Parents Upset After Learning Sex Offender Operated State Fair Ride

Oklahoma City Police arrested a carnival ride operator at the Oklahoma State Fair for failing to register as a sex offender. Parents who heard about the arrest were upset that stricter rules were not in place to prevent a sex offender from working that fair.

"I keep a close eye on my kids," said Demetrious Davis, who was at the fair with his children. "Not particularly like that idea that the sex offender is working."

Police said 45-year-old William Chase was turned in by his disgruntled girlfriend on September 16. A spokesman for the fair said they asked the carnival operator to "review its employment procedures and practices to determine what happened."

"Why aren't they being screened better to have our kids protected?" asked Laura Somers, who was at the fair with her grandchildren.

9/18/2013 Related Story: Convicted Sex Offender Caught Operating State Fair Ride

Parents said that they rely on the organizers to make sure the people interacting with them at the fair are safe to be around.

"We can't go anywhere anymore without having to really watch our children and be leering of everyone we run into," said Somers.

Wade Shows, Incorporated operates the carnival area of the state fair. Owner, Frank Zaitshik released the following statement to News 9:

"Even though this person has worked for our company on and off over 16 years, we recognize he made a mistake in not registering in Oklahoma. He has been a dependable and thoughtful employee throughout his years with our company.  We have a 100% pre-employment background check for new hires.  With that said, I have apologized to the officials of the Oklahoma State Fair and would hope that our exemplary, long-term history of providing a safe, user-friendly midway would be taken into consideration as we start today a review of our hiring practices to make sure what happened here doesn't happen again."

But parents at the fair on Thursday were still worried and said more needed to be done.

"You don't interview them yourself to see, you know, their background or anything like that. I guess we just leave it to the people that runs the fair and everything that comes to town," said Racquel Warner.

In 2012, a vendor at the state fair was picked up by police for not registering as a sex offender.