California loses track of more than 30,000 sex offenders

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- California has lost track of more than 33,000 convicted sex offenders, despite a law requiring rapists and child molesters to register each year for inclusion in the Megan's Law database.

"We don't know where they are," said Margaret Moore, who until recently ran California's sex offender registry.

Sex offenders are not checking in with law enforcement, which in most cases is a felony. And many overworked police departments are not following up.

Experts say sex offender databases nationwide have fallen short of their promise.

"It's not only in California," said Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, a national victims' rights group. "We're expecting sex offenders to be reporting their addresses, and that's the problem."

According to 2002 data provided to The Associated Press after repeated requests over nine months, the state does not know the whereabouts of at least 33,296 sex offenders, or 44 percent of the 76,350 who registered with the state at least once. These rapists and child molesters vanished after registering.

No one knows how many offenders never registered at all after leaving prison.

Failing to register could put high-risk offenders in jail for up to three more years, but most police departments are not enforcing the law.

The 1996 law is named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a child molester who had moved in across the street. All states have similar laws designed to warn communities about the presence of such ex-cons.

Megan's Law databases are supposed to help the public and police monitor convicted sex offenders by keeping track of their home and work addresses and other personal details. Adults can search the database at sheriffs' offices or police departments.

No one audits California's database for accuracy. State Justice Department officials cannot even say how much the program costs.