Judge rules 2nd sex offender cannot be housed near Salem Lakes parks

SALEM LAKES, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Salem Lakes residents are finally feeling at ease. On Tuesday, June 1, a Kenosha County judge ruled against housing a sex offender in their backyard.

The courtroom was packed and testimony was tense, but ultimately, the judge ruled Dale Peshek cannot live on Camp Lake Road. 

Another hearing ended, still with no home for the convicted sex offender, who appeared in court by video.

The county now has another 45 days.

"There's trouble ahead, as I would view," said Kenosha County Judge Mary Kay Wagner.

Trouble, because the judge says without proper placement, the county could ultimately see Peshek released without supervision. 

He's been eligible for release since 2019. 

"You couldn’t do this in the county jail. You couldn't say to somebody your sentence is over and we're just gonna hold you for two years because we don't know where to put ya," said Judge Wagner.

Peshek's attorney argued the parks listed as being within 1,500 feet of the home weren't really parks. 

"And nobody's happy with any of this," Peshek's attorney said.

"Well yeah, but it doesn't affect most of us. It's Mr. Peshek who has been detained after he served his sentence," said Judge Wagner.

Some residents left court feeling anxious. Even though Peshek can't move into the home, he will be moving someplace else in the county.

The judge suggested temporarily housing him in a trailer. 

"I'm relieved, happy, though it doesn't show. It'll probably come a little bit later just because it did come so close," said Adrienne Kiesler, neighbor.

Word spread quickly back in the Camp Lake neighborhood.

"And I just couldn't be happier that the judge agreed that this wasn't safe and it wasn't okay," said neighbor Natasha Cundiff.

"And I'm just glad that it ended the right way. Why should society have to pay the punishment for something they did is beyond me. What about the civil rights of the people that they move around?" said neighbor Donald Schienderman.

Last week, a judge ruled the other sex offender, Brian Threlkeld, who was to be Peshek's roommate, couldn't move in because of the home's proximity to parks.

The judge last week gave the county 120 days to find housing for Threlkeld.