22 Sex Offenders In Ft. Lauderdale Accused Of Avoiding Monitoring
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A number of sex offenders in Fort Lauderdale are now behind bars.
The U.S. Marshals along with Fort Lauderdale Police announced the arrested Tuesday morning after a six-week operation.
Over the course of a month and a half, police arrested 22 sex offenders.
The people who were arrested are those who registered as 'transients.' This means they have no permanent address so they registered at a specific intersection which the state allows.
Part of the law requires them to check in every 30 days. Police say those who were arrested were not checking in. Some of them were living in a specific address in neighborhoods with people nearby that had no idea they had a sex offender living next door, police said.
"Some of the these sex offenders are playing this transient game because they can register transient at an intersection in Fort Lauderdale, but they can live in other areas of the county, which that address might not be compliant with the 2,500 foot rule that is county ordinance. So it gives them the freedom to move around the county and basically not be monitored by law enforcement," said Barry Golden with the U.S. Marshals Service.
This was a coordinated effort with Fort Lauderdale Police, U.S. Marshals and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Investigators say even though this big operation was completed, efforts like these will continue. Police still have about a dozen warrants left.