Rochester, N.Y. - John Horace is 67 years old. He walks with a cane and told us he has a disability and cannot work.
On Tuesday morning, he reported to the Rochester office of the New York State Division of Parole to check-in after his release from prison.
He will be supervised by Parole until 2021 and will have several restrictions, including a curfew and must undergo mandatory sex offender counseling.
Horace served 17 years for raping a comatose patient at a Brighton Healthcare facility in 1995.
Though he didn't speak about the crime or the victim, he said, "I am tired of being hounded for what I did."
Horace waited in line with other parolees to get into the office and talked to us and them about his freedom after being in prison for so many years.
Horace told 13 WHAM: "17 years, bad health. Glad to get out of prison and get hold of my family and help them."
When asked if he would be staying in Rochester, Horace replied: "Where else would I go?"
Horace wouldn't answer questions about his retirement. He told a Parole Board this past summer that he would be retiring, to which a board member asked, "retiring from what?"
Horace said he had worked his whole life in retail, construction and other areas and will collect a pension.
He is listed as a Level Two Sex Offender on the New York State Sex Offender Registry.
He is also listed as a "sexually violent offender."
According to the registry, Horace will live in Rochester, in the same home where he lived when the crime was committed in 1995.
When asked what possessed him to rape a helpless woman who was in a coma, Horace responded: " I was trying to be somebody that I was not. I pretended to be a doctor.I was trying to gain notoriety."
Before going into the Parole Office, Horace told us: " Leave me alone. Let me lead my life. "
The victim in this case died a year after giving birth to a baby boy. He was raised by the victim's mother and is now a teenager.
The family moved away from the area and has an Order of Protection preventing Horace from ever having any contact with this family.
