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Registered sex offender moves in next door to victim – legally

BRISTOW, Okla. — A young Oklahoma woman found out details of her state’s sex offender laws the hard way, when the man who sexually abused her as a child legally moved in next door.

Danyelle Dyer, 21, is now working with her family and state legislators to change those laws.

Dyer, of Bristow, was just 7 years old when she was molested by Harold Dwayne English, her stepuncle. Oklahoma Department of Corrections records showed that English was convicted in 2005.

Having served his sentence, English, 64, recently moved in with his mother, Dyer’s grandmother, about 100 yards away from the Dyer home.

"He's, like, right there, practically in my backyard, and that kind of makes me nervous and not want to go home ever," the college student told KFOR in Oklahoma City.

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Horrified by their new neighbor, Dyer and her parents looked into Oklahoma law. The law requires that registered sex offenders live a certain distance away from schools and playgrounds.

The law does not require that sex offenders stay away from their victims.

Larina Dyer told KFOR that it is "heartbreaking" that her daughter is once again faced with the man who hurt her.

“When you have to see it, I can only imagine what it does to my daughter when she’s there and she has to witness it,” Larina Dyer said. “She shouldn’t have to.”

Greg Dyer said it is difficult for him and his wife as parents, as well.

"Not only is my daughter feeling her past come back to haunt her, but a lot of years of rage and anger that I've kept under my collar is sitting right outside my door," Greg Dyer told the news station.

Danyelle Dyer chose to go public with her dilemma earlier this month, posting her story on Facebook.

"Meet my abuser and my new neighbor," she wrote alongside a photo of English on the state sex offender registry website. "He has been asked to leave, but in Oklahoma, he can legally reside there. Surely, Oklahoma can do better than this. My parents and I are out to change Oklahoma law, because surely, he can find somewhere else to live."

Danyelle Dyer urged people to use the Oklahoma sex offender registry to see who is living in their neighborhoods. She said that her hope is to bring awareness to the registry, which is public record, and to make the public aware of the flaws in Oklahoma sex offender laws.

"I wish to save other women and children from the pain that this man has put me through and is continuing to put my family through by living next door to my parents," she wrote.

Danyelle Dyer also wrote on Facebook that she is "baffled" that her grandmother has taken English's side in the situation.

“He will never change, and she is foolish to think otherwise,” she wrote.

She wrote that her protest is not powered by hate but by the hope that she can make positive change happen.

“I’m a force to be reckoned with,” Danyelle Dyer wrote.