There are 65 sex offenders listed in Dent County. All of them were part of a surprise compliance check spearheaded by the Dent County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshal Service last week.
The sheriff’s office and marshal service worked in tandem with multiple other law enforcement organizations around the state, including the Salem Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crimes against Children Division, the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri South Central Drug Task Force. A total of 28 law enforcement personnel were scattered around Dent County for this operation. Additionally, among the seven U.S. marshals present, seven were deputies from various counties across the state who work with the marshals for these compliance checks.
Personnel was divided into seven teams and divided geographically across the county, each team tasked with checking the compliance of eight to 10 sex offenders.
As of Friday morning 59 of the 65 offenders had been checked on, resulting in a total of seven probable cause statements for failure to register, the sheriff’s office told The Salem News.
Six of those offenders were unable to be checked because they were not home when law enforcement arrived. Of the six not checked, three have contacted the sheriff’s office to make arrangements to meet with law enforcement around their work schedules in order to maintain compliance, three have made no effort to do so.
The operation resulted in 11 arrests. Three of those arrests were sex offenders for failure to register, including one offender who was arrested for possession of marijuana 11-35 grams. The other eight arrests were for unrelated outstanding warrants.
The goal of the operation was to check each registered sex offender for compliance with state and federal requirements.
When contact was made, an interview was conducted and items listed on the registry forms were compared. Several offenders had minor infractions such as not having updated license plates or incorrect phone numbers. These were corrected on the spot.
The State of Missouri classifies various sex related crimes into a three-tier system because the nature of the crime can vary so drastically. Each tier has different requirements constituting offender compliance. This tier system is used to categorize the crimes in order to dictate the length of time the offender information remains on the registry. Depending on the offense, a Missouri sex offender may be charged with committing assault and violent crimes.
Missouri sex offenders in this tier are those convicted of crimes like indecent exposure and sexual misconduct. According to HCS HB 999, although they must report in their birth month, they are no longer included on the public list. For 10 years, they can be found on a separate registry that is only accessible to law enforcement agencies. After five years with a clean record, they may file a petition for removal from the list in the circuit court division in the county where registration was required.
A Missouri sex offender in this tier is someone who committed a crime where they spent at least a year in prison. They committed a crime like sex trafficking, abusive sexual contact or sex trafficking, involved a minor or occurred after a tier one offense.
They must be on the registry for 10 years and must report in person twice a year: in their birth month and six months after that. These offenders can file a petition for removal from the registry in the county’s circuit court division, where registration was required, after 25 years.
The highest Missouri state sex offenders are in this category. These individuals have been convicted of crimes that were punishable by at least one year in prison and committed a crime against a minor under 13 years of age; it involved kidnapping a minor or occurred after a Tier two offense.
These Missouri sex offenders are required to register for the remainder of their lifetime and must report to the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in person every 90 days. In most cases, offenders in this tier are not eligible to file a petition to be removed from the sex offender registry.
There are countless rules that sexual offenders in Missouri must follow in order to avoid legal consequences. For example, some offenders are ordered to live at least 1,000 feet away from school grounds, daycares and parks and cannot loiter within 500 feet of any of them. Sex offenders are also prohibited from engaging in many Halloween-related activities, such as handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Anyone who is an offender is also required to update the information listed on the registry as needed. Things like accurate address and who is living in the same household, updated information regarding what vehicles the offender has access to, etc.
Additionally, the court can order an offender to make contact with the sheriff and provide updated information every 90 days or six months. If nothing has changed, the offender will simply need to provide an up-to-date photograph.
When contact was made with Dent County offenders this week, an interview was conducted, and items listed on the registry forms were compared.
Missouri Sex Offender List
The federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) sets the national standard for registration and notification throughout the United States and serves as a baseline that all states are encouraged to meet. The National Sex Offender Public Website is a list of all convicted sex offenders throughout the country. The Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender registry includes the offender’s address, appearance and criminal history.
Failure of Missouri sex offenders to register or update their information is a federal offense.
If an offender is convicted of a new violent crime as an unregistered sex offender, up to 30 years can be added to their sentence.
