Lt. Todd Tennent of the Miami County Sheriff’s Office checks paperwork on an area registered sex offender as Deputy Chief Tom Steiner of the Piqua Police Department look on during Tuesday’s annual Miami County Sex Offender check throughout the county. Representatives from law enforcement agencies around the county, including adult parole and U.S. Marshals assisted in the annual check.
MIAMI COUNTY — The Miami County Sheriff’s Office conducted a mass Address Verification Sweep on all registered sex offenders in the county today. This is the 9th consecutive year operating the sweep in this manner. The sweep was conducted in collaboration with 27 total law enforcement officials, working along with Sheriff’s Office deputies. Those other officials included deputies from the US Marshal’s Office, troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and officers from the Adult Parole Authority (APA), Common Pleas Court, Covington, Piqua, Tipp City, and Troy, Police Departments as well as assistance from the Miami County Communications Center. Staff from the Darke County Sheriff’s Office was also in attendance to observe the process in efforts to bring a similar type of operation to their counties in the future.
No matter where a convicted offender lives in Ohio, as long as they are still required by law to register as a sex offender, they must report their residential address to the sheriff of the county in which they live. The Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) program is who keeps track of the offenders within each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Every sheriff is responsible for keeping track of registered offenders within his/her county. Here in Miami County, deputies are assigned to conduct random address checks quarterly throughout the year to ensure compliance. So far in 2021, prior to today’s operation, between those checks and tips from the general public, the sheriff’s office has investigated 12 complaints of offenders possibly being out of compliance and out of those investigations, charges were filed on 2 subjects for being found out of compliance. They received jail or prison time for their violation(s) or are still awaiting their next court appearance. As of today, there are no outstanding warrants for any out of compliance offenders.
At of the beginning of the sweep today, there were 160 registered offenders in Miami County and all registered addresses were checked with 125 addresses being verified. There were 2 offenders found to potentially be out of compliance and investigations are pending. Should any of the remaining offenders be found to be non-compliant, investigations will be opened and charges will be filed if necessary. There was one offender arrested today for unrelated drug possession, drug paraphernalia and parole violation charges. All remaining addresses will be re-checked randomly between now and the end of the year by deputies to ensure those remaining offenders are in compliance with their registration requirements.
Sheriff Duchak would like to extend a big Thank You to all of the agencies and the staff they provided to assist with the sweep this morning as it wouldn’t have been a success without all of their assistance,
For further information or questions about the SORN program or today’s operation, please call the Miami County Sheriff’s Office SORN Division at (937)440-8343 and ask for Carol Foster.
