OH- Non-sex offender gets swept up in public registry

The anonymity this man seeks is the anonymity which the majority of other felons have and which hides them from the eye of society. Many of those felons are more dangerous than most all sex offenders but society closes their eye to them. Or, should I say, that those felons will not bring the politicians votes as much as sex offenders will, therefore it is politicians closes their eyes to them. Does this make society safer?

9-21-2008 Ohio:

Former law's classification \casts shadow over man's life

NEWARK -- You can find his face and photograph on the online Ohio Sex Offender Registry and Notification database.

He currently is in the Licking County Justice Center, facing a pair of felony charges for living at an unregistered address, a violation for those enrolled in the registry.

The only thing that separates Danny Seals from the majority of sex offenders is that he never was convicted of a sex crime.

Seals technically is a child victim offender and, according to numbers provided by the Ohio Attorney General's Office, he is one of more than 400 individuals in the state lumped in, and likely confused, with the mass of sex offenders.

"The public is not aware of this," Seals, 49, said during a video interview with The Advocate at the jail. "They just look at me and think I'm a monster."

THE 1994 INCIDENT

In February 1994, Seals walked into a salon in downtown Mount Vernon to meet his soon-to-be ex-wife to sign divorce papers, according to Mount Vernon police reports and interview transcripts with Seals.

Instead, Seals pulled a handgun, setting off the beginning of a four-hour standoff with police.

Inside the salon were two employees and two children -- the children were released within minutes and the adults soon thereafter. They called 911, and the salon was surrounded by police. Seals eventually surrendered without bloodshed.

He was indicted, pleaded guilty to and was convicted of one count of kidnapping and four counts of abduction.

In 1999, when Seals was released and classified under Megan's Law, the predecessor of the Adam Walsh Act, a defendant who was found guilty of abduction in which the victim was younger than 18 at the time of the offense was to be classified as a sexual offender, said Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher, who had no involvement in the original case.

However, if Seals would have been convicted of the same crime today, prosecutors would need to prove the kidnapping or the abduction were sexually motivated to hold a classification hearing, according to the law.

Unfortunately for him, Seals said most people don't bother to find out why he's listed online as a sex offender.

Seals, a Newark resident, said his private life has been invaded because of his court-ordered status.

The words "molester" and "predator" have been scratched into his car and his home, he said.

His stepchildren have been picked on by classmates, and Seals said he hasn't had any close friends since his reintroduction to society.

He has floated from job to job -- more than 20 in the past nine years -- and has learned the warning signs a boss elicits immediately before letting him go.

"They see me on the Internet, and it's only a matter of days before I get fired," Seals said. "The day that they find out, I already know."

THE MONITOR

The man who arrested Seals for failing to register, Licking County Sheriff's Office Detective Greg Collins, said he could not immediately identify any other offender he is assigned to monitor as having a similar underlying criminal case as Seals'.

Tasked with keeping an eye on 300 active registered offenders in the county and an additional 150 to 160 inmates who will have registration requirements upon release, Collins said the workload has increased but has not become overwhelming.

The passage of Ohio Senate Bill 10, known as the Adam Walsh Act, effective Jan. 1, heightened check-in responsibilities and the number of years sex offenders are required to do so.

As the sole detective tasked to watch the county's sex offender population, Collins said he is assisted in doing random address verification checks at least twice per month and with the promise that each offender's home will be visited at least once.

While the majority are compliant, Collins said that, like in any other criminal allegation when the law is broken by an offender, he must compile a case for prosecution.

Despite "having enough work," Collins said it is not his place to question who is under his surveillance.

"Whatever they were convicted of, if the court says they have to register as a classified sex offender, then they have to ... regardless of the underlying charges, we treat them the same," he said.

'MISLEADING INFORMATION'

The registry exists to "help Ohioans protect their families and communities," according to the Ohio Attorney General's Web site.

Assistant Ohio Public Defender Jay Macke said the expressed purpose of the sex offender registry -- protection -- and its online accessibility are positives, but they are being compromised by the inclusion of people like Seals.

"I don't think anybody's served by having the state distribute what is essentially misleading information," he said.

Michelle Gatchell, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office, said the creation of a separate registry for sex and child victim offenders would be up to the Ohio General Assembly.

Macke speculated financial and political reasons might have prevented the formation of a second catalogue, while Cuyahoga County Assistant Public Defender Cullen Sweeney thinks it just might be considered by the state to be simpler.

Either way, Sweeney said it is unfair to both the public, which relies on the information, and the child victim offender, who is perceived wrongly.

"You're going to assume that person committed a sexual offense when that's not the case," he said.

Ask Seals about that day in 1994 and he'll tell you it was stupid, dangerous decision.

Ask him about the sex offender registry and restricting those guilty of sex crimes and he offers a surprising answer.

"I am totally for it," he said. "I think the law should even be stricter."

'DISAPPEAR FROM THE SYSTEM'

Seals said he just wants to "disappear from the system" when his term of registration expires in April 2009.

However, as he is expected to be classified a Tier II offender, Seals could be saddled with an additional 15 years of reporting his home, work and vehicle information to authorities -- and the public.

The prospect is defeating to Seals, who said he might have taken a different path in 1999 if he would have known then what he knows now.

"If I'd have known (this) the day I was released, I would have stayed in prison for the nine and a half years," he said. "It would have been easier than this."

Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Huston and defense attorney Eric Brehm, both of whom have been assigned to Seals' active case, said they expect to discuss the unique circumstances of Seals' situation during a scheduled pretrial this week.

His pending case, one count each of failure of a sex offender to provide notice of change of address and failure of a sex offender to register, both second-degree felonies, could net him up to 16 years behind bars.

His underlying offense of kidnapping, also a second-degree felony, makes his failure to register charge a level higher than the standard third-degree felony. ..News Source.. by RUSS ZIMMER • Advocate Reporter