Shawn Harper, 33, was back in the Burlington court Monday accused of sexual assaults on a young boy.
"We're very, very concerned that if he's allowed back on the streets. He's gone under the radar for three years and he's back in Vermont less than a month," Chittenden Deputy Prosecutor Susan Hardin said.
Harper is no stranger to the courts and charges of molesting kids.
In 1992, he was convicted of two counts of molesting little boys in Burlington.
Under a plea deal he spent just 4 months in prison and got a satisfactory release from probation in 2000 after he completed sex offender treatment.
Under law, he was a registered sex offender required to update his address annually or within three days of moving.
But in 2005 he moved to New York and disappeared-- until last week. That's when Vermont police learned he moved back to Burlington a month ago and allegedly sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy while visiting family on Park Street two years ago.
Police also learned that Harper is the target of child sex abuse investigations in Utah and Arizona.
The judge wondered why no one had been looking for him for failing to register as a sex offender for at least two years.
"Regardless of whether they're here or not here you might look and say oh, he hasn't registered for two years," Judge Linda Levitt said.
"I agree and luckily we're having more sweeps and locating more people that are not registering," Hardin said.
"He went missing for lack of a better term where no one from at least the registry or state law enforcement here knew where he was residing," said Detective Tyler Kinney, of the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations.
Kinney says this case underscores a major problem with the sex offender registry-- authorities are not required to check on the offender addresses to see if they actually live where they claim. So he started a sweep system last year for Chittenden County.
"Today we netted about 65 arrests and or warrants applied for. In some instances, I know some of those people have gone to other states," Kinney said.
Harper pled innocent to the two sex assault charges. He is being held without bail pending a hearing next week.
Police agencies in at least four other Vermont communities are planning sweeps to ensure sex offenders are residing where they are supposed to. But when registered sex offenders move to other states those other states are supposed to keep track of them. And it doesn't work very well-- for example, California has about 120,000 registered offenders and 30,000 have completely disappeared.
It appears that all an offender has to do is move to another state to escape scrutiny. It's because every state has different registry laws and there is no uniform method for states to share information and track offenders across state lines. But that is supposed to change next year when a new federal law goes into effect. Not only will state registries be integrated -- but more information will be available directly to the public.
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I am a Registered Sex Offender who got the help i needed to stop offending. It consisted of 15-21 hours each week of group therapy for over 7 years. No out-patient, 90 mins/week treatment for a year or two is going to fix any offender with serious mental health issues. The vast majority of offenders have serious mental health issues. I have been out for 3 years, as of Aug 19th & am doing very well. My personal opinion: All sex offenders should be civilly committed after 1st offense & offered treatment. If they don't want it, then they have a life sentance - their choice! If they go through treatment, as I did, & earn their release - Great! I anticipate being discharged from the program I'm a part of within a year or two. Besides all of the treatment, anti-androgen drugs (Lupron Depo & Provera) absolutely destroy any sexual urges or drive (for me & a lot of other guys), therefore reducing risk of re-offense to nill.
R. Dave Blagg
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