Registered sex offender working at carnival arrested

When the Fayette County Fair hits West Union, it takes about 20 volunteers and about 20 workers to pull it all off.

Yet, on Tuesday, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office arrested one worker, a registered sex offender who they say violated the law by working at the fair. Tom H. Seago, 49, of Eldorado, is now facing a second offense of failing to comply with the sex offender registry.

“If you are convicted of a crime against a minor, it is unlawful if you have to register, to be employed or to volunteer at a carnival, state fair or county fair,” said Chief Deputy Jim Davis. Davis said he and sheriff Marty Fisher were on the grounds Tuesday morning when they saw Seago working on equipment set-up.

“He was setting up rides at the time,” said Davis, who said investigators do not believe Seago had any contact with children. Seago was convicted of a 2007 encounter with a female between the ages of 14 and 17.

Davis added that Seago was arrested without incident.

“(Seago) was very cooperative and understood what we were doing,” said Davis.

Fayette County Fair committee member Al Bodensteiner said when they hire a carnival, the carinval then has to let the fair know who is working.

“They have to supply us with a list of the workers' names,” said Bodensteiner. “We, in turn, turn the list to the police department and they check.”

Veronica Eveland is one of the owners of Next Generation Shows, a Lone Tree-based company that supplies the carnival. She praised both the Fayette County Fair and law enforcement for how they handled the arrest.

“I wouldn't knowingly hire someone like this,” said Eveland, who said she is a mother of four, including a toddler.

By the time the fair ends on Saturday night, Bodensteiner said they hope to have had 16,000 people come to West Union for the week. For proper staffing, he added the carnival usually brings about ten workers with them and hires roughly ten more when they get to the site.

“The fair is all about the kids out here,” said Bodensteiner. “We have a lot of 4-H kids and try to maintain safety for them.”

Jeff Raasch contributed to this update.