This was the first enterprise series I wrote for the News-Register. This is actually the second story in the series. The paper's data base appears to be messed up and I am going to have to scan in the other story when I find it in my own hard copy files.
This series came about in a rather interesting way. I was assigned to cover a town hall meeting put on by the county corrections department and local politicians. There was a heated debate regarding public safety and registered sex offenders on supervision. In fact our local state representative and one of the corrections officers got slightly nasty with each other. I stayed after the meeting to speak to the officer and ask more questions about how he and his fellow officers monitored SOs and protected the public and the job of protecting the public and supervising these individuals.
The story was very "meaty" and generated quite a bit of public interest. I spoke with the officer the next day. While I was on the phone asking him questions, he offered to allow me to follow him and his partner around while they did their jobs to clear up public perception of danger faced by the community from sex offenders. I asked my boss who said yes. What follows is a series of stories based on his offer. It also won me numerous awards. Additionally I received emails, letters and phones calls from a stalker or stalkers. It turned out to be a somewhat dangerous affair.
Sex Offenders: On the Outside
Published: August 20, 2005
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A daunting task
Published: August 20, 2005
By DEE MOORE
Of the News-Register
It's Dan Brown on the line. The Amity police chief has located a sex offender who's been on the lam since November.
YCOM's 911 dispatch center has patched a call through to parole and probation officers Randy Settell and Daphne Bach, the county's sex offender specialists. It's their job to help Brown bring the man in.
The man's list of offenses has been adding up. It has come to include moving without registering, failing to report to his parole officer, having contact with minors and making contact with his victim.
A tenant in his apartment building has turned the man in. Brown has raced to the scene and set up surveillance.
Maneuvering his Dodge Durango through McMinnville's rush-hour traffic has Settell's teeth on edge. He finds the delay frustrating.
When Settell finally pulls up with his partner, they find Brown waiting out front. Brown can hear the TV playing in the upstairs flat, so he figures the man is in.
The sound of a TV commercial mixes with the sound of traffic whizzing by outside on busy Highway 99W as the law enforcement officers make their way up in the company of the landlord. They have stationed a lookout below the man's second-story window in case he tries to beat a hasty retreat the hard way.
Brown places his hand on his weapon as they position themselves beside the door and announce their presence. Then they have the landlord let them in.
The TV is playing all right, but no one is there to watch it. Their man is out.
---
The tenant who provided the tip suggests they try a local auto body shop where he has family working. "He hangs out there a lot," the tenant tells them.
At the body shop, Brown takes the front while the pair of P.O.s take the back.
It shares a warehouse-style structure with other businesses and there are children playing out front. That doesn't make for a good situation.
Working the building from both sides, they search cars, lockers and every other conceivable hiding space without success.
Questioning employees of the body shop, they learn the man's wife works at a local restaurant. So they head there and repeat the process, Brown again working the front while Settell and Bach work the back.
Settell is sweating. It's a hot summer day and he has body armor hung on his 6-foot, 280-pound frame.
Bach is petite by any measure, and looks all the more so in the company of her massive partner.
They draw their stun guns, ready for anything. But the tension quickly eases. Their man isn't here either.
The man molested his own daughter, but his wife isn't about to turn him in. She's standing by him.
"Things are getting better," she tells Settell and Bach. If it weren't so, she says, "I wouldn't risk my kids."
By DEE MOORE
Of the News-Register
It's Dan Brown on the line. The Amity police chief has located a sex offender who's been on the lam since November.
YCOM's 911 dispatch center has patched a call through to parole and probation officers Randy Settell and Daphne Bach, the county's sex offender specialists. It's their job to help Brown bring the man in.
The man's list of offenses has been adding up. It has come to include moving without registering, failing to report to his parole officer, having contact with minors and making contact with his victim.
A tenant in his apartment building has turned the man in. Brown has raced to the scene and set up surveillance.
Maneuvering his Dodge Durango through McMinnville's rush-hour traffic has Settell's teeth on edge. He finds the delay frustrating.
When Settell finally pulls up with his partner, they find Brown waiting out front. Brown can hear the TV playing in the upstairs flat, so he figures the man is in.
The sound of a TV commercial mixes with the sound of traffic whizzing by outside on busy Highway 99W as the law enforcement officers make their way up in the company of the landlord. They have stationed a lookout below the man's second-story window in case he tries to beat a hasty retreat the hard way.
Brown places his hand on his weapon as they position themselves beside the door and announce their presence. Then they have the landlord let them in.
The TV is playing all right, but no one is there to watch it. Their man is out.
---
The tenant who provided the tip suggests they try a local auto body shop where he has family working. "He hangs out there a lot," the tenant tells them.
At the body shop, Brown takes the front while the pair of P.O.s take the back.
It shares a warehouse-style structure with other businesses and there are children playing out front. That doesn't make for a good situation.
Working the building from both sides, they search cars, lockers and every other conceivable hiding space without success.
Questioning employees of the body shop, they learn the man's wife works at a local restaurant. So they head there and repeat the process, Brown again working the front while Settell and Bach work the back.
Settell is sweating. It's a hot summer day and he has body armor hung on his 6-foot, 280-pound frame.
Bach is petite by any measure, and looks all the more so in the company of her massive partner.
They draw their stun guns, ready for anything. But the tension quickly eases. Their man isn't here either.
The man molested his own daughter, but his wife isn't about to turn him in. She's standing by him.
"Things are getting better," she tells Settell and Bach. If it weren't so, she says, "I wouldn't risk my kids."
_____
They're heading down to the police department when they get a call. He's returned home.
Back at the apartment building, they run through their original routine again. And the man surrenders without incident.
As they load him into a squad car in handcuffs, they give him their standard lecture. "You can run, but you can't hide," they tell him.
"In Yamhill County," Settell tells the reporter tagging along with them this day, "we work together to keep people like this off the streets."
When they get a chance to interview him, the man fingers everything but his own actions for his troubles. He blames the parole officers, the community and the system first and foremost.
"Did you hear that?" Bach asks, shaking her head in disgust. She's his P.O., so she's heard it all before.
"It's the poor, pitiful me routine again, including the tears," she says. "He did that every time he would come into my office."
But she takes a lot of satisfaction in the collar. He's off the streets, and she figures the county is just a little bit safer as a result.
After all, that's why they do what they do.
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