The Indiana Supreme Court says convicted sex offenders need not relocate if they resided near places frequented by children before a 2006 state law that restricts where they live.

The court ruled this week that the law violates the Indiana constitution by retroactively punishing Anthony Pollard of Blackford County.

He had owned his home for about 10 years when he was convicted of a sex offense against a child in 1997. Pollard then was charged in 2007 with violating the law that prohibits convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, park or youth program center.

A Blackford County judge dismissed the charge as unconstitutional, and the state appealed.

But the Indiana Court of Appeals and now the state Supreme Court both upheld the local ruling.