State police in search of non-compliant sex offender

bwhite@thenewsenterprise.com

Last week, law enforcement agencies from Hardin County released the names of 15 fugitives sought by city, county and state police agencies for a wide-range of alleged crimes, including one Kentucky sex offender registrant whose whereabouts have been unknown for a year.

Together, the group constitutes the final 2010 installment of Hardin County’s Most Wanted.

Two men, Jeremiah Geary, 24, and Jhakharis Tiwayne Whitehead, 26, are wanted by Radcliff police for violent and weapon-related crimes. Radcliff police also are looking for Carl C. Strother Jr., 27, in connection to a felony theft case; and for Kristopher E. McFadden, 24, in connection to a fleeing and evading case.

Most of the 10 people wanted by the Hardin County Sheriffs Department are sought in connection to alleged probation violations, and many of those violations stem from flagrant nonsupport convictions.

The man labeled “non-compliant” with Kentucky’s Sex Offender Registry is Yuri McGee, 26.

McGee was convicted, according to Kentucky’s Sex Offender Registry, of sex crimes for possession of child pornography and sentenced to register as a sex offender for life.

McGee’s last known address was a Dixie Avenue motel room in Elizabethtown, but Kentucky State Police Post 4 spokesman Bruce Reeves said troopers have been unable to locate him since 2009.  

Kentucky’s Sex Offender Registry website shows three of the 168 convicted sex offenders listing Hardin County as their place of residence as being non-compliant with registry rules, but Reeves said McGee is the only person currently considered wanted by state police.

McGee is among 78 convicted sex offenders claiming to reside in the 42701 ZIP code, according to the registry. Fifty-one others claim residency in the 40160 ZIP code encompassing Radcliff and the Fort Knox areas.

Sex Offender Compliance and Prosecution. Offenders are required to register with state police for terms of 10 years, 20 years or life.

All are required to update Kentucky State Police of any new residence immediately and are prohibited from living within 1,000 yards of a school, day care or similar facility where children congregate, regardless of whether they were convicted of a crime against a child.

Some registrants’ professional lives also can be limited, depending on conditions of their conviction, sentencing and probation or parole, under Kentucky law.

Since 2007, three convicted sex offenders have been investigated in Hardin County for allegedly violating residency restrictions. Of those cases, one resulted in conviction and subsequent 12-month sentence, which was suspended.

One case ended with a grand jury’s return of a no true bill.

A third man prosecuted for alleged residency restriction violations was convicted of failing to notify police of an address change, which is considered a Class D felony under state law.

Failure to comply with the registry is a criminal charge filed seven times more often in Hardin County courts than the law relating to residency restriction violations.

Ninth District Court records show 21 cases alleging a person’s failure to comply with the registry have been filed since 2001, including four cases filed in district court this year.

None of the non-compliance cases have gone to trial. Most are disposed of through plea deals in which the Commonwealth’s Attorney offers probation sentences ranging from three to five years.

About 1 percent of convicted sex offender registrants are labeled non-compliant.

Sex offenders do not register with state police until they are released from Department of Corrections’ custody, so the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry website does not list the names and addresses of all persons convicted of sexual crimes.

More and more names and addresses are listed on the registry each year as people are released from incarceration and allowed probation.

According to the Kentucky Statistical Analysis Center, there are more than 1,000 sex crime convictions in Kentucky district and circuit courts each year. Those dispositions result in about 400 new commitments to Kentucky’s Department of Corrections.

At the same time, slightly more than 100 convicted sex offenders are released from DOC custody each year through parole, shock probation and sentence “serve outs,” according to Kentucky Statistical Analysis Center.

Bob White can be reached at (270) 505-1750.