FORT WAYNE, Ind. – from www.chicagotribune.com — A state program that houses sex offenders after they leave prison has moved ex-cons out of a Fort Wayne motel after a private club with ties to a swingers’ group moved in, officials said.

The Indiana Department of Corrections said the recent arrival of the club at Hallmark Inn led the agency to move the sex offenders to a nearby motel. As many as 16 former prisoners had been living there.

“We thought that made the most sense,” department spokesman Doug Garrison told The Journal Gazette.

The new club, called Just 4 Now, shares a website with the now-closed Club Utopia, a swingers’ group.

As of Friday, six former inmates still had the Hallmark Inn as their registered address, according to the Allen County Sheriff’s Department. People listed on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry are required to report their new homes within three days.

The Indiana prison system has used federal funding since 2006 to house some sex offenders after they’re released from prison in motels across the state.

State law prohibits sex offenders who have committed crimes against children and those deemed predators from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or child-care center. The state has a list of 36 motels that have participated in the program and meet living restrictions for sex offenders, Garrison said.

“These guys have to go somewhere,” he said.

Guests checking in at the Travelers Inn, where former inmates were moved from the Hallmark Inn, were not told about the motel participating in the program.

Willard E. Ritchie, 58, who was convicted of child molestation and served two years in prison, said the program has kept a roof over his head while he looks for work as a janitor. He shares a room with another registered sex offender.

“It’s a hard time right now,” Ritchie said.