BELCHER, La. — Residents in Belcher say they had no idea a registered sex offender was paid to paint a mural and others around the area — and even offered free music lessons to children inside a shed.

Now, parents are demanding to know why village officials never told them.

Chelsea Madrigal says James Edward Coleman Jr., 70, approached her outside the Belcher Library. The mother of two says at the time she didn’t know that Coleman was a convicted sex offender.

“He asked if we’d be interested in letting my oldest participate in the fall festival with his little drum band. I thought, sure — a new opportunity to learn something,” Madrigal said.

Coleman was convicted of indecency with a 14-year-old child in Texas in 2013. He would have been 58 at the time.

Last year, Mayor Jennifer Fant h

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