5-8-2013 Michigan:
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently signed into law a bill that expanded Michigan's sex offender registry to allow the public to view sex offenders who have been convicted of a Tier I sex offense.
Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who sponsored the bill, estimates it will immediately add approximately 250 convicted sex offenders to the public registry with more to follow.
Tier I offenses that now qualify include the possession of child pornography, indecent exposure to a minor and surveillance of a minor when that minor has an expectation of privacy. Previously these offenses required registration with the state and were available to police, but the public did not have access to the list.
"Any parent or grandparent has the right to know if they are living next to someone who has a record of committing sexual crimes against minors," Jones told the Holland Sentinel.
Tier III sex offenses are considered the most severe, while Tier I offenses are considered the least egregious sex crimes.
Michigan is also considering a bill that would require sex offenders on the registry to pay an annual fee of $50 to cover the operating costs of the database. Currently there is a one-time fee of $50. A number of other states require sex offenders to pay an annual fee, but critics argue the measure would be unduly burdensome on sex offenders, many of whom struggle to find jobs and housing after their convictions.
Registration basics
Under Michigan law, the conviction of Tier I offense requires annual registration for 15 years, although offenders can petition the state to be removed after 10 years. Tier II offenses, such as the accosting, enticement or solicitation of a child under age 16 to commit a sexual act, must register with the state twice a year for 25 years. A Tier III offender must register four times a year with the state for life.
Examples of a Tier III offense include child kidnapping and assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct.
Michigan's Public Sex Offender Registry site includes a sex offender's name, known aliases, a photo, a written physical description, the offender's last known home address and his or her employment and educational status. The site is free and available to the public.
Contact a criminal defense attorney
Few charges are as serious or carry more stigma than the charge of a sexual offense. Registering as a sex offender can bring lifelong consequences that negatively impact a person's job prospects, housing options and social respectability. Michigan residents accused of a sex offense should immediately contact a skilled criminal defense attorney familiar with defending the rights of those accused of a sex crime. ..SOurce.. by The Law Offices of Raymond A. Cassar, P.L.C.
May 8, 2013
Michigan sex offender registry expands
March 12, 2013
Michigan sex offenders may pay yearly fee under proposed bill
How many times is the State of Michigan going to lie to registrants? Originally there was no fee, then the State said a ONE TIME fee, now that has changed AGAIN, when will it end? The "Doctrine of LACHES" prohibits the state from changing their position on an issue, this is now the third time they have done this. ACLU where are you?3-12-2013 Michigan:
LANSING — People on Michigan's sex offender registry would have to pay a yearly fee under a bill a Senate panel will debate this week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take up the bill Tuesday. It would require offenders who are not in prison to pay an annual $50 fee instead of a one-time $50 registration fee.
Sen. Rick Jones of Grand Ledge is the bill's sponsor. He says offenders have "put themselves in this special club, so they need to pay a membership fee."
The Senate Fiscal Agency says it would increase annual revenue from fees from $160,000 to $700,000. It says it costs the state $1.2 million to operate the registry each year, $600,000 of that is used to maintain the database. ..Source.. by Detroit Free Press
February 3, 2013
Defenders, critics debate effectiveness of sex offender registry
The real problems with the registry are, everyones belief it will solve future sex offenses. It WILL NOT! Bouchard's belief of high recidivism is not reality and hasn't been, many studies have proved the false belief of high recidivism. US DOJ shows recidivism of less than 5%, which means the registry is useless against 95% of new sex offenses. Lawmakers use the registry concept to further personal employment ideals and gains, tricking the public into a false sense of security. This merely touches on whats wrong with the registry and what it actually accomplishes!2-3-2013 Michigan:
Michigan residents have access to the names, addresses and offenses of convicted sex offenders at their fingertips.
You can search within a mile of your house for them. You can search an entire ZIP code. Smart phone apps will show you a map of sex offenders, your location marked with a green dot, surrounded by menacing looking red dots marking the addresses on the registry.
Michigan required sex offenders to register in the state in 1994 to meet a federal mandate. Legislation sponsored by Michael Bouchard, now Oakland County’s sheriff, made the registry public in 1996.
“I wrote the law because of the high recidivism rate of sex offenders,” Bouchard said in an email. “The average pedophile has over 100 victims in their so-called career. For those reasons alone, the public should have easy access to what is already public record.
“Their crimes, their release and their location,” Bouchard wrote. “This allows women and families to better protect themselves by being informed. Maybe it's taking a different route to school or jogging or skipping a house or block on Halloween. To those that say, ‘When can the sex offender move on with their life?’ I say the day their victims can forget.”
There are 519 sex offenders registered in St. Clair County and 138 in Sanilac County.
While many say the registry is a useful tool, others argue it might not be the right approach.
JJ Prescott, a law professor at the University of Michigan, researched the topic of private versus public directories for a paper published in 2011.
Prescott said he found public registries are a deterrent to potential first-time offenders — but once an offender is on the list, it does little or nothing to keep him or her from committing new crimes.
“They can’t find jobs, can’t build families, can’t live near friends and family, they are pariahs,” Prescott said. “What is the threat? What do you threaten someone with who is in prison on their own dime?”
Francie Giordano, founder of Michigan Citizens for Justice, said her son was on the registry for just a few months and it was like living a nightmare. ...continued to multiple pages... by Liz Shepard
October 20, 2011
Michigan State Police conducting statewide sex offender sweep
10-20-2011 Michigan:
GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — The Michigan State Police is conducting a statewide sweep of individuals in violation of the sex offender registry act, according to a press release.
Starting Monday, state police will be searching for offenders who failed to verified their address with police. The sweep will last until Oct. 28.
"All registered sex offenders must also report a change of name, address, employment, campus enrollment, internet identifiers and vehicle within three business days of any change. Failure to do so is four-year felony," according to the press release.
According to state police, about 2,500 out of the nearly 40,000 offenders were in violation of the policy as of September. ..Source.. by David Harris | Flint Journal
October 22, 2010
Sweep updates E.L. sex offender information
Here we begin to see what "non compliant" means, one reason is failed to keep paperwork up to date. I have no idea what that could mean, because all paperwork is completed by registrants in front of the registering agent, and if there is anything wrong with it, the agent should catch it and ask the registrant to fix it right then and there. Michigan -like other states- is going broke, but they can afford to send a TEAM of police to a registrant's home because of some paperwork glitch, which is really the state's error for not catching it when the registrant was standing in front of the agent. What happened to using one's brain in this situation, a letter to registrant, come in to fix ___ ___ by ___ date, rather than pay the salaries of a TEAM of police. The people in charge of this mess should be paying for these state errors, out of their paychecks.10-22-2010 Michigan:
There are 900 registered sex offenders in Ingham County. And police don’t know where 31 of them are.
These are the results of recent sex offender sweeps through the tri-county area of Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties.
The sweeps target registered sex offenders to ensure they have not given false information and are keeping up with the fines and paperwork associated with their sentence.
Many of the registered sex offenders do not pose a serious problem. Ingham County has a 93 percent compliance rate. From the 62 noncompliant offenders, 31 either have failed to pay a fee or keep their paperwork up to date, and 31 did not update the police when they changed their residency, or absconded.
The state of Michigan has a 92.5 percent compliance rate amongst its sex offenders.
Officers from multiple agencies joined together to perform the sweeps. There are various types of sweeps done throughout the year. On Tuesday, police performed a sweep called “Operation Verify.”
The sweep targets registered sex offenders who failed to verify their address in the first 15 days of October.
“If they didn’t check in with law enforcement, we’ll go in and target those offenders if they forgot, or ended up in jail, moved and didn’t change their address or decided not to comply,” Michigan State Police trooper Tim Burchell said.
Last year the State Police performed a random residence check for all registered sex offenders in the area.
Those who do not comply can be charged with anything from a simple misdemeanor to a four-year felony charge.
If a registered sex offender does not appear to be living at the listed address, police will continue looking for them, employing the help of the U.S. Marshal if the offender has left the area or the state, Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe Guzman said.
“We have a nationwide network of investigators more capable of handling them,” Guzman said. “Some are very difficult to locate. Some take years to locate.”
Burchell said police do not know the location of fewer than one percent of offenders in the local area.
“People can hide if they want to,” Burchell said. “It’s not always easy to find people, especially if they cross state lines and change their names. Usually we end up finding them, it just might take a while.”
Of the 21 registered sex offenders in East Lansing, 20 are compliant and 19 are on a 25-year sentence, which corresponds to a less serious crime, such as indecent exposure.
One resident is on a life sentence, usually assigned to sex offenders who have committed a more serious crime, such as rape or sexual assault, and one has a sentence period of less than 25 years.
East Lansing police Capt. Kim Johnson said the East Lansing Police Department has an officer to keep track of registered sex offenders in the area.
“The sex offenders, it’s not a big problem,” Johnson said. “We do not have a lot who live here in our city.” ..Source.. Emily Wilkins
October 19, 2010
Sex Offender Sweep Kicks Off
Amazing, sever years they have done this, and all that has been accomplished is to incarcerate those who failed to update the address of where they sleep for a few hours of the day/night. Not only do taxpayers foot the bill for the time spent by the officers to do the address checks, taxpayers will also pay for the costs of jailing those who failed to update addresses. The registry is nothing but a failed theory, and in the process has ruined many lives.10-19-2010 Michigan:
The saddest fact is, that police (see below) truly believe that by knowing an address, they then know where the registrant is. Yes, when s/he is sleeping, but for the rest of the day, they have no idea where the registrant is. Unbelievable! I guess they are trying to protect their jobs by bamboozling the public.
Law enforcement across the state are going door to door in a statewide crack down on sex offenders. The effort kicked off Monday and it means that sex offenders who failed to register their current address can expect a knock on their door from authorities.
The Michigan State Police says 46,533 registered sex offenders are listed in the Great Lakes state. And each offender is required to tell authorities where they live every three months.
They've had two weeks to make contact. Police say those who haven't, can expect a knock on the door.
"We're gonna check there last registered address to see if they're still residing there. And if they are not residing there then we'll submit a warrant request to the prosecutors office requesting charges," said Trooper Timothy Burchell.
Burchell says offenders who fail to verify their address face 93 days in jail and up to a four year felony charge. Burchell says 92% of sex offenders in the state are accounted for. 93% are accounted for in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties.
As for the other 7%, Burchell says they may or may not live at their last verified address. Either way, he says society has the right to know and the offenders are obligated to comply.
"For every offender that's on the list, there's a victim and the victim's family that's out there that would like peace of mind knowing where that offender is. Some of these guys are predatorial offenders and if we don't monitor them, there is a chance of recidivism. And we want to make sure that we can keep track of them as prescribed by the law," says Burchell.
This is the seventh year for "Operation Verify." ..Source.. WLNS.com
State police commence statewide sex offender sweep
SAGINAW — Beginning Monday and concluding Oct. 29, state police will perform a sweep of convicted sex offenders throughout the state who failed to verify their addresses as required by law.
Known as “Operation Verify,” this is the seventh compliance check of its kind that the state law enforcement agency has conducted.
“This sweep will take place directly following the Oct. 1st through 15th quarterly verification period, which will allow for a more accurate list of true non-compliant offenders,” said State Police Director Col. Eddie L. Washington Jr. “This also means that felony-listed offenders who want to spare themselves a visit from a police officer should be sure to verify their address with law enforcement during the first 15 days of October.”
Of 1,512 offenders checked during a similar sweep that concluded in February, there were 179 arrests and 248 requests for arrest warrants.
Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense must verify their address with an area law enforcement agency once per year in January, while felony offenders must verify in January, April, July and October.
A change of address must be reported within 10 days of the change.
As of August there were 46,400 offenders on the state Sex Offender Registry, 42,945 of whom were in compliance with verification requirements. ..Source.. by Gus Burns | The Saginaw News
March 10, 2010
179 Sex Offenders Arrested In Statewide Sweep
3-10-2010 Michigan:
LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan State Police announced Tuesday that 179 non-compliant sex offenders were arrested and 248 additional arrest warrants were requested during Operation Verify, an initiative aimed at increasing compliance with Michigan’s sex offender registration law.
This was the state’s sixth coordinated sex offender sweep in five years.
The effort involved over 120 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
During two weeks beginning in February, officers conducted compliance checks at the registered residences of 1,512 offenders, resulting in 179 arrests for violations of the Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act.
The Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act requires offenders convicted of a misdemeanor-listed offense to report to a local law enforcement agency to verify their address yearly, Jan. 1 through Jan. 15.
Offenders convicted of a felony-listed offense must report to a local law enforcement agency to verify their address quarterly during the first 15 days of January, April, July and October.
Failure to do so is a graduated penalty ranging from a 93-day misdemeanor to a four-year felony.
Convicted offenders must also report a change of address within 10 days of moving; failure to do so is a four-year felony.
As of Jan 2010, there were 45,546 offenders on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.
Following the January verification period, 40,896 offenders were in compliance. ..Source.. WNEM.com
December 31, 2009
Prosecutors weigh reforms to state sex offender registry
12-31-2009 Michigan:
Michigan's overly broad sex offender list includes some kids younger than 13
LANSING — Anthony Flores doesn’t fit the profile of the card-carrying ACLU member agitating for reform of Michigan’s broadly inclusive sex offender registry, because he isn’t.
He was a prosecutor for a dozen years through the summer of 2005, holding a variety of front-line criminal-pursuing positions in both Mecosta and Ingham counties.
More recently, he’s worn a different hat. At this month’s meeting of the Coalition for a Useful Registry in one of the committee rooms of the state Capitol on Dec. 2, Flores, chairman of the group’s professional advisory board, announced he’ll be leaving his position at the end of the year.
But that doesn’t mean that his determination for reforming the state’s sex offender registry is relaxing — or that his time as a prosecutor doesn’t continue to inform his views.
“I was a career prosecutor, I loved prosecution,” he said in a recent interview.
When he worked in the Ingham County prosecutor’s office, Flores said he handled just about every kind of criminal case that came through the courtroom doors — “everything except appeals and child support cases.” In 2001, he was made chief of the unit responsible for prosecuting the state’s criminal sexual conduct laws, the division responsible for child molestation cases. “I zealously prosecuted child molesters. I make no bones about it,” he said.
“It was one of the things that gave me longevity in my career,” he added. And he explained that the experience gave him a unique perspective on all sorts of criminal behavior, the victims of crimes and perpetrators both. “I could understand somebody caught in the cycle of drug addiction. I could understand being angry because you caught your wife cheating and you strike out in violence, I understood the behavior,” he said. But there was some behavior he couldn’t understand.
“I could never understand why anyone would beat or molest a child,” he said.
Over the past four years, Flores has taught full-time at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, leading courses on trial skills among others. But reflecting on his time as a prosecutor in the CSC unit in Lansing convinced him that state laws are forcing too many people on to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry — especially those convicted of having consensual but underage sex — and not allowing the public to use the online registry to actually identify predatory child molesters nearby.
“When I started looking at it, I got offended,” he said. “At some level, it really insulted the victims of these really heinous offenders when you lump them all in.”
With more than 45,100 names and faces on it, Michigan’s public sex offender registry has the third-highest percentage of its citizens on it of any state registry, and the second largest number of offenders overall. It went online in 1999, and has been amended several times since then, usually to add more requirements for registrants to follow such as housing restrictions or mandatory quarterly address updates, which are then listed on each offender’s unwanted webpage.
Flores would like to see it amended again, but this time to add new requirements that all juveniles accused of committing criminal sexual conduct — from severe first-degree cases to less serious fourth-degree charges — be professionally evaluated prior to sentencing them to, on top of other penalties, a minimum 25-years on the online registry. Currently, all CSC convictions include 25-years on the registry.
“The juvenile system has always been meant for rehabilitation,” he said. “We shouldn’t just knee jerk put them on the registration.”
Flores notes that most people would be surprised to learn that there are registrants as young as 13, and a few even younger than that. Flores said that he’d also like to see judges given “the discretion and tools to put the right people on” after receiving thorough pre-sentencing evaluations.
In an interview with Michigan Messenger, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy disagreed with Flores’ give-judges-more-discretion view. “No, I don’t think that judges should be making that call,” she said. But Worthy did suggest she’s open to other reforms that people like Flores’ also support.
She noted that a 2004 amendment to the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act does allow some juvenile offenders age 17 to 21 stay clear of the registry and have their convictions expunged if they complete the terms of their probation. “That’s a good thing,” Worthy said. But she points out that there’s a three-year time limit on offenders’ ability to petition to have their name removed from the registry — a limit she’d like to see lifted.
Referring to a legislative proposal from her office this year, the prosecutor with the state’s busiest office sought an “indefinite” time limit. “In other words, there would be no time period,” she said.
While that would-be reform has yet to find a sponsor, the earlier 2004 reform wasn’t retroactive — although a recent appeals court decision may open the door to revisiting hundreds of cases adjudicated before the new petitioning process was established.
Worthy, a former Wayne County judge as well as an assistant prosecutor for a dozen years before that, cites what she calls a “fairness issue” in so-called Romeo and Juliet criminal sexual conduct cases.
“I don’t think it’s fair to have them be on the sexual offender registry forever because of that. If it’s a non consensual situation, of course that’s a different story,” she said. “But that shouldn’t be something that people are settled with especially when an awful lot of people did it when they were that age and there was no such law.”
She added: “Let me just say we’re not condoning teenage sex at all. We’re just saying it shouldn’t be criminalized and you shouldn’t have a permanent record because of it.”
Flores agreed with that but went further by suggesting that too often prosecutors don’t really have the discretion to decide against prosecuting underage, consensual sex crimes, citing the intense pressure that can come from parents — or even political pressure to avoid appearing too lenient. “Sometimes we don’t have prosecutorial discretion. Sometimes the parents demand prosecution.”
Worthy, however, disagreed. “The prosecutors absolutely have discretion, and it may be a hard decision to make, just because the parents are yelling for the boy to be charged because their previously quote-unquote innocent daughter has been violated by this boy. [But] it doesn’t mean that we don’t have discretion. We still have the absolute discretion not to charge it.”
Flores’ fellow agitator for comprehensive reform of the state’s sex offender laws, Van Buren County Circuit Judge William C. Buhl, noted that while prosecutors may technically have the discretion not to prosecute a Romeo and Juliet relationship, the political reality usually demands such prosecutions.
“Kym Worthy is right,” Buhl said in an interview. “The prosecutor can do that. But she knows full well that politically it’s not a popular thing, and somebody’s gonna come out and beat you over the head with it. They’re gonna accuse you of being soft on sex crimes or favoring child molesters, and of course under the law, if they’re under 16, they’re children and they can’t consent.”
In the end, there’s probably an age-old philosophical debate over different ideas on reforming the state’s sex offender laws — or not. On that count, Worthy very much fits the profile of the tough crime-fighter.
“I have to say as a prosecutor, I have more compassion for the victims. We have parents of defendants and defendants themselves who certainly feel that they’ve been violated,” she said. But turning to what she called “the hell that some of these victims have to live with for the rest of their life because they were victims,” she added: “The defendant chose to be a defendant. The victim did not choose to be a victim. Their lives are sometimes ruined and changed forever. So I have to say that my compassion is really for the victims of these crimes.”
Flores, asked to respond to Worthy’s view, snapped back at even the suggestion that he has any less compassion for victims of crime.
“No. I have compassion for the scars that are left and the victimization,” he said. “I have so much compassion that I don’t want to insult them by putting their case next to something that’s not like it. I don’t want to put them in a sex offender registration that doesn’t mean anything.
Flores added: “I don’t disagree with her. I just think we’ve done it the wrong way.” ..Source.. David Alire Garcia
May 5, 2009
MI- Police work to track sexual offender registry absconders
5-5-2009 Michigan:
Some sexual predators have been known to move methodically through communities, patiently singling out their victims while blending in with society. From the child molester to the date rapist, offenders often target and attack those with whom they're familiar; occasionally they strike randomly. To monitor their movements among society, the state requires each convicted sex offender to report his residence on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry. But some offenders try to dodge the system by going underground. In an effort to root out these absconders, Michigan law enforcement officials are conducting coordinated, statewide sweeps that have netted some positive results — including here in the lakes area.
Lt. Robert Yorke, the Michigan State Police's metro-Detroit area coordinator for sex offender registry enforcement, extolled the last two Operation Verify sweeps as victories for the public and law enforcement.
"The last two campaigns netted positive results," he said. "Rounding up all absconders up is unrealistic. If they choose to go underground and don't want to be found, we just can't put up all the resources in everyday police work. Anytime we can identify an offender who is not registering and find out where they're living — even if it's just one, that's better than none."
The sex offender registry, a database containing the names, addresses, and offense information for all people in Michigan convicted of sexual offenses, was established in 1994 by the Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act. The law established specific requirements for persons convicted of certain crimes against minors and those convicted of sexually violent crimes.
The Michigan Department of State Police manages the sex offender registry and its data.
The sex offender registry law requires offenders in Michigan to register their addresses with law enforcement officials after conviction but prior to sentencing. Offenders remain on the registry for 25 years or life, depending upon their offense. Offenders released from prison must remain listed on the registry for a minimum of 10 years or the duration of their initial registration period, whichever is longer.
According to Lt. Chuck Loader, statewide sex offender registry enforcement coordinator for the Michigan State Police, offenders who must register for life include those convicted of sexually abusive commercial activity after May 1, 2002. If an offender was convicted of that offense prior to that, their registration duration is 25 years. Child sexually abusive activity/distributing or promoting offenders must register for life if convicted after May 1, 2002. If the offender was convicted before that, their registration duration is 25 years.
Criminal sexual conduct (CSC) charges range in degree and are determined by a prosecuting attorney in each case. First-, second- and third-degree offenses are typically classified as felonies; while fourth-degree offenses are typically classified as two-year misdemeanors. Offenders can be sentenced to anywhere between serving probation to spending 15 years behind bars, depending on their record, age, and the nature of their crime. Regardless, each conviction leads to mandatory registration on the state's sex offender registry.
After registering, offenders convicted of felony violations must report to a law enforcement agency, such as a city/township police department, county sheriff or State Police post, to verify their address during the first 15 days of January, April, July and October of each year. Offenders convicted of a misdemeanor offense must report to a law enforcement agency to verify their address during the first 15 days of January each year.
Incarcerated offenders and those who accurately report that they no longer reside in Michigan aren't subject to verification requirements. Failing to verify an address carries a graduated penalty ranging from a 93-day misdemeanor to a four-year felony prison sentence. Failing to change a sex offender registry address is a felony offense.
Sex offender registry absconders are categorized as those who fail to register; fail to change their address when they move or vacate a residence; fail to verify their address either annually or quarterly; fail to pay the $35 one-time registration fee; fail to update campus information; fail to maintain a valid Michigan driver's license or personal identification card; and those who reside, work, or loiter within 1,000 feet of a school.
The State Police compile a list of targeted sex offender registry violators who have a current verification alert. The list is then sent to sex offender enforcement coordinators. The coordinators print activity reporting forms and distribute them to state troopers at the post or other law enforcement agencies. Targeted offenders are investigated, and the activity reporting forms are completed and submitted to sex offender registry enforcement staff for statistical compilation.
Yorke said that the emphasis of statewide sweeps is to target the sex offender registry absconders or those known offenders who have never registered or previously missed registering.
"We are now in a registration period for felons who missed the quarterly registration," he said. "We look and see who hasn't registered and determine if they have moved or registered elsewhere. Then we start with the last listed address, and speak with people there or neighbors. We run databases to see if they are able to be located. Then we seek warrants and enter the warrant into the statewide network. Sometimes we apprehend them in a traffic stop or any other contact with law enforcement. For worse offenders, we would enlist the help of fugitive apprehension teams or the U.S. Marshals Service, which can access federal databases or find offenders through welfare or Social Security checks, for example."
As of Feb. 3, 2009, 43,964 registered sex offenders were listed on the state's sex offender registry. Of those offenders, 14,788 were incarcerated and 25,467 were required to verify their address with police either annually or quarterly.
Following the January 2009 verification period, 39,427 offenders were found to be in compliance, and 4,537 offenders failed to comply.
The State Police conducted a statewide sweep in March that corralled 150 non-compliant sex offenders; an additional 405 arrest warrants were requested during that Operation Verify effort. That was the state's sixth coordinated sex offender sweep in the last four years.
According to Loader, the first step of the operation is to visit an offender's last known address and make contact. If the address is no longer valid, officials look at the local jurisdictions to see if the offender has checked in there to register. Those considered outside the reporting requirements are flagged as an absconder. The State Police assemble a packet that is disseminated to local and other police and distributed to the area's enforcement coordinator, who then pulls together different teams to track down absconders.
"If the offender is not located at their last reported address, law enforcement will search for offenders through investigation processes such as interviewing neighbors and landlords, speaking with relatives, checking to see if the offender has updated their driver's license or personal identification cards, utilizing intelligence reports and other software available to law enforcement, checking with the post office for forwarding addresses, etc.," Loader said. "In a full-scale operation we assign a half dozen troopers, in addition to city, township and village personnel aided by county deputies. If it's determined (that an offender) left the state, U.S. Marshals are called in. We typically assign two-man teams in an investigation."
Michigan leads the nation in aggressively pursuing non-compliant sex offenders, according to Loader.
"The efforts have been absolutely positive," he said. "Michigan by far leads the nation in aggressively dealing with sex offenders. Most offenders are compliant with the registry requirements, but if not we aggressively posture an initiative to invest in the process and return them to the judicial system."
If law enforcement officials are unable to track down sex offender registry absconders through regular channels, it's only a matter of time before an offender will surface.
"Sometimes when the offender applies for a job, a background check can turn up an offender that left the state and now resides elsewhere, where they didn't notify that state, or Social Security can lead us to them," Loader said. "They think that if they leave the state they'll be safe, but the sex offender registry is a national registry. U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals become involved at that point. They then contact the district attorney and take punitive action."
In the lakes area, the Wixom, Walled Lake, and Waterford police departments, along with the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, participated in the most recent Operation Verify effort.
Loader said only three of the 117 targeted offenders in Oakland County were reconciled during the last two Operation Verify efforts.
"Out of those three absconders, one had an existing warrant, one offender was located out of state and one was located in jail," he said.
However, one of Michigan's most wanted sex offenders, Steven Paul Walton, whose last reported address was listed as being in Waterford, was apprehended in Arizona last August. According to Loader, that arrest gives credence to the importance of public intervention.
"We received an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen in Arizona which led to Walton's arrest," he said. "We encourage people to view the sex offender registry and call in if anything seems suspect."
Walton last reported his address to police on Aug. 15, 2005. He was convicted of second-degree CSC and had been named in an outstanding felony warrant for failure to register prior to being apprehended in Arizona.
The most recent Operation Verify effort involved over 70 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and was conducted between Feb. 2 and Feb. 13. Officers conducted compliance checks at 2,220 registered residences, resulting in 150 arrests. Similarly in November 2008, 196 non-compliant sex offenders were arrested along with 682 additional arrest warrants being issued.
Overall, since November 2005, 2,546 sex offenders have been arrested as sex offender registry absconders.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard was pivotal in writing the state's sex offender registry act when he was serving in the state Senate in 1994. He's initiated several community sex offender sweeps during his tenure as sheriff.
"The sweeps we conduct create higher recognition that we're going to do them to ensure compliance," he said. "If we didn't conduct these then more would be trying to get away with (failing to register on time). Roundups are always positive and that's why we've been doing them for over 10 years. Criminals are aware that we do this but for those that are non-compliant, they are then charged as a new criminal. It lets them know we are watching and ensuring compliance of the law while protecting women and children."
The Oakland County Sheriff's Department acts as the local police department for 14 contracting communities, including Commerce and Highland townships in the lakes area. The department will not only search for sex offenders in those communities but actually seek charges against absconders, whether they be misdemeanor or felony offenders, to ensure punishment, according to Bouchard.
The sheriff's department conducts sex offender registry sweeps on a quarterly basis. It follows the same protocol as other law enforcement agencies in first approaching an offender's last registered address. If the offender is known to be lodged outside of Oakland County, he or she would be considered a "nationwide pickup" and the sheriff would pursue the offender anywhere in the country.
"We have a warrants team and a Fugitive Apprehension Team (FAT) on standby to obtain the highest-priority offenders," Bouchard said. "It's something we routinely perform. Since we do so much verification, we have a much higher degree of compliance."
According to Bouchard, the money spent on checking up on sex offenders is money well spent.
"This is a high priority for our department," he said. "Sex offenders have high recidivism rates. We will utilize our resources to go after them."
Bob McGhee, the sex offender registry contact for both the Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake police departments, said the Oakland County enforcement coordinator sends local departments faxes listing those in their jurisdiction determined to be sex offender registry absconders. It's McGhee's role to verify the listed individuals' addresses.
"If the sex offender hasn't registered by the quarterly mandate, a hit comes up in the computer that the individual is not in compliance," he said. "Within a week, the coordinator faxes us to verify the address. During a sweep, the coordinator sends us facts on about five to six people who haven't registered. We went out and verified all but one (during the last sweep) and faxed back our findings. The remaining individual was a juvenile whose extended family didn't know where he or his family was living. For all we know he left the country because he was originally from Venezuela."
Sex offender registry sweeps are essential, according to McGhee.
"The Michigan State Police keep up with it," he said. "These sweeps are definitely worthwhile since they keep the offender on his toes. Most of them don't want to register. They play the game because they want to live where they want to live, which may be contrary to restrictions, such the requirement that certain offenders stay at least 1,000 feet away from a school. Some are pedophiles and it's important we keep track of them."
McGhee said the majority of sex offenders approach familiar victims.
"I would say 75 percent of the cases are immediate family member pedophiles," he said. "We don't get too many of those stereotypical rapists hiding in the bushes. Usually they are the type that groom the child and are patient. Many are step-parents. I had one who was in the Navy for 20 years and had four stepchildren. Finally one of the kids said she had had enough. I had a strong enough case for probable cause but when I went to the house he said he knew why I was there and admitted to everything."
According to White Lake Township Police Chief Ronald Stephens, White Lake police didn't participate in either of the last two Operation Verify efforts. However, he praised the Operation Verify program as an integral campaign to root out sex offenders across the state.
"It's a worthwhile objective," he said. "We couldn't participate because it means signing officers out from regular patrol. It's a matter of manpower. We couldn't take people off the streets but we conduct periodic spot checks on our own."
Stephens said participating in efforts like the Operation Verify program comes down to being a financial or manpower decision, and White Lake can't afford the expense or personnel.
"Any effort always becomes a manpower or financial decision," he said. "We would need to take officers away from their daily duties and assign them responsibilities or pay overtime for someone to join a task force, and we're not currently in the position to do so."
The Wixom Police Department participates in the statewide sweeps if absconders are present in the city, but between the last time the sex offender registry was published and the date of the last roundup, each local case in question had been put to rest.
Charlie Yon, an administrative sergeant with the Wixom Police Department, said the city was able to verify offenders' whereabouts prior to the roundups.
"We conducted our own investigation on Feb. 4," he said. "Of the two absconders listed in Wixom, one cleared up his address. The other, Takeshi Saito, listed a false address and never registered with the city and therefore was turned over to the Michigan State Police. Similarly in November 2008, one offender came into compliance; one passed away; and one was not found in our jurisdiction. We only participate if there are absconders in the city. That being said, these roundups are essential to the state. It keeps everyone in compliance with state requirements."
According to the State Police's Loader, plans for subsequent Operation Verify roundups are being considered.
"Throughout the state, federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement may initiate compliance roundups at any time," he said. "Currently, there are several jurisdictions in the state that have ongoing initiatives while others are developing operational plans that will take place throughout the year. The Michigan State Police sex offender registry section routinely provides information on offenders to not only in-state law enforcement, but out-of-state law enforcement whenever a request comes in. Cooperation, collaboration, and investigation remain an ongoing effort by all agencies involved to assure offender compliance and provide for an informed Michigan citizenry."
The public has access to a separate database containing the names, addresses, and listed offense information of persons residing in Michigan convicted of sexual offenses after Oct. 1, 1995, called the Public Sex Offender Registry. In 1999, the public registry became available online.
Under the sex offender registry act, certain offenders are exempt from being listed on the public sex offender registry — despite remaining on the main sex offender registry — including all juveniles and offenders who have successfully completed their probation. Any juvenile convicted of first- or second-degree CSC is listed on the public sex offender registry following his or her 18th birthday.
As of February 2009, 41,339 offenders appeared on the public sex offender registry. ..News Source.. by Leslie Shepard-Owsley
November 23, 2008
MI- Owosso's Holcomb tracks down sex offenders
11-23-2008 Michigan:
OWOSSO - Every four months, more than 80 members of the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry are required to check in with the police department.
If any of them don't, Sgt. Tom Holcomb will find them.
“My goal is not to give these guys a hard time,” Holcomb said. “My goal is all about compliance.”
According to Michigan state laws, sex offenders are required to follow guidelines to avoid further prosecution. In smaller cities, one person can be assigned to keep track of less than a dozen offenders or so. In major cities such as Detroit, a team of officers handles the thousands of offenders.
In Owosso, all of the estimated 86 sex offenders are tracked by Holcomb.
“It keeps me busy,” he said. “But I enjoy it. It's going to sound like a canned response, but victims (of the sex offenders) have the right to know where these guys are at all times.”
-This is not correct, victims have no rights that are not granted to the public in general. The only right the public has is, to know where the offender lives. i.e. where s/he sleeps at night and miscellaneous other information. There is no right to know where RSOs are AT ALL TIMES.
Owosso Public Safety Director Mike Compeau says, in Holcomb, he has the best investigator in Michigan.
“He makes life pretty easy for me,” Compeau said. “I'm glad I have someone so passionate about letting people know if sex offenders are living nearby.”
Like he does every four months, Holcomb went through the city's list in October. The work involved more than phone calls.
“If they come in and show their IDs, that's great, but that doesn't happen with everyone,” he said. “If they don't, that can mean a phone call or a house check.”
Holcomb investigates almost every case personally, so he often spends his afternoons doing checks. If the offender isn't home, he said he will do what is necessary until he can locate the individual.
“I'll talk to neighbors, landlords, family members or anyone else that might have information,” he said. “I talked to one landlord recently and he said the guy moved out a few weeks ago without notice. If there is an eviction notice, that can be a wonderful piece of evidence later on.”
When an offender fails to verify with the department, it is considered a felony. During the department's last verification period, Holcomb found three individuals who didn't comply.
“Of course my goal is zero,” he said. “Most of my checks I'll come back with none. The most I've ever had wasn't more than four, but tracking them down is the hard part.”
Holcomb will work with the prosecutor's office to obtain a warrant if necessary, but most of the time he will make the arrest himself.
“I just made an arrest not too long ago,” he said. “But when I got back into the office, I sat down and started looking at the list again. It's a constant thing.”
The MSOR was established in 1994, according to a representative of the Michigan State Police. While there are several guidelines, the representative said, they are constantly changing.
The Adam Walsh Act, for example requires states to establish three tiers of sex offenders, according to the MSOR Web site. Michigan does not have the tier system yet but is working towards it, Holcomb said.
“We just got new guidelines from the state,” Compeau said. “I know (Holcomb) is going to stay right on top of it.”
On Jan. 27, sex offenders will be required to submit to fingerprinting during verification periods. Holcomb expects other, tougher laws to follow.
“My guess is it will go in stages,” he said. “The government realized it had a problem and they're doing a lot right now to fix it. In a few years these laws will be a lot harder and uniform across the country.”
While he said he enjoyed the work, Holcomb appreciates any help he can get. If residents in the area have information or would like an update on an individual, Holcomb can be reached through the Owosso Police Department at 725-0580 or through voicemail at 725-0506 ext. 407. ..News Source.. by NATHAN BRUTTELL Argus-Press Staff Writer
November 21, 2008
MI- 196 non-compliant sex offenders nabbed in state sweep
11-21-2008 Michigan:
The Michigan State Police announced today that 196 non-compliant sex offenders have been arrested and another 682 additional arrest warrants were requested during the state’s fifth coordinated sex offender sweep.
The statewide sweep, which was conducted from Oct. 21 through 31, involved over 90 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies conducting residence checks on 3,194 registered offenders.
Dubbed Operation Verify, the initiative is aimed at increasing compliance with Michigan’s sex offender law. Since the first statewide sweep in the fall of 2005, 2,396 sex offenders have been arrested.
As of Nov. 18, there were 43,613 offenders on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry. On average, 200 new offenders are added to the registry each month. ..News Source.. by Joe Rossiter • Free Press Staff Writer
See for explanations of what is considered non-compliant. Please don't laugh folks are being arrested for not crossing their T's or dotting their i's, read carefully if you think this is a joke.
October 3, 2007
Michigan Sex Offender Registry Statistics
Michigan Sex Offender Registry
Michigan has its registration annually for some folks, and quarterly for other folks. Following a registration period the Michigan State Police publish a file called the "Backgrounder File." In that file are various historical facts about the registry, and current registry statistics. The problem with the Backgrounder file is, that the current one replaces the previous one, wiping it out when they update their figures. We store that file as they produce it, see dates in table below to read those files if you want.
The files we stored were used to create the following chart:
Report Date No. On
SORNo. of Juveniles No. In Prison Net Change Req. To Verify Compliance
I=In
O=OutNo. On
PSOR12-1-02 31,045 2,034 11,675 . . 15,109 (I)
1,313(O).
5-1-04 34,402 2,194 . +3,357 . . .
4-25-05 36,748 2,344 11,882 +2,346 . . .
6-1-05 36,900 2,400 11,900 +422 23,800 15,799(I)
8,100(O)20,000
7-29-05 37,296 2,395 12,028 +396 24,022 15,601(I)
8,421(O)20,546
11-4-05 37,916 2,433 12,333 +620 23,885 15,539(I)
8,346(O)18,176
2-21-06 38,346 2,457 12,567 +430 23,884 15,493(I)
8,391(O)18,405
11-3-06 39,945 2,427 13,313 +1,595 23,976 . 19,489
2-13-07 40,484 2,440 13,371 +539 24,188 15,330(I)
8,858(O)19,401
8-15-07 41,472 2,472 12,872 +988 25,343 15,276(I)
10,067(O)21,592
11-14-07 41,942 2,487 13,025 +470 25,443 15,243(I)
10,200(O)21,807
9-2-08 43,510 Eliminated 14,588 +1,568 24,649 38,565(I)
4,945(O)40,717
11-18-08 43,613 Eliminated 14,888 +103 25,166 39,071(I)
4,492(O)41,010
2-3-09 43,964 Eliminated 14,788 +351 25,467 39,427(I)
4,537(O)41,339
8-1-09 44,773 Eliminated 14,095 +809 25,868 40,257(I)
4,516(O)42,133
11-2-09 45,164 Eliminated 14,087 +391 26,185 40,849(I)
4,315(O)41,713
1-25-10 45,546 Eliminated 13,528 +382 27,085 40,896(I)
4,650(O)43,030
Additional Facts About the Michigan Registry:
Michigan has two registries, one for law enforcement which contains everyone required to register (and everyone who has ever registered, even if they are no longer required to register) and is called the SOR. Now, from the SOR they create the public sex offender registry which they call PSOR (not everyone appears on the PSOR).
Now, the "Not in Compliance" is a very interesting number, but you need to know what that means. From past "Backgrounder Files" we wrote a few commentaries in 2005 (now in our archives) covering the issue of "Not in Compliance," see our commentary 6-17-05 "Michigan Registered Sex Offenders: Out of Compliance, AWOL, Unaccounted For, Absconded, what does that mean?"
Not In Compliance Defined As:
1) Failure to change address and within time limits;
2) Failure to verify address and within time limits;
3) Failure to register and within time limits;
4) Failure to sign registration form;
5) Failure to have either a Michigan driver's license or State ID;
6) Failure to have the same address on the registry and at the DMV;
7) Registering a false address;
8) Failure to comply with reporting duties (likely the worst because the state can construe anything as 'failure to comply' even spelling errors).
Any of those, under the Adam Walsh Act, could cause someone to spend 10 years in federal prison and be subject to civil commitment, or if the state prosecutes at least one year in prison! States are out of control...
Here we discussed what the State Auditors found, the system is full of various kinds of errors that would lead a registrant, should s/he trip on one, to prison for 10 years.
UPDATE: January 2008: Michigan is now listing on PSOR (Public Sex Offender) registry, all those who are incarcerated -IN PRISON- for sex crimes. Now if that isn't insane enough, Michigan also includes in their NON-COMPLIANT figures, anyone IN PRISON who has not completed forms according to registry laws.
Insane? Yes, some incarcerated for LIFE, or 20-30-40-50 years, for a sex crime, do you think they care about registry laws, while in prison? NO! Michigan wants the public to be in a constant state of hysteria, thats the only reason to do something like this. Those in prison should not be on the Public registry until they are released!
Correctional Facility Addresses: CLICK, using the facility zip code and address, check for yourself. Registry
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