FL- Homeless sex offenders register bogus residence

9-27-2008 Florida:

Mission House bans residency

Homelessness is not illegal at the Beaches but transients who are also registered sexual offenders must register a permanent address with police to avoid a felony charge.

But homeless sexual offenders who use the Mission House as a permanent address are committing a crime, Jacksonville Beach police said this week, adding they plan to meet with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, where registration is conducted, to let them know that the Beaches do not have a permanent shelter that sex offenders can claim as a residence.

"It's complicated," Jacksonville Beach Police Sgt. Thom Bingham said Tuesday. "We have conferred with the State Attorney's office regarding our interpretation of the law. There needs to be some type of residence for a person to register. The Mission House is not set up for that."

Bingham said a permanent address is defined by law as a location where an individual resides or sleeps. A temporary address is permitted for registration purposes only when an individual spends more than 14 days at that location in a calendar year.

"The Mission House does not qualify as a residence unless homeless offenders are sleeping on the property," Bingham said.

-Someone misses or misconstrues what a temporary residence is, 14 or more days in a calendar year, qualifies as a temporary residence under the law. However, the police are only allowing homeless registrants to file PERMANENT residences. Maybe a court can settle this..

Executive Director Jan Flager of the Mission House, a day facility that serves with the homeless population with meals and provides clothing, toiletries and free medical care, said clients are permitted to use the address for mailing purposes only and must mark anything using 800 Shetter Avenue for "mailing purposes only." Those who violate the policy and register with the county using the Mission House address are barred from the facility.

"This is never to be used as a residence. If we know, they are not allowed to be here. It is one of our standard rules," he said. "It is one of the things we absolutely stand hard on."

Flager said the case management teams that gather client background information are usually able to flag a past criminal background, including sex offenses. But not all of the clients that the Mission House serves go through the case management process.

"We can't check everybody's background. We do act on it when it comes to our attention," he said of transients who break the rules and stay on the facility's grounds. "There is a huge apartment complex behind us. We are very sensitive to that."

All sex offenders and predators are required by law to register with the county within 48 hours of arrival. In Duval County, registry must be completed through the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Failure to register as a sex offender is a felony in most jurisdictions.

"That was the intent behind Megan's Law. If someone moves into your neighborhood you should be notified," Bingham said. "It goes against the law when someone wants to camp out behind [a restaurant] and people living in [nearby condos] don't know they have a sex offender living 100 feet away," he said, acknowledging that is sometimes the situation at the Beaches.

-Apparently folks are forgetting the 14 day issue, or that homeless offenders or anyone -police permitting- can sleep anywhere in the state as there is no law prohibiting sleeping anywhere, maybe even on a bus, train, park bench, in a tree, or even on a couch in a store; sleeping is not just confined to residences to be legal. I can see the charge "Illegal Sleeping" in a prohibited area? These laws are riddled with errors...

Megan's Law was enacted in honor of 7-year-old Megan Kanka who was murdered by a repeat sex offender in 1994. The law requires those convicted of sex crimes against children to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment.

In Jacksonville Beach, Bingham said investigators are aware of five or six homeless sexual offenders registered in the city using the MIssion House address. Warrants have been issued for those failing to register or update information.

"We don't know how many are failing to register at all in our area," he said. "If they are just passing through, they don't have to. But if they are here more than 48 hours, it's the law."

Flager said of the thousands of people helped by Mission House, very few are sex offenders.

"It is the exception as opposed to the rule with our clients," he said. "I am certainly not trying to belittle the importance of the situation but it is an extremely small element of our population. We just want to make sure folks know that it is not a haven." ..News Source.. by LIZA MITCHELL, Staff Writer