Aurora police: 'Ripper Crew' member unaffected by child sex offender evictions

Twenty child sex offenders who had been living at an Aurora halfway house have been told they must leave, authorities said.

But Thomas Kokoraleis, a convicted killer and former member of the infamous "Ripper Crew," who moved in March to the Aurora facility following his release from prison, is not among them, Sgt. Bill Rowley said Saturday.

Kokoraleis and the evicted offenders live at Wayside Cross Ministries at 215 E. New York St. in Aurora's downtown. Rowley said police determined during a regular compliance check that the facility is too close to a park for child sex offenders to reside there.

Kokoraleis, who was released from prison in March after serving 35 years of a 70-year sentence for the 1982 murder of Lorraine "Lorry" Borowski of Elmhurst, must register his address with police because he is on the state's sex offender registry. But Rowley said Kokoraleis is not a child sex offender, and therefore is not affected by the restriction saying he must live more than 500 feet from a park.

The Wayside residents who are on the child sex offender list were served 30-day eviction notices by Aurora police on Wednesday, James Lukose, Wayside Cross' executive director, said in a news release. Five of those evicted are resident staff members who have completed the Master's Touch Program, a six-month residential recovery track for men affected by drugs, alcohol or destructive behavior, in which Kokoraleis is enrolled, he said.

"Wayside Cross Ministries has been the only refuge for these men, and has been a beacon of light for over 90 years," he said in the statement. "Releasing these 20 men into the community without supervision and support is not in the best interest of these residents or the community."

Wayside Cross has been drawing extra attention since its decision in March to house Kokoraleis, a move Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and protesters have asked the ministry to reverse to no avail.

Kokoraleis and the other three members of the Ripper Crew committed violent, sexually motivated murders of women in Chicago and the suburbs in the 1980s.