ATLANTA — The federal appeals court in Atlanta has found it was unconstitutional for the Butts County sheriff to place warning signs in the yards of registered sex offenders in his county.
A few days before Halloween in 2018, Sheriff Gary Long had his deputies place the signs in all 57 registered offenders’ front yards a few feet from their mailboxes. Between depictions of two stop signs, the signs read, “Warning! No trick-or-treat at this address!!”
Long had deputies give leaflets to the residences that said the warning signs could not be removed by anyone other than someone with the sheriff’s office.
