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National News

Many Sex Offenders Nationally Manipulate Identities

August 01, 2012 posted by Steve Brownstein

A frightening number of the nation's registered sex offenders hide, change or attempt to alter their identities to avoid parole conditions aimed at keeping them from striking again, according to preliminary findings of a new study.

Roughly 92,000 of the 569,325 registered sex offenders " approximately 16 percent " are digital absconders who use techniques developed by identity thieves to alter their names, birthdays, Social Security numbers and other personal information, according to the study conducted by Utica College's Center for Identity Management and Information Protection. This allows them to evade authorities while seemingly meeting court-imposed requirements or other restrictions. The tweaked identities allow them to apply for jobs, tap social benefits, hide their past from neighbors and possibly prey on more victims , all while appearing to be on the radar of those charged with tracking them.

"We have to dig deeper to find out why this is happening," said Don Rebovich, the criminal justice professor at Utica College who directed the study. ?It's not to be critical of any of the tracking agencies in the states because they are doing great jobs, but there will be some offenders who slip through the cracks if they change their identities " and it's not that hard."

In general, Rebovich said identities are most often changed with an altered spelling of an offender's name or by changing Social Security numbers.

In some states, including Louisiana, Nevada and Tennessee, the number of registered offenders using altered identities exceeds 25 percent. In Louisiana, the figure was 64.5 percent, according to the preliminary study, compared to the national low of 7.1 percent in Wisconsin.

The altered identities don't mean the offenders aren't checking in regularly with their parole officers. Actual absconder rates " the percentage of sex offenders who get released and disappear" are extremely low. Kristin Helm, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said the state has 18,627 registered sex offenders and only about 1 percent are unaccounted for. But while offenders can't change their fingerprints for parole officers, they can easily pass themselves off as someone else to the general public.