So I was perusing the Wisconsin Sex Offender website today. I didn't find a lot of sex offenders in my immediate neighborhood, but there were definitely a few in Eau Claire. I also found a former co-worker on the site. Some of you may not know the whole story behind that, so here goes:

I had just started working where I work now. One of our therapists there always seemed a little strange. He was always gone to "check on customers" and when he was there, he reeked of cologne and mouthwash, usually a sure sign he'd been at the tavern.

One day, his wife called right away. She spoke to the boss who told us that he would be gone for a couple of weeks to "take care of some family problems." We didn't really think anything of it. This was Monday. On Friday morning I'm getting ready for work when the news comes on the radio. There was a story on the news about my co-worker, saying he had been arrested and accused of attacking a woman! When I got to work, nobody else had heard the story, so we got on the internet, and lo and behold, the story was on a local news site.

When we opened that day, 3 hospitals called right away. Apparently, they told the boss that they didn't want this coworker servicing their patients right away. So, the coworker was fired. He also had use of a company van that was the scene of the crime. The van was impounded for evidence for a time. It was returned, but with attractive bright orange "IMPOUNDED" stickers on it. The coworker eventually plea bargained and received a sentence of 5 years with 15 years probation.

We joke about it at work now, but at the time, it was pretty unbelievable. Yeah, we all thought the guy was a little strange, but we never thought he would do anything like that. When this happened, we got on the Wisconsin Circuit Courts website and found he had been convicted of something similar before. For those of you who don't know, Wisconsin has a website where you can enter anyone's name and if they have had any brushes with the law, the case is available for you to review.

So the moral of the story is, can we ever really know everything about those around us? If something seems strange about someone, trust your instincts. Don't brush it off as nothing. It might be something.