HANCOCK COUNTY — One of the county probation department’s special deputies talked to the sex offender standing in a bedroom of his house. Another looked through his belongings, all under the watchful eye of a sheriff’s deputy.
It was the first of six stops on the night for the trio of county law enforcement officials whose job is to check in on sex and violent offenders. Deputy Kyle Addison of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department; and Nick Layman and Cameron Mayes, special deputies from the Hancock County Probation Department, have a regular assignment: make sure offenders are toeing the line.
“We check on the community because that’s what it’s about: making sure the people under our supervision are doing what they’re supposed to do,” Mayes said.
The three head out together at least once a month, as part of a collaborative effort between county law enforcement agencies to make sure the offenders are abiding by the strict guidelines of their probation and rehabilitation.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryIn most sex offender cases, the probationer isn’t allowed to be around children; or have internet service, a cell phone or a laptop. But one of the men the group visited that night lives with his wife and two children. It’s a rare case, Layman said, where the offender earned a second chance.
Layman checked the man’s personal belongings, but mostly talked to him while Mayes rummaged through his backpack, boxes in closets and jacket pockets looking for anything that might show the man has slipped up.
“We’ve caught a lot of guys and sent them back to prison,” Layman said, proud of the work they’ve done over the past couple of years.
When they first started checking in on offenders, as a joint group, the three said they had around 20 active cases. On this night, it was six. If the officers find something, they apply for a warrant and get the person off the streets as soon as possible.
“Some of the offenders will do a lot of sneaky stuff, like registering at one address and never staying there to try and confuse us,” Layman said.
Tracking an offender
When Matthew Brooks agreed to a plea deal for his sex crimes in January, it included admitting he was guilty of a Level 4 felony charge of child molesting. Part of the deal required him to register on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry for the remainder of his life.
Brooks, 42, McCordsville, didn’t follow the guidelines of his sentence and neglected to check in with local officials within the 72-hour window stipulated in his agreement. He now faces a Level 6 felony charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
“He signed up for home detention, but refused to sign up on the sex offender registry,” Layman said in disbelief.
Brooks was arrested and remains in the Hancock County Jail awaiting a pretrial hearing in April. If found guilty, he’ll face up to two years behind bars for this recent violation. Plus, his two years of home detention and eight years of probation from the original case could be served in prison.
Brooks is one of 55 sex and violent offenders currently listed that county officials must monitor to make sure they follow specific orders handed down by a judge. Their names and addresses are in a public database on the sheriff’s department’s website.
Amy West of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department is the registry program coordinator. She works with sheriff’s deputies who also work with the special probation officers to make sure sex offenders are compliant. While she admits it’s a difficult job, it’s a responsibility that has to be handled diligently.
“You have to put aside the details of their crimes and make them follow through and hold them accountable, and sometimes that’s real difficult,” West said.
The collaborative team effort between the probation department and the sheriff’s office started a couple of years ago. It includes the special deputies making home and field visits to keep track of the three different tiers of offenders whose names are on the registry; sex offenders, offenders against children and sexually violent predators.
The sheriff’s deputies can only check for home address, registration, license plate and ID violations. The special deputies from probation are the ones who do the more extensive searches in people’s homes.
Sexual offenders have to register for 10 years or for life in Indiana. Hancock County’s registry is fairly small compared with other adjacent counties. Madison County’s database has 286 names. Marion County has more than 1,700 people on its registry.
A couple of factors influence Hancock County’s listings, officials say. Because Greenfield and Hancock County have a lot of schools, parks and playgrounds — places near which offenders cannot live while on the registry — county numbers should remain lower, officials said.
The county also has several apartment complexes that will not lease apartments to an offender and sometimes even someone with a felony conviction. That detours a lot of people elsewhere, West said.
Brooks’s failure to register is one of four such cases West and her team are investigating so far in 2019. If an offender doesn’t register; doesn’t alert officials about a change of address or change of job; or fails to report something as simple as registering a vehicle, they can find themselves in violation.
Just doing the job
Addison is one of four sheriff’s deputies — along with Dillen Sexton, Eddie Whittington and Gary Achor — on whom West relies to come in early before a normal work shift or stay late to go out and check in on people on the registry.
The team’s check-ins will depend on the crime classification. Some offenders must be checked every 90 days and some only once per year. However, all offenders living in the county will be checked four-plus times a year, West said. This goes for all offenders: those who are on probation and those who are not.
Sometimes, sheriff’s deputies go out on their own to do the more simple address and ID checks, but Addison likes to work with the special deputies from county probation since they can really dig in and do full searches.
For Addison, who has been a deputy for nearly eight years, the work he does keeping offenders in line is just another part of his job.
“Most of the offenders realize they’ve screwed up and that this is just part of the process of what they’ve got to do from here on out,” Addison said.
On average, about one in 10 offenders violate probation or sentencing arrangements, Addison said. However, the percentages are higher when he works with officials from the probation department whose searches are more thorough during their surprise visits.
“The probation guys can go through and search their personal property looking to see if they’re on the internet or have a cell phone that isn’t registered,” Addison said.
Enforcing while rehabilitating
On their recent sweep, the three law enforcement officers did their job and tired to remain as courteous and professional as possible while interacting with the men who have served or are serving sentences for serious crimes, which isn’t always easy, they admit.
The man’s whose bedroom was thoroughly searched reciprocated. “Bye, buddy,” he said when the officers had finished and walked out of the house after finding no violations.
The visits might seem intrusive, but it’s part of a strategy to break the cycle of crime.
“As special officers of the court, it’s our job to try and rehabilitate these people back into society,” said Josh Sipes, chief probation officer.
And, of course, officials argue that the sweeps help keep the community safe.
“A lot of these offenders are supposed to be going to treatment, and we want to make sure they’re doing that and that they’re engaged,” Sipes said.
The officials acknowledge that the sweeps are intrusive. Showing up unannounced, the special deputies routinely will go through closets and drawers and look into basements and attics, where people might hide things.
“These guys are criminals, and criminals are not always honest with us,” Layman said.
West is hopeful the county’s consistent efforts to monitor and watch over offenders keeps the number of perpetrators low in the area.
She’s even had offenders tell her how shocked they are when county officials actually follow up and hold them accountable to every stipulation in their probation, because that’s not always the case in other counties, they’ve told her.
“I’m proud of our reputation,” West said. “A lot of times they get really frustrated with us, but we have to check up on them.”
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Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry figures for March 2019:
Hancock County – 55 people on list (as of Friday)
Marion County – 1,700 people on list
Madison County – 286 people on list
Henry County – 77 people on list
Shelby County – 106 people on list
Statewide – More than 15,000 on list
Source: Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
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The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department offers a program, Offender Watch, to track registered sex offenders.
Offenders move frequently, so instead of having to check the maps on a weekly basis, the best way to stay informed is to take advantage of the department’s free email alert system. Local residents may confidentially register as many addresses in the county as they wish. County officials continually monitor the addresses and send an email alert if a new offender registers an address within the specified radius of any address registered.
There is no cost for this service and no limit to the number of addresses a person can register. Email addresses and physical addresses are all confidential.
Visit sheriffweb.hancockcoingov.org/sex-offender-information to sign-up.
Residents can also look on Sheriffalert.com
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