Sex offender gets 1 year for teaching driving

A convicted sex offender who held a job as a driving school instructor was sentenced to one year in the Waukesha County Jail with work release privileges after he was found guilty Wednesday of breaking a state law that prohibits people convicted of child sex crimes from holding jobs that put them in regular contact with children under 16.

William T. Webb, 46, of Milwaukee was charged with committing the felony in December 2005 while he was employed as an instructor for Arcade Drivers School out of Brookfield Square in 2004 and 2005. His case was believed to be the first use in Waukesha County of the 10-year-old law and among the first uses statewide.

Webb, who was convicted of a child sex offense in 1992 in Washington state, claimed he was not aware of the Wisconsin law barring him from working with children. Nonetheless, Schimel said, Webb violated the law and should be punished.

Webb told Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. that he "never had any ill or sinister intent" when he took the driving school job. At first, he was employed only to train driving instructors. He began instructing students because he needed more work hours. "I took the job seriously. . . . I never took advantage of anyone. I never put anyone in danger," Webb told Dreyfus.[Ed: Keep in mind, he was not on Parole or Probation during the time he worked as a driving instructor. He had served his time. Nonetheless, he was committing a FELONY by working in an occupation that brought him into contact with minors]