LEWISTON – Tammy Johnson has run a day care in her Orange Street home for the past 10 years.

She learned from police Wednesday night a man on the state sex offender registry had moved in two doors down.

There’s no law against it, no requirement from the Department of Human Services that she notify her kids’ parents.

But Johnson, who’s already tucked fliers under neighbors’ windshields with a plea to “Please help watch the children,” says she plans to do so.

She worries it’s going to ruin her business.

“I’m not going to hide that from a parent,” Johnson said Thursday. “They trust me with their child.”

She and Orange Blossoms day care are at 24 Orange St. She’s licensed by the state to care for eight children. Right now, the youngest is her own 17-month-old son. Most of the children are in preschool, kindergarten and first grade.

The reaction she’s heard from moms and other neighbors so far: “Isn’t there a law?”

There isn’t.

Police say Donald Ingalls, 45, moved into 28 Orange St.

Sgt. Michael McGonagle said Ingalls, originally charged with gross sexual assault, served some time in jail in the 1990s. Details of his case are unclear. He was released and taken off parole in September 2001.

After his release from prison, McGonagle said Ingalls was given a risk assessment, taking into account things like his relationship to the victim and likeliness to re-offend, and was judged to be at moderate or low risk of repeating his crime.

During parole he did not have any restrictions preventing him from living near schools or day cares.

Legally, he is allowed to live wherever he wants, McGonagle said.

Fifty-three people on the sex offender registry currently live in Lewiston, up from 48 last fall.

A majority of those are low to moderate risk, he said. The media is contacted when someone of high risk moves to a neighborhood.

Johnson isn’t required to tell her customers about her new neighbor, according to Newell Augur, DHS spokesman.

“There is no specific rule that requires providers to notify parents,” he said. “Certainly, in this instance, Ms. Johnson is doing right by the parents letting them know.”

Johnson believes that after the first interview with prospective clients, when she shares that information, they’ll be tempted to keep looking for someone else to watch their kids.