Website has ability to alert people as to their possibly-dangerous neighbors

By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Residents of the River Parishes now have easy and free access to information on sex offenders and child predators living in their communities.

Registered sex offenders names and information can be found on www.LSP.org. The site allows a person to search by state, parish, city, specific names and universities.

The state requires the sex offenders to be registered at least 10 years.

The information on the sex offender consist of, their name, aliases, physical characteristics, address and conviction record.

“Once a year, the state sends out notices to check the addresses,” said Lt. Randy Loup, warrant division, St. John Sheriff’s Office. “They have to make sure the sex offenders addresses are the same, and if they’re not the probation officer usually goes to their house to see where they are.”

Loup said the majority of the offenders are men and most of them in the parish live in LaPlace.

According to information provided by the Louisiana State Police, a sex offender is “a person convicted of committing or attempting to commit offenses such as rape, incest, and sexual battery.”

A child predator is the same as a sex offender, except the “victim is a minor and the defendant is not the parent of the victim” and includes various offenses, including kidnapping.

A sexually violent predator is a person convicted of the same offenses, but also sentenced by the court to “suffer from a mental abnormality or anti-social personality disorder which makes him likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses.”

“Sex offenders have to register with the local Sheriff’s office,” said Loup. “Also, if they live in a subdivision a notice is sent out to all the neighbors within three blocks. If they live in a rural area, it is sent out to neighbors within a one-mile radius.”

The River Parishes have at least 263 registered sex offenders. St. Charles Parish accounts for 106, St. James Parish 44 and St. John Parish 113, with 74 here in LaPlace.