LOWNDES Co. – For the past week, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office deputies and detectives partnered with officers from the Georgia Department of Community Supervision to conduct verifications of every registered sex offender who lives and/or works in Lowndes County.

The Office of Sheriff is mandated by Georgia law to register sex offenders and to keep the public informed of where registered sex offenders reside, work and attend school.

Throughout the year, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office verifies the addresses provided by registered sex offenders, but during the last week leading up to Halloween a special emphasis was placed on these verifications to assure continued compliance with state law. Detectives and officers also conducted searches for child pornography during this effort.

LCSO deputies conducted 344 in-person verifications, issued four warrants for non-compliant registrants not living at their registered addresses, and issued one warrant for the possession of child pornography.

On Halloween night, detectives, deputies and officers again checked the residence of sex offenders to assure they were not participating in Halloween activities. This resulted in a number of arrest and warrants to be issued for those who either were participating or were not home:

• 4 arrest for violation of probation {participation in Halloween activities}
• 3 warrants issued for violation of probation {were not home during Halloween activities}

In Lowndes County there are 280 registered sex offenders. The number of verifications exceeds the number of registrants due to most persons being verified a second time on Monday evening to assure they were not participating in Trick or Treating activities.

“The Sheriff’s Office takes the verification and tracking of sex offenders very seriously. I am thankful for the help of the Department of Community Supervision officers who worked with our detectives and deputies to make this endeavor a success. This is a small effort on our part to assure the safety of our children and everyone in our community,” said Sheriff Chris Prine.

Visit the Sheriff’s Office website at www.lowndessheriff.com or visit Georgia Bureau of Investigation website at http://gbi.georgia.gov/georgia-sex-offender-registry for additional information on the whereabouts of registered sex offenders in our community.