Sex offender relocating to St. Paul neighborhood says he deserves second chance

A twice convicted rapist who has been confined by the Minnesota Sex Offender Program says he understands why people are nervous about plans to move him to a halfway house in St. Paul.

Officials met with neighbors this week to talk about Olivery Dority's release from the program in St. Peter. Neighbors expressed their fears about having someone from the sex offender program living among them. The state holds nearly 800 such people, many of them initially considered a high risk to release. Only three other people in the program have ever earned provisional discharge.

Dority spoke with MPR News' Cathy Wurzer from St. Peter on Friday.

"People have a right in the community to feel the way they feel, because it is also about safety. So I understand the reaction," he said. "But I think it's important having another chance to show that I could be a positive member of society, in the community."

Dority was convicted of raping two women, weeks apart, in 1994. In St. Paul, he'll initially be subject to GPS monitoring and round-the-clock surveillance.