County sex offenders comply with regs

Submitted information

Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach announced that, with trick or treat activities happening around the county, deputies recently conducted random address verification on all registered sex offenders living in the county.

Sheriff Riggenbach said Ohio law requires all sex offenders to register in person with the sheriff on a scheduled periodic basis to verify their address, employment, school affiliation, telephone numbers, vehicles, and Internet identities. The in-person, periodic verification registrations are scheduled with each offender depending upon their offender risk classification, which mandates that an offender register either every 90 days, every 180 days, or once annually.

Sheriff Riggenbach also said that Ohio law requires all sex offenders to notify and register immediately with the Sheriff any change of residential address, please of employment, enrollment in a school or institution of higher education, telephone numbers, vehicles and internet identities.

According to Sheriff Riggenbach, deputies conducted the most recent random address verification checks between October 8 and 14.

Deputies verified the addresses for all 62 registered sex offenders residing in Van Wert County. To complete the random address verifications, deputies went to the residential address of each offender. The random verifications included all adult and juvenile adjudicated offenders and found that all 62 registered offenders in the county were in compliance with their registration requirements

Sheriff Riggenbach said the random address verifications conducted by deputies are authorized by Ohio law, but not required. This is the 10th time random address verifications of registered offenders in Van Wert County have been conducted since January 2013. The sheriff also said his office has prosecuted several other registered sex offenders during this time frame for Failure to Register, because the offender failed to timely register a change of address as required by law.

Sheriff Riggenbach stated his office will continue to take the extra steps of random address verification as a matter of public safety to assure an offender’s compliance to make it clear that there is zero tolerance for non-compliance.  Sheriff Riggenbach also stated his office will continue to investigate and prosecute any registered sex offender who fails to meet their legally required sex offender registration requirements.

Sheriff Riggenbach encourages residents to visit the “Sex Offender” page of the Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office website at www.vanwertcountysheriff.com.  Residents can click the “Offender Watch” link on the left side of the page to learn more about Ohio’s sex offender laws.  Residents can then click on the “Sex Offenders SEARCH” link to search for sex offenders living in their neighborhood or any other area they may be interested in.

Residents can also register to receive automatic emails, by clicking the “Register for Email Alerts” link, from the Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office anytime a registered sex offender registers an address within a quarter mile to five miles away from any address the resident designates. Currently, 11.94 percent of county residents are signed up to receive automated emails from the sheriff’s office on sex offenders.

Sheriff Riggenbach asks residents to contact his office with any information involving registration violations of sex offenders or other crimes. Residents can call the sheriff’s office at 419.238.3866, use the sheriff’s office website and click on the “submit a crime tip” link or call Van Wert County Crime Stoppers at 419.238.STOP. Residents can remain anonymous when reporting information to the Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office and Van Wert County Crime Stoppers.