Convicted sex offender James Donnelly

PIEDMONT (BCN) -- A convicted sex offender who alarmed neighbors last month by  moving into a home near a Piedmont elementary school has left the Bay Area,  Piedmont Interim Police Chief John Hunt said Tuesday.

James Donnelly, 71, was released from federal prison on Feb. 8 and  moved in with his sister, Patricia McCaffrey, at her home at 256 Wildwood  Ave., which is across the street from Wildwood Elementary School.

Donnelly was convicted of federal charges of possession of child  pornography after authorities found thousands of sexually explicit images of  children on a computer in his San Francisco home in 2005, Piedmont police  Detective George Phifer said. Donnelly served 32 months in federal prison.

Although Donnelly hasn't been convicted of child molestation,  Phifer said two weeks ago that police were concerned about him because he was  the subject of a federal investigation into child sex tourism and was a  participant in the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

Hunt said Donnelly's family told police on Friday that Donnelly  had moved away from Piedmont and neighbors said they saw him moving items on  Thursday and Friday.

But he said police weren't able to confirm that Donnelly had  re-registered as a sex offender in a new community until Tuesday.

Hunt said he can't disclose where Donnelly moved, except to say  he's not in Piedmont or the Bay Area.

Hunt said Donnelly was cooperative with Piedmont police when he  moved into their community and came to the police station on Feb. 11 to  register as a sex offender.

He said Donnelly didn't cause any problems that he's aware of and  even volunteered to be monitored by a GPS device.

Phifer said two weeks ago that Piedmont police had hoped to force  Donnelly to move away from the school because they believed he was in  violation of Jessica's Law, a state law aimed at barring convicted sex  offenders from living with 2,000 feet of schools.

But he said the state attorney general's office and the Alameda  County District Attorney's Office told police that there's no mechanism for  enforcing the law.
            
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