NY- POLICE: Officers make Halloween checks on area's sex offenders

11-1-2008 New York:

As trick-or-treaters filled the streets Friday night, a small task force of law enforcement was going door-to-door as well — checking in on the area’s sex offenders.

With so many children out and about, sex offenders had been told to stay inside, leave their porch lights out and not answer the door.

Representatives from the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department, the Lockport Police Department and the probation department

The group gathered at the sheriff’s department about 3:30 p.m. to prepare for the day. They mapped out a route, through the City of Lockport and surrounding areas, including Middleport and Ransomville.

This is the third year the probation department has made the home visits — and perhaps the new initiative is a sign of the times.

“When I was a kid, trick-or-treating ... my parents would go, ‘Don’t go to that house, there’s weird people there,’ “ Sheriff’s Investigator Brian Schell said, as he prepared to start the sweep. “Now, we’ve identified the houses and people our parents warned us about.”

First stops

The first stop, about 4 p.m., was an apartment building on Ontario Street, where the officers knocked on the offender’s door for several minutes.

When there was no answer, they radioed to dispatch to call the offender’s number, but again there was no answer.

The officers decided to come back and check later. About 6:30 p.m., after visiting other offenders, they swung back around and knocked on the door again, and this time the offender was home.

Standing in his kitchen with the officers, the offender said he wasn’t expecting trick-or-treaters because the main doors to the apartment building were locked.

“They can’t get in the building,” he said.

At the second stop, on Cottage Street, the offender was home the first time they knocked — and he knew the officers were coming.

“You figured we’d be here tonight, right?” Schell asked.

The man nodded. “I remember last year,” he said.

The sheriff’s department made one arrest during the evening — Richard Baker, 28, whose listed address on the registry is Chestnut Ridge Road in Gasport.

Baker, a Level-2 offender, was wanted on an arrest warrant for allegedly failing to notify officials of his change his address. He was convicted in 2007 of second-degree sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl.

Sheriff’s Investigator Leonard Guagliano said officers found Baker at a relative’s house on Church Street.

Warning

At an apartment on Walnut Street, a Level-3 offender was home when officers knocked. As they were interviewing him, he took the opportunity to ask questions about how to deal with people harassing him.

He said he was out to breakfast when a man approached him and began yelling that he’d seen his photo on the sex offender registry site.

“He said, ‘I’m gonna kill you!’ ” the offender said.

Schell told the offender he was free to call the police if anyone threatened him.

At another stop on East Avenue, a group of trick-or-treaters walking by the house watched as the officers walked up the front steps. Seeing the police presence, the adult in the group waved the kids on, bypassing the house.

Schell said the extra police presence helps keep sex offenders away from potential victims.

“They know they’re being watched,” he said. “We can’t go see everybody, but even those we don’t ... hopefully it gets them to abide by the conditions.” ..News Source.. by April Amadon