Operation Neighborhood Watch Completed in Shelby County, Ohio

Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies Join Forces to Protect our Communities

Sidney OH – The United States Marshals Service in the Southern District of Ohio, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, Jackson Center Police Department, State of Ohio Adult Parole Authority and the Shelby County Adult Probation, conducted a joint law enforcement compliance operation designed to verify the current residences of offenders living in Shelby County Ohio.

On September 27 – September 28, 2011, Deputy Sheriffs, Deputy U.S. Marshals, Adult Parole and Probation Officers, along with officers from Jackson Center Police, teamed up to verify the residences of 107 registered sex offenders. Sex offenders registered as living in the county were checked to verify that they were living were they registered. This initiative is a collaborative law enforcement effort that is designed to keep the public safe by ensuring that these offenders are complying with sex offender registration obligations and residing where they have reported.

In Shelby County, 4 offenders were found to be out of compliance and were arrested. In addition, one subject was arrested for probation violation for being in possession of drug paraphernalia and having prohibited pornography. Investigations will be continuing on 3 additional sex offenders who may be out of compliance with their registration requirements.

Senior Inspector Bill Taylor of the Dayton United States Marshals Office said, “Most law enforcement agencies do not have the resources to conduct an operation like this alone. By combining the resources of several agencies we have accomplished our main task, which was insuring the convicted sex offenders were in compliance with the law and living where they have reported. We have arrested several offenders who were not in compliance and made our communities safer.

In addition to the arrests made for being non-compliant and for probation violation, one offender was found to be sending and receiving sexually explicit material over the internet. The alleged victim in this case is a minor believed to be living in another country. This investigation will be ongoing and could result in several federal violations."

To search for sex offenders in Shelby County and learn more about your local Sheriff’s office efforts, please visit http://www.shelbycountysheriff.com and click on the tab indicated as “Shelby County Sex Offenders Registry”.

If you reside outside of the county, you can also conduct your own sex offender search. One of the most important programs in the State of Attorney General's office is eSORN, Ohio's Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification, one of the nation's preeminent applications for locating and tracking registered sex offenders. You are encouraged to take advantage of the many tools on this website to protect yourself and those you care about. Here, you will find information about how to sign up to receive automated messages when a sex offender moves near a location you care about (your daycare provider, home, work, etc.) and how to submit tips to investigators on offenders within the system. The site also features information on the "Most Wanted" fugitives and persons who have failed to register. You can search the database records by county and name. This database is linked to all 88 Ohio County Sheriff's offices and all 32 correctional facility records offices of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. eSORN provides one location for all Ohio law enforcement officials to freely share information on registered sex offenders. Also available on this website is a concise breakdown of the various changes to Ohio's SORN law. Each sex offender who is legally required to register must provide the county sheriff with his or her name and address, his or her classification, the offense(s) for which he or she was convicted and have a picture taken and be fingerprinted. The sheriff's office must then provide the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation with that information to store and to post on eSORN. For more details, please visit: www.esorn.ag.state.oh.us.

The U.S. Marshals Service is the lead law enforcement agency responsible for investigating sex offender registration violations and related offenses in connection with violations of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which was enacted July 27, 2006. As part of this Act, the U.S. Marshals Service has been directed to assist state, local, tribal and territorial authorities in the location and apprehension of non-compliant and fugitive sex offenders. Offenders that are found residing out of state can be charged federally and often those charges carry more severe penalties. To ensure the safety of children across the country, the U.S. Marshals Service implemented an aggressive enforcement strategy. Since the law was enacted the Untied States Marshals Service has arrested 9,160 fugitives for Sex Offenses, Failure to Register and Failure to Comply with Sex Offenders Registration Requirements.