2 Sex Offenders In Wilmette, 5 In New Trier Township: 2021 Map

NEW TRIER TOWNSHIP, IL — There are five registered sex offenders with addresses in New Trier Township communities, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

That's the same number that lived in the township a year ago, with new offenders taking the place of one man who moved out of state and another who died.

Among New Trier area sex offenders, two live in Wilmette, one lives in Winnetka, one in Northfield and one in Glenview. All five are classified as sex offenders and are required to register with state police every year for the rest of their lives.

Both new additions to the registry this year are the result of child pornography convictions for men found to have possessed child sexual abuse materials.

They include 44-year-old Carl Scheeler, of Northfield, who was arrested and charged in October 2018 and 47-year-old Robert Baxter, of Winnetka, who was arrested and charged in September 2019.

Here is where sex offenders are registered as living in New Trier Township. 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, date of birth and convictions.

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In Illinois, registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. They may not appear in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday characters, 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 Sex Offender Registry.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries play 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."

Related:

• NARSOL Objects To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Offenders
• Why Patch Publishes Sex Offender Registry Maps