Readers ask: Why didn’t YDR include criminal record in story about York County developer and Alabama project?
Some who read the story “Risky business: Court judgments aside, York County developer says of Alabama project: ‘It’s happening‘” have asked whether the subject of the story, Shah Mathias, is the same Shah Mathias listed as a Megan’s Law registered sex offender. Others have called or emailed to ask why we did not include that in our story.
Since Dec. 4, 2006, Shah Mathias has been registered with the Pennsylvania State Police as an offender of Megan’s Law. His primary offense was unlawful contact or communication with a minor, according to the state’s Megan’s Law website.
We were aware of Mathias’ Megan’s Law status as we began reporting the story. None of the people we interviewed said Mathias’ Megan’s Law status played any role in their business dealings with him.
We discussed whether including that information in the story was related to the subject matter. We decided that because it had no direct bearing on his Alabama plans or on his business history, we would not include it in our report.
We welcome your feedback. And we are continuing to report on the story. If you have information to share, please contact Sean Adkins at sadkins at ydr.com or Lauren Boyer at lboyer at ydr.com.