Sex offenders turn out to register at sheriff’s office
By Candice Combs Staff Writer
Convicted sex offenders filed steadily into Sheriff John Cupp’s office Tuesday to tell investigators where they are living, working and going to school in Hamilton County.
A new state law required those convicted of crimes such as rape, incest or sodomy to check in with local law enforcement by midnight Tuesday or go to jail, according to the sheriff.
About 80 of the 319 known sex offenders in the county have updated their files with authorities here since the law went into effect Aug. 1, Sheriff Cupp said.
"People have been waiting outside and in line since Friday," he said. "This shouldn’t have been a surprise. They knew it was coming."
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent letters to known offenders in July to notify them of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Act, Sheriff Cupp said. Under the law, nonviolent sex offenders must check in annually, while violent offenders register quarterly.
People filled the sheriff ’s annex building on Dayton Boulevard Tuesday. They sat quietly in chairs and stood threedeep in the hallway. Two investigators have worked 12-hour days photographing, fingerprinting and interviewing the convicted felons, the sheriff said.
"Some who come in are belligerent. Most are cooperative," Sheriff Cupp said.
Investigator Jimmy Clift said he’d stay at the annex as late as necessary Tuesday to finish up paperwork and accept lastminute filers. At least one man has been arrested on an outstanding warrant, and five others told Mr. Clift they are moving, he said. "That’s fine with me," he said. District Attorney General Bill Cox said officials will forward the county’s updated registry to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to be entered in a statewide database accessible by the public.
The TBI will review each county’s registry and send back a list of noncompliant offenders, Mr. Cox said. Arrest warrants will be issued for those people, and they must serve a mandatory 90-day jail sentence, he said.
E-mail Candice Combs at ccombs@timesfreepress.com TO LOCATE OFFENDERS Residents can access the names, photographs, work and employment information of Tennessee’s registered sex offenders at www.tbi.state.tn.us. This story was published Wednesday, September 01, 2004
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