The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

County considers tracking homeless sex offenders

Recent attacks draw attention to homeless Tier-III sex offenders.

Map: Find homeless sex offenders in your area

Ferguson attempts suicide after being found guilty on all 32 counts
11/21/09
Neighbors still trying  to recover from fatal fire
11/20/09
Churches want end to ‘shooting and killing’
11/20/09
Gun turn-in will include some questions
11/20/09
State jobless rate jumps to 10.5 percent
11/20/09
> More headlines

By Lucas Sullivan, Staff Writer Updated 11:14 PM Thursday, October 29, 2009

DAYTON — Local state lawmakers want to electronically track homeless Tier III sex offenders in the wake of two brutal attacks near Miami Valley Hospital.

State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, said this week that he will propose legislation in the coming months that calls for court-ordered satellite tracking of the state’s most violent and homeless sex offenders or those convicted of brutal domestic violence.

“What happened to those women is a prime example of why this is necessary,” Luckie said.

He is speaking about the separate attacks on two women within a month around the hospital. Police arrested and charged James M. Cundiff, 42, a homeless Tier III sex offender, with the crimes.

There are at least 12 Tier III offenders homeless near the hospital and 12 more spread across the county. There are more than 180 homeless sex offenders in the state, according to Attorney General Richard Cordray’s Web site.

State law requires Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer to notify residents living within 1,000 feet of a Tier III sex offender. Homeless offenders make that impossible because of their nomadic status.

Plummer has three investigators dedicated to making sure all 1,039 sex offenders in the county are in compliance.

He said he supports the legislation but wonders who’s going to pay for it.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, said money is available.

“There are funds available through the state Attorney General’s Office or we could apply for federal funding,” he said. “I think it’s something we want to do on a test basis with certain counties, Montgomery being one.”

The electronic monitoring would cost about $40 a month per person, Luckie said. His proposal would allow judges to issue electronic monitoring devices on a case-by-case basis.

Monitoring devices could also alert law enforcement if an offender gets too close to an excluded area, like a school.

More than a dozen states have approved laws that allow electronic tracking of sex offenders. The system works by having employees monitor a computer screen that shows the offender’s location.

Share this article