A real estate agent is a trusted person responsible for representing your best interest when buying or selling a home. Asking good questions can help you know if you are compatible, but few of us ever worry about our safety when meeting with an agent one-on-one.

A Baltimore agent is struggling to keep his Maryland real estate license after a year in jail for sexually abusing minor relatives. He is now on the registered sex offender list, but wants to stay in his longtime career as a real estate agent.

Some professions are off limits to convicted felons, but real estate agent is not one of them. This is why the Maryland Real Estate Commission revoked the man’s license stating that his convictions “undermine his trustworthiness in dealing with public.”

As someone in a position of trust, we look to our agent as a confidant and for guidance in the biggest financial transactions of our lives. We should not have to worry about the moral character or our safety (or that of our children) in their presence.

The agent’s representatives counter that his conviction is a family matter and unrelated to his profession. Convicted sex offenders carry a stigma that haunts them and their career goals for decades.

But maybe they shouldn’t have broken the law in the first place?

Read the entire story at the Baltimore Sun.