Online Sex Offender Registries Don’t Work if You Don’t Use Them
Last week the Denver Post wrote about Frank James Gutierrez,62, who sexually assaulted a nine-year-old boy he was babysitting. Even though Gutierrez was listed in Colorado’s Sex Offender registry and featured on the Longmont Police Department’s Sex Offender website, the boy’s mother never thought of checking into his background.
If she had she would have known that Gutierrez has a felony for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in San Diego 1990. Police found out he was accused of molesting other children as well.
Gutierrez first registered as a sex offender with the Longmont police in November 2005.
The Post’s followup story, Offender registries don’t work when you don’t look, gives links to the the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website and a lot of good information on how to check for sex offenders in your neighborhood, in your schools (though your district should be doing these background checks on all employees, but maybe not volunteers), coaches, instructors, etc.
Online and offline, information available
ONLINE
Federal: The Justice Department provides sex-offender addresses and photos at www.nsopr.gov for every state and region, as well as by name.
State: Do an internet search to find if your state’s bureau of investigation has an online registry.
OFFLINE
Not all local police agencies provide information online, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a list that residents can pick up. Call and check.
JUVENILE OFFENDERS
In Colorado sex-offender lists on the Internet do not include the names of juvenile offenders. However, your police station can provide a printed list.
FACTS ABOUT SEXUAL OFFENDERS
(Source: Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Frank James Gutierrez, sexual molestation, sex offender registries, sex offender lists, Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website
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