The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons that first aired July 13, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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A Team 4 investigation discovered five registered sex offenders living in the same personal care home. That's out of 48 total residents there.

As it turns out, this is no coincidence. County workers are placing the offenders in the homes.

The elderly are among the most vulnerable citizens. Most are frail, mentally ill and unable to care for themselves. They are the residents of personal care homes and a Team 4 investigation found that in four Allegheny County care homes, sex offenders, registered with Megan's Law, are also residing there.

"These residents are extremely vulnerable," said Wes Bledsoe of aPerfectCause.org. "They're under the same roof 24 hours a day with their neighbors who have complete access to them."

Team 4 discovered four registered sex offenders living at Woodland Manor Personal Care Home in Oakdale, according to the Megan's Law database administered by Pennsylvania State Police.

Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons asked staff about it, but they declined to comment.

Parsons: "According to the state police, there are four registered sex offenders living here."

Staffer: "No, there are not."

Parsons: "Ray Collins, he's not upstairs right now?"

Staffer: "I can't violate these people's privacy, sir. You can't be here."

Raymond Collins: Indecent assault.

Paul Keyes: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Harold Moore: Rape.

Lawrence LaCock: Aggravated indecent assault on a 10-year-old girl.

All four sex offenders list Woodland Manor as their residence with state police. Just a few weeks ago, a fifth registered sex offender moved into Woodland Manor: William Donald.

Mary Catherine Stofan is a mother of five who lives next door to Woodland Manor.

She didn't know, until Team 4 told her, that several registered sex offenders are living at Woodland Manor, but she was already worried.

"Numerous times I've called complaining about people laying in my yard who are patients over there," said Stofan. "I don't understand how they can continue to continue."

What Team 4 didn't initially understand was how five registered sex offenders could end up living in the same place. But Team 4 has since learned that the Allegheny County Department of Human Services placed all five offenders there after they got out of prison.

They've put 15 registered sex offenders at the facility since 1999. And the county is using tax dollars to pay their rent. It's part of a program called Max Out, which helps ex-cons diagnosed as mentally ill get back into society.

But is this the best place to put sex offenders?

"When you put predators in with the prey, somebody's going to get bit," Bledsoe said. "And that's exactly what we're seeing time and again."

Bledsoe's site, aPerfectCause.org, is an Oklahoma-based national organization that has issued studies on the dangers of placing sex offenders in long-term care facilities.

"We have found that residents have been murdered, assaulted and sexually and physically assaulted by their roommates and the neighbors just down the hall with no locked door between them and that criminal offender all under the same roof," Bledsoe said.

Bledsoe said personal care home residents are especially vulnerable when they and their family members are not notified that sex offenders have moved in. And in Pennsylvania, there's no requirement that they be told.

Stacey Witalec is spokeswoman for the department that oversees personal care homes in Pennsylvania.

"We specifically look at staffing," said Witalec. "Do you have enough staffing, whether it be as stringent as one on one staffing for that person, to ensure that they're not putting anyone else at risk, and they're not putting themselves at risk?"

But earlier this year at Woodland Manor, state inspectors issued 119 pages of violations, many of them staffing-related, including one that states "there was no verification that any of the staff ... had undergone the required training ... on resident rights and how to report abuse and neglect."

The state has notified Woodland Manor that its license is not being renewed.

At St. Lufthild's personal care home in McKeesport, state inspectors are investigating complaints of physical abuse by residents inside the facility, including a resident rape allegation.

And Team 4 found two registered sex offenders living there, though neither of them has been named as a target of the probe.

Since 1999, county human services have placed 11 offenders at St. Lufthild's. The state has served notice that it's revoking St. Lufthild's license.

Parsons: "Is the department aware that there are two individuals living there who are on the Megan's Law Web site?"

Witalec: "We are aware that there are individuals in the home that have raised potential concerns. We are aware of the sexual assaults that have taken place at the facility and we are taking action."

But the state is taking no action to prohibit sex offenders from living in personal care homes, and the county continues to put them there.

"It's like a train wreck," Bledsoe said. "You can see the bridge is out. You can see the train is heading for the bridge that's out, and you know there's going to be a train wreck. And that's exactly what we're seeing."

Allegheny County Human Services Director Marc Cherna refused Team 4's repeated requests for an interview.

But a spokeswoman for CHERNA told Team 4 that none of the registered sex offenders they've placed in personal care homes have committed another sex crime.

But what can people do to protect their loved ones?

Bledsoe said you should ask the administrator of the home if they accept registered sex offenders. If the answer is yes or if the administrator refuses to answer the question, find another place for your loved one, Bledsoe recommends.

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