Hundreds of sex offenders living within 1,000 feet of bus stops

North Knoxville students returning home from school

Hundreds of registered Knox County sex offenders, including those convicted of molesting, raping and abusing minors, live in areas that parents say is dangerously close to where their children congregate: school bus stops.

"It's disturbing," said Stephen Buie, whose son attends fourth grade at Spring Hill Elementary. "It's disturbing to know that there's pedophiles (that close to) children."

A WBIR 10News investigation found that of the county's almost 600 known sex offenders, roughly 260 of them live within 1,000 feet of the stops, and many live within walking distance of multiple ones. State law, however, only restricts sex offenders whose victims were minors from knowingly living or working within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers, parks or playgrounds.

Tennessee, unlike some other Southeastern states, does not require a buffer zone between sex offenders and bus stops. And local school officials, who oversee a district of some 57,700 students, say they don't even chart where sex offenders live when creating bus routes and schedules each year.

You can read the entire story and check out the video report right here.