Officers cautious about listing convicted sex offenders

A teenage girl's dad sexually abuses her and returns home from two years in prison. He lives in a county that lists registered sexual offenders on a website. Soon, the girl's neighbors and friends are discovering why her dad disappeared in the first place.

That's the picture Deschutes County Adult Parole and Probation officers painted Thursday, October 23, at a Sisters City Council workshop. They told city staff and council members it would be a bad idea to list sex offender names on the county website.

Councilmember Lon Kellstrom told city and county representatives earlier this month he wants the names and addresses of sex offenders in Sisters on a website or another public platform.

Currently, to obtain that information, residents must call the state police and listen to a list of all the registered sex offenders with a certain area code.

Although the website would not list the names of the victims, county enforcement officers said the victims would be easily guessed.

"If the sex offender committed incest, then it's not going to take a lot to put it together," said Charity Hobold, Deschutes County adult parole and probation officer. "(Her neighbors) will say, 'Oh, that's why he's back in the home and why Suzie was going through such a hard time.'"

Ninety percent of sexual offenders are convicted of abusing children in their own home, and often the victims are close relatives, enforcement officers said.

There are 180 sex offenders currently residing in Deschutes County, of whom 40 are registered as predatory, Hobold said.

Only predatory sexual offenders could be listed on a website, or in a newspaper, or on door-to-door flyers. State police will designate a criminal a predatory sex offender only if he is convicted of the act or attempted act of rape, sodomy, sex abuse, or sexual penetration in any degree. A predatory sex offender must also have multiple convictions and show signs of a tendency to victimize others, Hobold said.

Three sex offenders (one predatory) currently live in Sisters and each is a successful business owner, Hobold said. The predatory offender was convicted of raping his adult, live-in girlfriend, Hobold said.

One of the offenders regularly reports to a local treatment center and two have successfully graduated from the center's five-year, mandatory program, said Fred Saporite, the state-licensed counselor who treats the county sex offenders.

"They are in treatment for five years and treatment is not McDonalds; it's hard work," Saporite said about sex offenders under probation. "They're doing very well. Three have reunited with their family.

"Sex offenders are far more scrutinized than any other offender, including murderers," he said. "I work with offenders who did horrible things all of us fear will happen to our children. But sex offenders are habitual. If they offend in the home, they stay in the home. They don't go to the outside community because that doesn't sexually stimulate them."

Saporite said offenders in treatment are required to take a polygraph test every three to six months. Depending on their crimes, the sex offenders under probation are under heavy restrictions, enforcement officers said.

A sex offender could be restricted from areas where children congregate, from alcohol, from having a girlfriend, or from being alone with a girl or boy.

Kellstrom said he appreciates the help of the treatment centers, but said he still wants to do everything possible to protect potential victims.

"I bring this up, not because of the people successful in treatment; I know that some are, but a number of them are not," Kellstrom said. "The potential is so horrific, I'm looking for the opportunity to say, 'God forbid it should happen.'

"I'm worried about the guy who slips through the cracks," Kellstrom said. "I don't want to stand out there and talk to some (father) when he's wondering why his daughter is dead. You've got to prepare for the worst-case scenario."

The county representatives did agree at the meeting to add information to the Deschutes County Sheriff's website directing visitors to the location and contact number to the state police department, where they can obtain information about offenders in their region.

No further plans are set at this time.

The county sheriff's website can be accessed at http://www.co.deschutes.or.us/sheriff/.