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Tracking homeless Tier III sex offenders problematic for law enforcement

Nomadic status means residents aren’t notified that a sexual predator is living in their area.

Use this map to locate the areas where homeless sex offenders claim they live.

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By Lucas Sullivan, Staff Writer Updated 12:29 AM Sunday, October 18, 2009

DAYTON – Mark Miller didn’t tell his wife he was a registered Tier III sex offender and lied to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office when he said he was homeless.

Sgt. Julie Stevens, head of the sheriff’s office sex offender compliance department, said Miller, 37, married, got a job and a house all while claiming he was homeless.

Stevens has three investigators that do nothing but make sure the county’s nearly 1,040 sexual offenders are living where and how they’re supposed to.

Following up on a tip from a family member, Steven’s investigators followed Miller, went to his house and, on Oct. 9, arrested him for failure to notify his correct address.

Sheriff’s investigators said Miller, on parole for a “felony sexual penetration” of a child conviction in 1996, was also having illegal sexual contact with a young girl.

He is now in jail on two felony charges for failure to notify and one charge of gross sexual imposition.

Deputies in June arrested Jimmy L. Miniard, a Tier III sex offender who claimed he was homeless, but was living in an apartment, Stevens said.

Miniard, 61, sentenced to prison in 1988 for raping a young girl, was also having illegal sexual contact with a minor. He is in jail on felony failure to notify and gross sexual imposition charges, according to jail records.

It’s not uncommon for Tier III offenders to falsely claim they are homeless to avoid having their neighbors notified, Stevens said.

State law allows sex offenders to register as homeless as long as they give an area where they sleep, check in with authorities when required and never go within 1,000 feet of a school.

It works well, in theory.

Since homeless sex offenders aren’t tracked constantly, and are asked (not required) to check in daily, there is no way to know where they go.

While her list is fluid, the numbers of homeless sex offenders have remained static in the last five years, hovering in the high 40s, Stevens said.

Tier III homeless sex offenders present problems for Stevens because their nomadic status makes it impossible to notify residents within 1,000 feet there is a sexual predator living in their area.

Not even numerous Web sites that allow you to search for sex offenders can track the homeless because they don’t have a searchable address.

“This is a problem and a loophole that needs to be closed at the state level,” Sheriff Phil Plummer said. “Until that happens it’s going to continue to be an issue.”

Homeless offender: I wouldn’t hurt anyone

Not all homeless sex offenders are up to no good or trying to elude the public.

Paul Melke changed his address to homeless in the South Patterson Boulevard-Apple Street area last week after he said his aunt kicked him out of her house.

“She did it over oatmeal,” he said Wednesday, Oct 14. “Can you believe that? I ate all her oatmeal and she got mad.”

Melke, 36, is one of at least a dozen known Tier III sex offenders homeless near Miami Valley Hospital and the western edge of the University of Dayton’s campus.

Authorities said many homeless frequent that area because of nearby food pantries and shelters.

Melke served nine years in prison for raping a girl under the age of 13.

He was released from prison in September 2008 as a Tier III sex offender.

“I can’t think, can’t talk about (the rape), really,” he said. “I just walk. That’s what I do. It’s all I want to do.”

Melke claims he blacked out while raping the young girl. He said he doesn’t remember any of it.

“Prison was rough. I never want to go back,” he said.

When not tracking down his medication to treat his paranoid schizophrenia, Melke walks along South Patterson Boulevard, South Main and Brown Streets looking for cigarette butts.

“These cigarettes are my blood, man,” he said. “They keep me strong.”

Melke was also trying to get a bed at St. Vincent Hotel, 120 W. Apple Street, but the shelters that house families won’t allow sex offenders.

As he walked by Miami Valley Hospital, Melke recalled the story about the 35-year-old nurse stabbed twice in the neck while walking to her car about two weeks ago.

James Cundiff, 42 and a homeless Tier III sex offender, was arrested and charged in the attack.

“That poor nurse, I can’t believe that,” Melke said. “I would never do something like that. I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Security tighter around hospital

Crime is down around Miami Valley Hospital across the board, police and hospital officials say.

But since a nurse was stabbed twice in the neck while walking to a parking lot near the corner of Apple and Main Streets, the police presence is palpable.

Dayton police have stepped up patrols around the hospital, telling those that stand on sidewalks and street corners to keep moving.

Miami Valley has assigned its own officers to sit in the lot where the nurse was attacked from 5 a.m. to midnight during the week, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Thickel said.

Third-shift employees have never parked in the lot at Apple and South Main streets and are required to park in a parking garage, Thickel said.

A shuttle service for employees stops more frequently to help some to their cars and hospital police are patrolling parking garages and surface lots during shift changes.

“I think it was something they had to do because of all the (media) attention,” said April McMilian, 28, of Centerville, who was visiting a sick relative at the hospital on Oct. 9. “Who wants to come to a hospital and not feel safe?”

Thickel also said the hospital intends to hire more campus police.

“I think it’s worth noting that we have always had security measures in place (before the attack),” she said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or lsullivan@Dayton DailyNews.com.

What do the tiers mean?

The three classifications given to sex offenders depends on the severity of the crime(s) or the rate of their occurrence. Each tier carries different levels of compliance by the offender:

Tier I: Offender must register with the local sheriff’s office once a year for 15 years. Any of the following charges would warrant a Tier I designation: Importuning, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, non-consensual sex and offender less than 4 years older than victim and no previous convictions of those crimes. Voyeurism, sexual imposition, gross sexual imposition, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, child enticement with sexual motivation, pandering obscenity, menacing by stalking with sexual motivation, unlawful restraint with sexual motivation.

Tier II: Offender must register with local sheriff’s office every six months for 25 years. Any of the following charges would warrant a Tier II designation: Compelling prostitution; pandering obscenity involving a minor; pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, gross sexual imposition victim under 13, felony child endangering, kidnapping with sexual motivation, abduction with sexual motivation, any sexual offense that occurs after the offender has been classified as a Tier I offender.

Tier III: Offender must register every 90 days for life. Any of the following charges would warrant a Tier III designation: Rape, sexual battery, aggravated murder with sexual motivation, murder with sexual motivation, unlawful death or termination of pregnancy as a result of committing or attempt to commit a felony with sexual motivation, kidnapping of minor to engage in sexual activity, kidnapping of minor, not by parent, felonious assault with sexual motivation and any sexual offense that occurs after the offender is classified as a Tier II offender.

Source: Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office

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