February 22, 2012

Few Ohio counties use federal funds to chase sex offenders

Even law enforcement is getting tired of the nip picking of registrants' lives and give up looking for them when LE has better things to do, like catch REAL criminals! Just a guess though...
2-22-2012 Ohio:

DAYTON — Only 13 of Ohio’s 88 counties have used available federal funds to bring back convicted sex offenders who have fled the state without registering with authorities, and the attorney general is urging more counties to make use of that money.

State Attorney General Mike DeWine last April set up a program to reimburse counties for the cost of bringing convicted sex offenders back when they flee to avoid laws that require them to register with authorities on a regular basis. But DeWine is concerned that only 22 convicted sex offenders have been brought back under the federally funded program, the Dayton Daily News reported Tuesday.

“We would love to have more counties come forward to use this money to put these sex predators behind bars,” DeWine said.

Only $30,000 of the $100,000 available when the program started has been used.

Ohio has 19,050 registered sex offenders, and 10,527 of them were involved in offenses against children, the newspaper reported. DeWine recently identified more than 100 Ohio offenders who are being sought out of state and announced plans to more aggressively pursue those who violate registration laws.

Shelby County in western Ohio was one of the 13 counties last year to use the federally funded program, which pays up to $2,000 per offender to cover the cost of returning those who have fled the state. Sheriff John Lenhart said authorities across the nation too often take the attitude that once offenders cross state lines they are someone else’s problem.

“When these people are out of compliance they are hunting your kids and your grandkids to sexually assault them,” Lenhart said.

Shelby County deputies discovered last year that a 26-year-old sex offender was no longer at his registered address in Ohio. That offender was picked up in Colorado on a warrant from Ohio, was brought back to face charges of failure to register and is now serving a one-year prison sentence.

Sex offenders “know how many days to live in a certain spot before they have to tell Ohio that they’ve moved,” said Bill Taylor, a senior inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service, who has helped return offenders to Ohio from as far away as Mexico.

DeWine also is seeking federal approval to use the funding to relocate sex offenders who have come to Ohio from other states. ..Source.. by Canton Rep.com

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