19 registered offenders not where they’re supposed to be

A check by authorities has found that 19 registered offenders weren’t living at the addresses where they were supposed to be living, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

On Friday, the sheriff’s Offender Registration Unit conducted a “verification sweep at the homes of 432 registered offenders in the eastern portion of Sedgwick County including east Wichita,” the office said in a statement. The sweep involved sheriff’s deputies, parole officers and Wichita police officers.

“Deputies and officers went to locations offenders had given as their home address to verify they lived there. During the sweep they found that 19 offenders had moved and not reported their new address, or never lived at the address, or had given an address that did not exist,” the statement said. Failing to register or giving false information can result in a felony charge.

State law requires certain offenders to register with their local sheriff’s office every three months and to provide their home address, the sheriff’s office noted. Residents can search for registered offenders “in proximity to any address in Sedgwick County through the Offender Watch Program,” the sheriff’s office said. People can access the offender registry through the sheriff’s office website, www.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriff.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "19 registered offenders not where they’re supposed to be."