Law enforcement agencies estimate they are monitoring about 40 violent sex offenders.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – The list of sexually violent predators is growing as the past catches up with those convicted of certain sex crimes since 1992.

It is estimated that county law enforcement agencies are currently monitoring about 40 sexually violent predators.

Eighteen posters of men registered with the county as sexually violent predators hang in the lobby of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. The number of pictures posted with names and addresses and the crimes committed continues to grow since a new law went into effect Sept. 21, 2001. The law requires people who have committed sex offenses since late June 1992 to register.

Photos are posted in various convenience stores and town offices throughout the county. In some instances, neighbors are warned when the registered offenders move to the area or the state catches up with them.

Each agency handles registered predators differently, from knocking on the door of each residence on the street where the offender lives to having police simply keep an eye on the convict.

The Sheriff’s Department and Farmington department plan to post the names and photos of sexually violent predators on their Web sites within the next few months.

Those people convicted of certain sex crimes and registered as sexually violent predators are required to register every 90 days with local law enforcement agencies. If they move to another neighborhood, they have to register within 10 days with local police.

The law has evolved since 1992 and is complex, with multiple factors used to determine whether someone must register as a violent sexual predator or a sex offender. Those falling into the latter classification register annually for 10 years. The age of the victim and the type of crime are factors in the classification determination. Crimes falling into a sexually violent predator classification are gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact, with some subsections excluded to fall into the sex offender category, according to a spokesperson for the state Bureau of Identification.

There are 950 sex offenders registered with the state, including sexually violent predators.

Adoption of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 1999 added additional sex offenses to the list requiring people to register with the state. The act requires law enforcement to do a risk assessment once they’re notified of a sex offender registering in town. They then make a decision on whether the public needs to be notified. An amendment to the law in 2001 made the registration retroactive to June 30, 1992.

The Sheriff’s Department is monitoring about 20 sexually violent predators, said David St. Laurent, county sexual assault and domestic violence investigator.

The posters on the county board list people living in Avon, Strong, Phillips, Salem, Madrid and Chesterville, among others. Deputies also report registrations to police in towns where the offender lives.

“We post every sexually violent predator,” St. Laurent said.

“We’re obligated to let the public know,” said Laurie Draper, the department’s office manager. “We want to make sure people know where they are and what they look like.”

They don’t post photos of sexual offenders, only photos of the sexually violent predators.

Five or six of the 18 posters at the Sheriff’s Department, St. Laurent said, are old convictions going back to 1992. The state is slowly catching up with old convictions and requiring those people to register, he said.

St. Laurent said he puts posters up in the town where the offenders live and in surrounding towns. He notifies people on the street they live on and any daycare in the vicinity. It’s a misdemeanor crime to take the posters down, he said.

“It’s not mandatory to post posters,” Draper said, “but you have to notify the public.”

Farmington police Lt. Jack Peck said his department has knocked on doors to notify the public and posts posters of the offenders at the station and public places. It is tracking five predators and two offenders.

In Jay, a police detective does a risk assessment of the registrant, talks to the person’s probation officer and counselors and finds out if that person is a risk, Jay Police Chief Larry White Sr. said. It is then determined if the public needs to be notified.

Livermore Falls police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said he doesn’t have officers go door to door to notify residents or post posters depicting sex offenders.

He said he has 11 sex offenders in town.

“They’ve been here for a long time and they haven’t been a problem,” he said, “and just because there is a new law, I don’t go out and create a problem where there isn’t one.” If someone was to move into town and he felt there might be a problem, he said, he would notify the neighbors.

“I would take into consideration how the crime was committed and the likelihood it would affect somebody,” Steward said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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