Maryland State Police said yesterday that they have located dozens of criminals who moved to the state without reporting to authorities in charge of the state's sex offender registry, which is also riddled with errors and missing information on those already on the list.
Working with a list of more than 400 sex offenders who, according to a national registry, had said they were moving to Maryland, troopers located 69 living in Maryland who had not registered with authorities.
The state police operation comes as part of a recent push by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to improve the accuracy of the sex offender registry, which has become an issue in the 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
"The purpose is to make sure these people report," said the state police superintendent, Col. Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins, who was asked by the governor to lead a group of law enforcement and public safety officials in making recommendations to improve the accuracy of Maryland's registry.
Designed to inform communities about convicted rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders living nearby, the registry contains the names and addresses of more than 4,300 offenders. But the addresses for about one in five - or 800 sex offenders - were listed last month as questionable or unknown in the state's registry, which relies on the offenders to provide up-to-date information.
Across the state, the addresses of hundreds of sex offenders have not been verified by local authorities - some of whom routinely check addresses and others who rely on certified mail.
Hutchins said yesterday that he is meeting with local law enforcement and state officials on how to verify addresses and correct errors in the registry.
"That's the next piece of it," he said, adding that he will discuss the topic at this week's convention of sheriffs in Ocean City.
Hutchins said the state police chose to first focus on unregistered sex offenders because no agency in the state is assigned to investigate sex offenders moving to Maryland who are not also required to meet with parole or probation officers.
The National Sex Offender Registry listed 403 sex offenders who had said they were going to move to Maryland in the past 10 years, Hutchins said. Last month, state police criminal investigators and civilian staff began checking records and knocking on doors in search of those offenders. State police were able to confirm the whereabouts of all but seven of the sex offenders, officials said.
