the district has two safeguards in place to protect students in this kind of situation.
“The vendor or contractor has the responsibility to check the backgrounds of its employees. The district notifies vendors that we will not allow someone on the sex offender registry to work in one of the schools. and visitors and contractors who arrive at each school are asked to provide an ID, which is submitted through our Raptor system to do a rapid background check.”
She said in this case, “the Raptor system flag on this individual was delayed by several minutes. The man was preparing to begin repair work. When the office staff received the Raptor alert, they notified the SRO, who approached him and asked him to leave the building.” A warrant with a $2,500 bond was issued for Spears on Friday. No court date has been set.
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