The sex offender down the street

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Story Published: Jul 18, 2008 at 5:35 PM PDT

By Molly Blancett

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Checking for sex offenders

You can check for predatory sex offenders online. LINK

The Oregon State Police currently operates and maintains a reporting database for the state's registered sex offenders. A list of offenders, both on and off supervision can be obtained by calling the Oregon State Police at (503) 378-3725 Ext. 44429. A list request can be sent by email to SexOffender.Questions@state.or.us. The requestor will need to provide a name, mailing address and the city of zip code for which they seek list information. Most requests are processed within 2-3 days however it can take up to one week depending on circumstances.

Additional information regarding the Oregon State Police Sex Offender Registration program is available on the Department's website at http://www.oregon.gov/OSP/SOR.

EUGENE, Ore. - They're everywhere -- and you might not even know it.

"If the public had any idea how many registered sex offenders we had running around this community, they would be appalled," said Alex Gardner, Lane County Deputy District Attorney.

Convicted felons, living just yards away from your door.

The state rarely notifies the public when a sex offender moves in to a neighborhood.

So how do they decide when to let neighbors know?

Here's how it works:

Notifications are only put out for predatory sex offenders or those who have been charged with rape, sodomy or penetration with a foreign object. Those bulletins only go out if the person is under supervision.

If the person is not under supervision, a notification can still go out, but only if the offender meets specific criteria.

Oregon State Police send out electronic notifications to local law enforcement when a registered sex offender moves into an area. Most of the time whoever has jurisdiction will decide if the notification goes out.

However, there is some good news. There's a Web site you can log onto to find out if there is a predatory sex offender living near you.

Lane County residents who took a look at the database for this story got some good news.

"No offenders found," said Sally McCoy. "Well that's good, I can leave my curtains open."

When KVAL TV photographer Adam Grunseth looked up his Springfield address, he wasn't so lucky.

"I found six within a mile of my house, which is scary," said Grunseth.

That's really not that surprising because registered offenders can live in almost any neighborhood. We found 12 living within a mile of the playground at the base of Skinner Butte, for example.

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