(1) A child care service employer offering or conducting a child care service: Shall not employ or permit to volunteer an applicant who is listed on the sex offender registry as a sex offender under Section 45-33-25; and
(2) Shall not knowingly employ or permit to volunteer an applicant who has been convicted of a sex offense, who has been adjudicated not guilty of a sex offense by reason of insanity; or who has been adjudicated physically or mentally incompetent.
(3) A child care service employer who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), imprisoned for a period not to exceed six (6) months, or both.
(4) An employer who obtains an official report from the Mississippi Justice Information Center that the applicant is not registered as a sex offender shall not be guilty of a violation of this section, absent the employer’s actual knowledge that the applicant is a sex offender.