Many sex offenders can’t be found

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Several sex offenders who listed a Cleveland homeless shelter as their address haven’t been there for months or never lived there, a newspaper investigation found. Experts warn stricter rules for sex offenders’ residences may be driving them underground.

About two-thirds of the registered sex offenders at Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries on the city’s East Side, or 100 of 166 people registered at that address, are unaccounted for, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday.

The paper’s analysis also indicated that some of the offenders may be living in the suburbs without the knowledge of authorities.

State law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or day care. Some communities have added parks, libraries and even churches to that list.

People who treat sex offenders said increasingly strict limitations on where offenders can live are driving many to register under false addresses.

“The stigma associated with the label, combined with the ostracism of an entire community, makes people register at one address and hide somewhere else,” said Alisa Kelin, public policy consultant for the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.

Many of the offenders who apparently registered falsely at the homeless shelter have been charged with registration violations, and some were prosecuted several times previously for similar violations, the paper reported, citing court records.

Sex offenders must register their address and other information with a local sheriff every 90 days. The attorney general’s office posts the address and photos of offenders online.

Police say that although the restrictions create problems for some sex offenders, most are just trying to hide.

“If there were no restrictions at all on where these guys could live, they would still lie to us,” sheriff’s Detective Sue DeChant said.

“They say they’re not working, and they have a job,” she said. “They say they don’t have a vehicle, and they own 25 of them. They just don’t want anyone to know who they are.”

The sheriff’s office charged about 400 people last year with violating registration requirements.

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