The mayor of Poteet is a registered sex
offender who can be arrested for going to City Hall.
Mayor Lino Donato pleaded guilty last month to indecency counts
involving two girls, and his plea deal required him to register as
a sex offender for 20 years.
Donato is required to stay more than 1,000 feet from places
where children congregate.
Poteet City Hall in South Texas is "well within 200 feet" of
that limit from the Atascosa Boxing Club and Youth Center.
But Donato still doesn't plan to resign his post in the South
Texas town. And since he received deferred adjudication and not a
conviction, he can't be forced from office.
The mayor did not attend Tuesday's council meeting, the last of
the year, and asked Mayor Pro Tem Roy Ybarra to preside.
Even if Donato skips all city meetings until his term expires in
May 2009, City Attorney Frank Garza says Poteet has no attendance
requirement with which to discipline the mayor.
Donato's plea cut short a trial on accusations that he exposed
himself to two girls and improperly touched one of them.
