Residents Buy Mother’s House to Keep Child Molester Out

Instead of protests, residents in this rural community are using another approach to keep a convicted child molester from moving into their neighborhood: They’re buying his mother’s house.

Residents say the $250,000 is a cheap price to pay for their children’s safety, which, they say, would be jeopardized if Jonathan Hawes moved in with his mother later this month.

Hawes’ mother, Wendy Brewton, was not immediately available to comment on the deal.

Hawes, 27, will be freed Aug. 18 after serving nearly five years in prison. He was convicted of following two 10-year-old girls from an elementary school and sexually assaulting them in 1993.

Neighbors hand-delivered to parole officials a petition with 170 signatures opposing his move to the community. They held a meeting at which residents suggested everything from putting Hawes’ face on a wanted poster to taking him to Greenland. And they came up with the purchase plan.

Brewton signed an agreement July 31 to sell her mobile home and the 28 acres around it.

“If I don’t do everything possible to protect my children before something happens, I’ll never forgive myself,” said Steve Fredricksen, a 42-year-old father of two.