One in four sex offenders fail to register in Nevada, study says

LAS VEGAS -- More than one in four Nevada sex offenders failed to register with police as required, a national child advocacy group said.

Parents for Megan's Law, a nonprofit organization based in New York, found that 925 of Nevada's 3,557 convicted sex offenders or 26 percent failed to comply with the state's sex offender registration laws.

Nevada had the fourth highest failure rate of the 32 states surveyed.

"Nevada is not doing well," Laura A. Ahearn, a certified social worker and the executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, told the Las Vegas Sun.

Neither are several other states. Her group calculated the national failure rate to be 24 percent. The survey said police don't know the whereabouts of 77,000 convicted sex offenders.

In Nevada, offenders must register with local police once they're released from prison and whenever they move. Local police departments are responsible for keeping tabs on the offenders.

Las Vegas police Lt. Jeff Carlson said the state sends out address verification letters to the most serious sex offenders every year, and if the offender doesn't respond, police are notified. Those offenders could be charged with failing to register, a felony.

About 2,400 sex offenders live in Las Vegas police jurisdiction in southern Nevada, Carlson said.

The department has two officers responsible for submitting failure to register cases to the district attorney's office, maintaining the sex offender database and notifying the community that a sex offender lives in their area.

In Nevada, convicted sex offenders are also required to annually report to the state Department of Public Safety. Failure to do so is considered a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

"I think we do a good job with the resources we have," said Michael Compton, operations supervisor for the southern Nevada sex offender unit of the state Division of Parole and Probation. His 11 parole and probation officers supervise 560 sex offenders, he said.

Ahearn said she understands state governments are fiscally strapped, which makes it harder to ensure sex offenders comply with the laws.

"Failure rates have more to do with legislative priority and resources," Ahearn said.