DA sends message to sex offenders
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Round-up of the suspects began Friday as lawmen fanned out around the community to serve the 12 sealed indictments recently rendered by the Warren County grand jury. The indictments charge the suspects failed to list themselves with the state sexual offender registry within one year of their convictions. The charge is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. The charge also holds a minimum six month jail sentence.
The round-up comes after District Attorney General Dale Potter publicly warned in January that prosecutors would seek criminal charges against sexual offenders who had not listed themselves. In issuing the warning, Potter said some of the suspects were people who had moved into Warren County but not notified the registry of their change of address.
Potter said several unregistered offenders took heed of the warning, registering themselves.
“We know some people took notice of the newspaper article because we saw several who were on our original list register themselves,” Potter said. “Originally, I think our list had over 20 people on it.”
The state sexual offender registry keeps track of convicted sex offenders.