The following is a transcript of a report by reporter Jim Parsons that first aired Nov. 12, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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Do you walk your child to the bus stop every day? Are you there when the school bus drops her off at the end of the day?

Local school districts are deciding on bus stop locations without checking to see where registered sex offenders live. But Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons checked and made a scary discovery.

A number of school districts refused to give Team 4 their list of school bus stops when we asked for them, including Pittsburgh Public Schools. But that didn't stop our investigation. We found case after case of children waiting for school buses right in front of the homes of registered sex offenders. From Pittsburgh to Sto-Rox to Pine-Richland, school district administrators are placing children directly in the path of convicted child molesters.

At 7:15 a.m., a dozen children wait for their school bus in front of a boarding house on Island Avenue, McKees Rocks. Two children even stand in the doorway. While the kids play on the sidewalk, they don't notice Leland Davis exiting the building or Samuel Brant wiping down his car.

In the afternoon, as Sto-Rox School District buses drop off children in front of the same building. John Martin walks up and down the sidewalk shirtless. So does John Dunmire. Larry Kassler just stands around, and David Albert sits on a wall, watching.

All of those men are registered sex offenders, convicted of sex crimes against children. And all of them reside in the same building.

According to state records, there are three other sex offenders who live there, too.

"I think that it's very harmful for the safety and well-being for the children," said McKees Rocks resident Nicholas Merwick.

"Why put those kids at risk?" said Sto-Rox parent Tina Kunkle. "Those who don't have parents watching them."

Sto-Rox isn't alone.

Penn Hills School District decided to place a school bus stop at Lougeay and Elrond roads, even though registered sex offender Lamont West lives two houses away.

Pine-Richland has a bus stop right in front of the Gibsonia house where Pennsylvania's sex offender registry said John Carroll lives. Carroll was convicted of forcing a 7-year-old neighborhood boy to touch his penis after the child played on Carroll's backyard trampoline.

And Pittsburgh Public Schools chose a corner for a bus stop on Johnston Avenue in Hazelwood. Children stand waiting for their ride in front of a house where the state registry said convicted rapist Morris Taylor lives.

In Squirrel Hill, school children board a bus on Northumberland Street across from the home of Omar Bakth, convicted last year of trying to set up a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old who actually turned out to be an undercover police officer.

"School districts have to look at safety first," said Allegheny County Councilman Vince Gastgeb. "Yeah, traffic is part of it, but where are these sexual predators living?"

The solicitor for Pittsburgh Public Schools and Sto-Rox admits neither district looks to see where sex offenders live before deciding on the location of bus stops.

"Certainly, it's something they ought to look at," school solicitor Ira Weiss. "I would advise them to do that."

And if Sto-Rox officials do start checking, they'll notice the same Green Tree couple who own the building where nine offenders live, also rent to other sex offenders in the area.

Paul Johnson and his wife, Nara, also own 924 and 926 Island Aven., where the state registry said seven of their tenants are registered sex offenders. And the Johnsons own other buildings in the area where state police said sex offenders now live, even though many of them are from other counties, including Mercer and Clarion.

Team 4 asked them if it's just a coincidence.

Parsons: "I wanted to ask you about all the tenants living here who are registered sex offenders. Can you tell us how you get so many tenants that way?"

Paul Johnson: "No comment. No comment."

So, Team 4 decided to ask Nara Johnson the same questions.

Nara Johnson: "I don't have nothing to do with that, sir."

Parsons: "Well, yes you do. You own the property, and all these sex offenders are living there."

Nara Johnson: "I said I don't have nothing to do with that. OK?"

Parsons: "But they live right in front of a school bus stop with little children."

Nara Johnson: "Yeah, I have children, too."

Parsons: "Well, what about the kids in McKees Rocks who have to stand in front of a school bus stop?"

Nara Johnson: "Why don't you talk to the government? They are the ones who send them there, so go."

Several offenders told Team 4 their state parole agents referred them to the Johnsons for a place to live, but state officials in Harrisburg deny it and argue it's not unusual to have 20 offenders living in a one-half mile stretch of road, like Island Avenue.

"Sex offenders are everywhere," said Lauren Taylor of the Sex Offenders Assess Board. "It's not like that's a concentration. That's just who happens to live there."

But parents Team 4 spoke with don't believe it's coincidence.

"Don't dump them in the Rocks and then expect us to protect all of our children," said Kunkle.

But state officials said children who wait for their school buses are not in danger.

"The specific agent that covers that area has advised us that he has monitored that area closely and just about every instance he can think of, he has seen children accompanied by their parents while at the bus stop," said John Tuttle of Pennsylvania Probation and Parole.

Team 4 did see parents waiting at the bus stop on one morning, but another day, there were no adults around at all either in the morning or afternoon.

"It is so very unlikely that a known sex offender would snatch your child or approach them at a park or any kind of public place, including a bus stop," said Taylor.

Parents here say they don't think it's unlikely.

"Everybody is watching everybody else's kids, because of that," said Kunkle. "And I guess, so far, we've been lucky that nothing has happened. But what happens when your luck runs out one day?"

In just the past year, Team 4 found six cases of children who were grabbed at their school bus stops by sex offenders. Three of the cases were in Little Rock, Ark., Selma, Ala., and Columbia, S.C., involving offenders who had prior sex offense convictions.

Both Sto-Rox and Pittsburgh Public Schools refused Team 4's requests for interviews with administrators. But again, their solicitor said he'd recommend they start making these checks. Weiss said he wants that bus stop on Island Avenue moved to a corner where no sex offenders reside.

Visit Pennsylvania's Megan's Law Web site.

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