MIAMI COUNTY — It was an early morning for one local sheriff’s office as they conducted their annual countywide sweep of sex offenders just before Halloween.
Sex offenders are required by law to register their home and work addresses, as well as their vehicle information. On Tuesday, one by one, deputies headed to the over 180 registered sex offenders in Miami County to make sure they were where they said they were supposed to be.
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“We just want to make sure that, especially before the Halloween season, that everybody is in compliance, living where they say they should be just so that the public registry is up to date and accurate,” Deputy Richard Mann said.
As seen on News Center 7 at 5 p.m., we went along with the sheriff’s office, US Marshal’s Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol, and officers from the Adult Parole Authority, Common Pleas Court, Covington, Piqua, Tipp City, and Troy police departments.
If the sex offender is home, they’re all set. If they aren’t home, deputies leave a note on their door saying the home “has been registered as a Sex Offender’s residence” and asking them to call the sheriff’s office to verify they received the notice.
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“The citizens in the community that are being compliant and trying to do the right thing now and do what the court tells them, they have to do to keep themselves out of trouble and not offend again,” Mann said. “So there’s no reason for us to treat them like criminals because they’re just citizens like we are out here in the county.”
At the start of the sweep, there were 184 registered offenders in the county and all registered addresses were checked. 118 addresses were verified. Six offenders were found to potentially be out of compliance and are under investigation.
“All remaining addresses will be re-checked randomly between now and the end of the year by deputies to ensure those remaining offenders are in compliance with their registration requirements,” the sheriff’s office said in a release Tuesday afternoon.