Residents of a small town near Charleston, South Carolina, are hoping to keep a Christian halfway house from opening.
According to reports, the halfway house would provide housing for up to 10 registered sex offenders.
About 970 people in Walterboro make up Stop Pedofiles on Barracada Road, a Facebook group standing against the facility that Shield Ministries from Charleston would operate.
“How does anyone think this even close to being okay?” asked one person in the group.
Lisa Langdale, one of the Facebook group’s administrators, said the halfway house would be in a “heavily populated neighborhood” with “a lot of children.”
“If this was a halfway house for women or even nonviolent offenders or something like that, that would be one thing,” Langdale told The Roys Report. “I’d be up there volunteering.”
Critics also say the director of Shield’s program was convicted in 2003 of committing or attempting a lewd act on a child under age 16.
Shield Ministries – which already operates two similar facilities in North Charleston – announced that it would open a “Phase 1” worship and educational center to house a maximum of 55 men on a vacant church campus in Walterboro.
The men in the program would be either “pre-release” or “post-release” from prison.
“Shield is a faith-based and science-based treatment program that requires accountability and leads to real public safety,” said retired Ninth Circuit Public Defender D. Ashley Pennington in a statement.
Shield Ministries Director David Truluck told The Roys Report that seven to 10 residents would be registered sex offenders.
All residents would also be required to adhere to a curfew and have a Shield chaperone with them whenever they left the facility.
It’s unclear when the facility will officially open.
Truluck is ordained and serves as Shield’s senior pastor. He was charged with a felony in 2003, and according to South Carolina’s sex offender registry, was convicted.
“We have successfully operated facilities in North Charleston for over 10 years and will work diligently with law enforcement agencies to mitigate issues,” Truluck wrote in an email.
Photo courtesy: ©Srini Somanchi/Unsplash, Charleston, SC
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
