10-31-15 sex offender arrested for working at haunted house

WEST BEND, Wis. (AP) — A convicted child sex offender is accused of violating the rules of his probation by volunteering at a charity haunted house geared toward children in southeast Wisconsin.  A criminal complaint says 36-year-old Andy Hawthorne of West Bend was working as a volunteer monster at the Dwelling of Despair in Slinger when he removed his mask to calm down two frightened children and their father, an off-duty law enforcement officer, recognized him as a convicted child sex offender.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Hawthorne told police he was volunteering to fulfill a service requirement and didn’t know he can’t work with children.  Hawthorne was charged Thursday in Washington County with two counts of being a child sex offender working with children and one count of sex offender registry violation.