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Sunday, February 09, 2003

By Bill Heltzel, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Nearly one in every five registered sexual offenders in Pennsylvania fails to keep state police posted on his whereabouts.

Failure to track sexual offenders is a national problem, according to Parents for Megan's Law, a New York child advocacy group that recently surveyed every state.

The group found that nationwide, an estimated 110,672 offenders, or 24 percent, were unaccounted for. The failure rate was estimated because some states, including Pennsylvania, did not provide numbers.

But Friday, Pennsylvania state police checked its records and disclosed that 988 out of 5,408 offenders had not renewed their registrations, for a failure rate of 18.3 percent.

Police mail a notice to every offender's last known address once a year reminding them to check in at a state police barracks. If the offender doesn't show up after 10 days, the state notifies the local police that the sex offender is missing. Police are expected to investigate and report back to the state.

Offenders alsomust register when they move, change employment or enroll in school.

More stringent requirements are imposed on offenders who have been classified as sexually violent predators.

Failure to comply with Megan's Law is a felony punishable by imprisonment up to seven years and a fine up to $25,000.

Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, said Pennsylvanians should consider the state's 18.3 percent failure rate "a wake-up call. ... You may have a sex offender living right next to you now and not be aware of it."

Why does Florida, with five times more registered sexual offenders, have one-fourth the failure rate? The answer, she suggested, could probably be found in the amount of money and manpower devoted to finding missing offenders.

Megan's laws are named in honor of a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was kidnapped, raped and killed in 1994 by a paroled child molester who had moved in across the street.