A Team 4 investigation of a local sex offender is stirring the winds of change in Harrisburg.

Wednesday night's report by investigative reporter Jim Parsons has prompted state police to call for changes in Pennsylvania's Megan's Law, and a local lawmaker who has been trying to do just that for years is glad the state police are on board.

This follow-up report by Parsons aired July 6, 2006, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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It's not supposed to happen this way.

Brian Sukitch, 39, was convicted in March of indecent assault on a 12-year-old girl. He should be listed on the state's sex offender registry, but he's not, because of a loophole in the law.

Jack Lewis, state police spokesman: "This case is a very good example of why the law needs to be changed."

As Team 4 first reported Wednesday night, Sukitch served just three weeks in jail of an 11-month sentence for his crime, then asked to be transferred to a Stowe Township halfway house designed for nonviolent substance abusers. A judge agreed. But right next door is a public school.

Now, Sukitch is free to walk out of the halfway house every morning, past the Stowe schoolyard, and head for his two jobs -- one in Wexford and the other with UPS in Findlay Township.

And no one in any of those communities knows he's a sex offender, because he's not on the Megan's Law Web site.

The reason? Pennsylvania law requires him to register only after he's finished serving his sentence, even though he's serving it in a community with a school.

Lewis: "The dilemma is that there's no way for the public to be aware that that person is out there. There's really not a way for us to be aware."

State police want to change that by closing the Brian Sukitch Loophole.

Lewis: "We'd like to see a person be required to register as soon as they are sentenced, not when they are coming out of prison, but as soon as they are sentenced. We'd be happy to put them on our Web site at that time and then track them in prison if they happen to move from one prison to another. We would make those changes."

State Sen. Jane Orie agrees, though she says her current legislation, known as Jessica's Law, would deal with the Brian Sukitch problem by giving state police broader power to gain access to information on all convicted sex offenders.

Orie, R-Ross Township: "Right now, Megan's Law is so loose and so liberal in Pennsylvania that there isn't a burden on anybody to monitor this."

Also, because of Team 4's investigation, state police said they will now put Brian Sukitch on the sex offender registry. They said his picture should appear on the Megan's Law Web site within the next week.