On October 30, the Sheriff's Office made sure they had the correct locations of the county's 94 sex offenders.
State law prevents sex offenders from hiding from the public, and the Athens County Sheriff's Office ensures offenders are where they say they are.
At the end of October, the sheriff’s office conducted "Operation Hide and Go Seek," one of two times this year the office will check-in on the 77 active sex offenders who live in Athens County, according to a post from the sheriff's office Facebook page.
When an offender is active, it means they are not incarcerated, Lt. Aaron Maynard said, adding that 13 of the active offenders are sexual predators.
“Considering the number of people we supervise, that’s actually a low number of predators,” he said.
Maynard takes the lead on the bi-annual operation, working with U.S. Marshals and the county Adult Parole Authority. He made a large-scale compliance check on the offenders Oct. 30, ensuring that each person on the list is still living in the location where the sheriff’s office has them registered.
Like many states, Ohio requires sex offenders to give their address of residence to local law enforcement. The residencies of sex offenders can be found on the websites of each county’s sheriff’s office.
Despite the number of offenders, Maynard said the operation does not take too long. He does not check in on all the offenders — just the ones who have been inconsistent with their information, and the most dangerous offenders.
Maynard said his priority this time around were the offenders on the Adult Parole Authority’s list.
“The APA partners with the sheriff’s office several times throughout the year, conducting home visits on high risk offenders,” Daniel Flowers, spokesman for the state Adult Parole Authority, said in an email.
Arrests are not always made, but Maynard said he had to arrest one offender who had a warrant for failing to register his change of address with the sheriff's office. Maynard added that the case is now going through the court system, in addition to three other who are being investigated.
If the offender is found in violation of an address change, the punishment will be based on the severity of the offender’s original crime. If the offender committed a felony of the first degree, such as rape, the offender will face a much harsher penalty for the address violation.
“It is extremely important to the community’s safety that we know where these people are,” Maynard said. “We will take aggressive action if necessary. This is a very serious matter.”
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Despite Maynard’s assertions, according to social media posts, members of the community thought the name of the operation was less than serious. But Sheriff Rodney Smith said the office does not spend much time thinking of a name. It is an operation carried out more than once a year, he said, and the operation to check-in on sex offenders must have a different name each time it is carried out.
“We change the name for the grants, and so we can tell the year-to-year operations apart,” Smith said.
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