TX- Oops: DPS Apologizes for Listing Woman as Sex Offender

(Post by eAdvocate) 4-6-2009 Texas:

DPS blames data entry error for mistake

The Texas Department of Public Safety apologized Friday and accepted blame for mistakenly posting a Dallas woman's name and photo on the state's sex offender Web site for nearly five years.

"After investigating the facts in this case, it is clear that a data entry error at DPS led to this mistake," said DPS spokesman Tom Vinger. "DPS deeply regrets the error and apologizes for any inconvenience."

The woman, Rachel Marquez, 20, of Dallas, said she's glad DPS admitted its mistake.

"I'll take the apology," she said. "I accept it."

She also said she is talking to lawyers about her options.

"I don't know how many people have seen it or how many jobs it has cost me," she said. "I'm just now finding this out and it's been six or seven years."

Marquez learned she was on the list when she tried to move into a new apartment. Managers denied her application and informed her she was a registered sex offender.

Marquez logged on to the Web site to see for herself.

"My heart just dropped," she said. "How could this be me?"

(Posted by eAdvocate)

The problem apparently stemmed from a minor trespassing arrest in 2003 when she was 13 years old. A data entry operator at DPS mistakenly checked the "sex offender" box on her entry, automatically publishing her information on the sex offender registry, Vinger said.

"Just someone clicked the wrong thing and it happened," she said. "That's crazy, that I had to be the one, you know?"

Marquez, a mother of two, is studying criminal justice at Garland's Remington College and wants to do crime scene investigations for police.

DPS removed her name after her father informed the department of the mistake.

The agency said its records showed she had been on the Web site since September 2003 or April 2004.

"We are in the process of reviewing our procedures to make sure there are sufficient safeguards to prevent this type of problem," Vinger said. "Our director will be composing a letter of apology."

Vinger said he knows of no other cases in which someone was mistakenly identified publicly as a sex offender.

"This could happen to anyone," Marquez said. "There's no telling how many people think of me in a weird way. 'That's Rachel. I saw her on the sex offender list.'" ..News Source.. by Scott Gordon