Southborough Sex Offender Lived Close To Child Care Center

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. — The Southborough Police Department is conducting an internal investigation to figure out how a registered level 2 sex offender facing child pornography charges has been living near a child care center.

Daniel J. Goichman, 50, of 29 East Main St., was arraigned in Westborough District Court on Monday on three counts of possessing child pornography. Southborough Police Chief Jane Moran confirmed Wednesday that Goichman's residence was within 1,000 feet of the Southborough Village Preschool at 14 East Main St. According to a town bylaw passed in 2008, no registered sex offender may live within 1,000 feet of schools, day-care centers, parks, elderly housing facilities or other recreational facilities.

In a statement posted on the blog mysouthborough.com, Selectman Chairman John Rooney wrote that while Goichman registered with the police department when he moved to Southborough as required by state law, no one prevented him from living so close to Southborough Village.

Goichman has lived in Southborough for two years, and has been a registered sex offender since 2002, when he was convicted of indecent assault and battery of a person over the age of 14.

Rooney cautioned residents against putting all the blame on the police department. Though he wrote that Goichman's proximity to prohibited areas should have been evaluated on a map, Rooney added that the information was never entered into a database because the department lacked the technology.

"The police department can only operate with the tools they are given," Rooney wrote, "and we are all working together to make sure this type of thing never happens again." He added that the department will prepare a report on its outdated technology and the cost of an upgrade.

"Failure to enforce our town’s sex offender by-law should be a 'never event,'" Rooney wrote, "because it should be a preventable mistake that should never happen, such as operating on a wrong body part or giving an infant to the wrong person."

According to Rooney, Moran has confirmed that all remaining sex offenders in Southborough are complying with the bylaw.

In an e-mail to The Daily Voice, Moran wrote that she began an internal investigation of the department as soon as she found out about Goichman's address. The department, she added, will "examine our current policies and procedures and to take
appropriate corrective actions."

"The safety of our residents is our utmost concern," Moran wrote, "especially the safety and well-being of our children." She added that she agreed with Rooney's statement "wholeheartedly."

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