Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Officers tracking 28 sex offenders

There are currently 28 registered sex offenders in Nevada County with six of those living in the city of Prescott. Thirteen of those are listed by the state as "level 3," or high risk.

Nevada County Sheriffs Deputy Robert Missey is responsible for tracking those in the county. Prescott Police Department Assistant Chief Ann Jordan is the city officer with that duty.

By state law, a sex offender is required to have an address before he is released from prison. When he is nearing his date of release, the police department is notified that a sex offender plans to live in that area.

Once the sex offender is released, he has only a month to contact the police department. Missey said he seldom has problems with those he monitors.

I check on them, Missey said.

He said the fact that they are being monitored means the offenders are less likely to become involved in illegal activities of any kind.

Missey said offenders are also required to notify the police department they report to if they move. If a registered sex offender moves without making that notification, he can be charged with a felony.

According to Missey, the majority of the offenders he is currently tracking were convicted years ago. Most of those convictions took place when the men were young, making them a less serious threat, according to Missey.

Missey said he monitors actions and activities of those sex offenders within the county. He said that includes notifying parents of children who might be in routine contact with the offender.

There are several reputable free websites that offer information about local sex offenders. The state maintains a site at www.acic.org that offers the option to search by name, zip code, county or state. This site includes state and county statistics for sex offenders.

According to information from that site, there are 18 sex offenders listed in Hempstead County and six in Clark.