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WENTWORTH — A judge has granted a convicted sex offender’s request to live in a home with a minor.

Jonathan Eric Mason, 37, was released from prison Oct. 22 after serving two years on multiple counts of indecent liberties with a child, and one count each of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual activity by a substitute parent.

Judge L. Todd Burke last week granted Mason’s request to reside in the home of his cousin, George Aldret, his wife and the couple’s 16-year-old son in Greensboro.

Mason, formerly of Eden, was a 2006 candidate for the Rockingham County Board of Education.

Prosecutors opposed Mason living with the Aldrets. Julia Hejazi, chief assistant district attorney for Rockingham County, said state statute required that he not live in the home.

Mason’s five-year post-release supervision required that he “not reside in a household with any minor child if the offense is one in which there is evidence of physical or mental abuse of a minor” unless a court finds it unlikely his behavior would recur, according to a motion filed by defense attorney Locke Clifford.

Clifford argued that Mason would not relapse and was neither an aggressive offender nor a sexually violent predator as defined by state statute.

During a Nov. 12 hearing, the Aldrets testified that they want Mason to live in their home, they think he would be an asset there, and they feel he “presents no danger to any of them or anyone else who might come into their residence,” according to the judge’s order.

Burke ruled Mason could live with the Aldrets as long as they would let him.

The Aldrets asked Mason to live with them after his release from prison, according to an Oct. 26 letter the couple submitted to the court, and twice discussed the issue with parole officials.

“We feel that it is imperative for Jon to be around family and friends at this time in his life,” the Aldrets wrote in the letter. “And the best way he can do that at this time is to be here with us.”

As for the Aldrets’ testimony that they wanted Mason in their home, Hejazi said, “I think that post-release supervision is established as an alternative to prison and that the commission who makes those decisions is the one best able to judge, and not a family who didn’t really know all the facts and circumstances of his conviction.”

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com