Some of Gilroy’s sex offenders are registering as homeless or
transient, making it harder for police to locate them and for
organizations to provide support services.
Some of Gilroy’s sex offenders are registering as homeless or transient, making it harder for police to locate them and for organizations to provide support services.
Proposition 83, commonly known as Jessica’s Law and passed by 70 percent of California voters in November 2006, requires sex offenders to register their address with state and local authorities for life and bars them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park, according to the state Office of the Attorney General.
“It’s almost impossible to enforce that,” Sgt. Jim Gillio said. With Gilroy’s more than 20 parks and schools dotting the city, there are few places that sex offenders could legally reside under the new law. However, reacting to complaints of similar problems in cities across the state, courts granted a stay regarding the 2,000-foot provision soon after the law was passed.
Gilroy police do not force sex offenders who live near schools to move away, Gillio said. However, they do force parolees to move away from schools if their parole conditions prohibit them from living near a school.
The state’s Megan’s Law Web site listed 78 sex offenders in Gilroy. The majority of those who registered an address lived within 2,000 feet of a park or school.
In addition, multiple sex offenders listed hotels as their residences. Seven sex offenders put 5530 Monterey Road – the address for the National 9 Motel – as their place of residence. Four additional offenders listed the Garlic Farm RV Park, 5978 Garlic Farm Drive, as their residence and one additional offender listed the Garlic Farm Inn, 5920 Travel Park Circle, as his residence. All these hotels are in south Gilroy near the intersection of Monterey Road and U.S. 101
“I think that a note should be posted at the motel for the safety of anyone that stays there,” a resident wrote to the Dispatch. “Especially families with children!”
According to the state attorney general’s Web site, the majority of sexual assailants do not pick up victims by hanging around playgrounds or schools. In fact, about 80 percent of victims 12 and older know their assailant and have an established relationship with him or her.
During their lifetime after release, about one in eight child molesters are rearrested or reconvicted of a sexual crime and about one in five rapists are rearrested or reconvicted of a sexual crime, according to a 1998 analysis of 61 studies on sex offender recidivism.
Nationally, sex offenders are increasingly registering with law enforcement as homeless, transient or residents of unorthodox locations – such as under a certain bridge – according to an Associated Press investigation.
By listing these types of addresses, sex offenders make it harder – regardless of intentions – for law enforcement to keep tabs on them, Gillio said.
“For those that intend to not comply with their registration requirements, it’s much more difficult to find them obviously if they’ve registered as transient,” he said.
Laws in Iowa and Florida similar to California laws prohibiting sex offenders from living near schools or parks have driven offenders underground or onto the streets, said Corwin Ritchie, executive director of the association of Iowa prosecutors.
“They drop off the registry because they don’t want to admit living in a prohibited zone,” he said.
If they fail to accurately register their address, fail to check in with police or live in a prohibited zone, sex offenders can be rearrested for violation of parole or probation conditions, according to the California Penal Code.
In the end, the stringent rules could end up putting the community more at risk because, without registration, sex offenders may not be getting the treatment they need, said therapist Gerry Blasingame, past chairman of the California Coalition on Sexual Offending.
“We could potentially be making the world more dangerous rather than less dangerous,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
