Century-old child molester out of prison

BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A century-old great-grandfather, the oldest registered sex offender in New York state, will soon be living on his own, officials say.

Theodore Sypnier, who pleaded guilty to molesting two young sisters in 1999 while he was babysitting them, now denies the crime, The Buffalo News reports. He was sentenced to nine years behind bars and will be under supervised release until 2012.

He has been living in a Buffalo halfway house. He was first released from prison in 2007 but re-incarcerated for several months for violating parole.

Prosecutors say Sypnier has been a child molester for most of his adult life and is likely to do so again if he gets the chance.

"Mr. Sypnier is the personification of evil and should be removed from civilized society permanently, until the day he dies," Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III said. "He is an unrepentant child molester who has been doing this or trying to do this for 60 years. He can't be cured. He's not sick. He's evil. He's not old. He's evil."

The Rev. Terry King, operator of Saving Grace halfway house, said he only allowed Sypnier to stay there because the alternative was a mission where he would have had no supervision for part of the day. Authorities have said he will be closely checked when he is in his own apartment.