Sex Offender Registration Unit

About the Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) Unit

On July 27, 2006, the Adam Walsh Act organized sex offenders into three (3) tiers according to the crime committed and mandates. Tier III (3) offenders, the most serious tier, update their residential address every three (3) months with lifetime registration requirements. Tier II (2) offenders must update their residential address every six (6) months with twenty-five (25) years of registration, and Tier I (1) offenders must update their residential address every year with fifteen (15) years of registration. Failure to register and update information is a felony under the law. States are required to publicly disclose information of Tier II and Tier III offenders at a minimum. It also contains civil commitment provisions for sexually dangerous persons.

Search offenders and register for notificationsDeputies Mike Jacobs and Toby Spencer are assigned to the SORN unit and have a combined forty eight (48) years of service in law enforcement. Deputy Jacobs has been assigned to the SORN unit for eleven (11) years and Deputy Spencer for six (6) years. Both deputies conduct address verifications on a regular basis even though it is not a requirement to do so. They also plan an annual address verification sweeps which involve approximately thirty (30) deputies and over a hundred (100) address checks in one day, each year.

Along with the annual sweep, Sheriff Jones randomly conducts “mini sweeps” for home verifications utilizing the Operations Division. Deputies Jacobs and Spencer prepare packets consisting mostly of Tier III offenders, and several deputies are coordinated to execute the sweep on the counties worst registered sexual offenders.

SORN conducts a Halloween detail each year where deputies patrol the addresses of the Tier III offenders and sexual predators to make sure they are in compliance during trick-or-treat hours.

In Butler County alone there are four hundred thirty-six (436) active sex offenders that the SORN Unit tracks. There were four hundred sixteen address verifications. As a result of the address verifications, several investigations were initiated that resulted in warrants being issued. Some sex offenders were charged for failing to notify the Sheriff’s Office of a new address or simply not registering at all.

Also for the year 2010, the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) was repealed and reversed. This means that all sex offenders that were sentenced prior to January 1, 2008 are classified under AWA, those adjudicated prior to that date remained under their original classifications. Old classifications are Sexually Oriented offender (requires 10 years of annual registering) Sexual Predator (requires registering every ninety days for life) Habitual Offender and Juvenile Offender. Sixty-seven (67) registrants met their maximum registering requirements and were taken out of the ESORN system. In December of 2010 approximately the same number of newly released sex offenders registered in Butler County. Currently there are five hundred and seventy-five (575) registered sex offenders in Butler County. Special Deputy Anthony McKay made more than 160 address compliance verifications while assisting the S.O.R.N unit.

Search offenders and register for notifications