There are approximately 1,100 sex offenders in Summit County. But if one of them re-offends, will law enforcement be able to find them?
The Summit County Sheriff's Office is working to make sure that's not an issue.
This week, Summit County deputies, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority and the Summit County Probation Department are verifying the addresses of approximately 250 offenders.
Inspector Bill Holland and Deputy Caitlin Brugmann teamed up to check addresses in Cuyahoga Falls, which has 33 registered sex offenders.
In many cases, no one answered. In others, offenders were found to be in compliance.
"If nobody is home, we'll come back and keep checking periodically. We do this over the course of a few days," Holland said.
In past "verification investigations", deputies have found that anywhere from five to eight percent of offenders are breaking the law by not properly registering.
If they can find evidence that a sex offender is not living where he's registered, the sheriff's office will issue a warrant for failure to register—a felony.
"There is a certain number of these people that will re-offend and we want to let them know that they're being held accountable and that we are making sure that they're following the requirements to register," Bill Holland.
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