Redwood Empire News

Periodically between the end of May and the end of June, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office investigators conducted a sex offender registration compliance sweep throughout Humboldt County.

During this sweep, law enforcement attempted to contact approximately 168 registered sex offenders to ensure each offender was in compliance with state requirements. Pursuant to California Penal Code 290, sex offender registrants are required to register in person with the law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction where they reside. The registrants must also comply with several registration requirements, such as updating their registration annually and informing law enforcement when any changes have been made to their address or registration information. Failure by a sex registrant to keep law enforcement notified of an address change or registration information is a crime and can be punished as a felony or misdemeanor.

During the compliance sweep, no registrants were found to be out of compliance. One was determined to be deceased, one is currently in federal custody, and one is confirmed to be living out of state. Thirteen registrants were unable to be contacted. Continued efforts will be made to contact and determine compliance of the outstanding registrants.

This month’s operation is part of an ongoing effort to do smaller, more frequent 290 sweeps to reduce violent sexual offenses in the county through proactive surveillance and arrest of habitual sexual offenders, and strict enforcement of state registration requirements. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office involvement in this enforcement effort is funded through the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) grant.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office would like to thank participating agencies for their assistance in this operation.