Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office keeps tabs on nearly 400 sex offenders

ALBANY — A visitor who takes a left turn out of the restroom heading toward the lobby on the first floor of the Albany-Dougherty Government Center will come face-to-face with a large screen hanging from the wall.

But there’s no movie playing on the big screen, not even the feed of a city or county government meeting. The only material shown are rows of photos and names.

The photos are those of registered sex offenders who live in the county in two rows playing over and over in alphabetical order.

As of mid-December, there were about 373 Dougherty County residents registered. Of those, 265 are active, meaning they are currently living at a Dougherty County address, while others are in jails or prisons in other counties.

Currently, the youngest person being monitored is 19, and the oldest is 94.

Another 18 are on absconded status, meaning they are not living at the address for which they are registered, “which means we have warrants on them for their arrest,” Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael Kerce said.

Others are incarcerated in jails or prison. Of the six women on the list, one is currently in jail and another is serving a prison sentence at this time.

Keeping track of those nearly 400 men and women required to register are Kerce and DSO Sgt. Dominique Kendricks. The pair keeps up with both individuals living in the county and local residents who are in jail or prison in other locations.

“Data shows that 90% of those convicted return to the community where they lived,” Kerce said. 

The Georgia Department of Corrections is required to send notice to an inmate’s home county within 45 days of his release from prison, so Kerce is aware and able to determine whether the released person returns to Dougherty County and registers as required.

“I still keep track of them, even if they go to prison,” he said. “When they’re released, I make sure they are registered in another county before I take them off my registry.

“We also monitor anybody from another county who is locked up in our jail.”

For the most part, maintaining the registry works smoothly. Nearly everyone who is required to register complies, and repeat sex offenses are not common for those on the list.

Each offender must report once a year within 72 hours prior to his or her birthday to fill out a form updating personal information, including new tattoos or marks on the body and employment information, and to have a new photo taken. During that process Kerce gives a refresher on state laws, including any changes that have been made during the previous year.

When a registered offender does not report or moves to a new residence without giving notification, the agency can issue a warrant.

Kerce and Kendricks also make regular visits to offenders’ residences during the year to confirm that they are living there. They also respond to reports that someone on the list has moved without reporting it.

Another duty that falls on them is taking frantic calls from parents who learn a registered offender is living nearby. 

In those instances, Kerce said he will try to assuage the caller’s fear. Just because a person is on the list does not mean it indicates the presence of a child molester, but could be someone convicted as a peeping Tom, misdemeanor or felony statutory rape, he said.

Other charges that can land individuals on the registry include prostitution, pandering, bestiality, aggravated sodomy and incest.

“We cover a lot of different charges,” Kerce said. “It’s not all child molesters.”

In general, all of the legal restrictions prohibit offenders from living within 1,000 feet of child care facilities, schools and areas where minors congregate such as skating rinks, parks or playgrounds. Later changes to the law added churches as well as public libraries and school bus stops.

According to statistics, 1% of individuals convicted will reoffend, Kerce said. It becomes different when it comes to sexual predators, who are much more likely to commit subsequent sex-related crimes.

“In all 10 years I’ve been here, I’ve only had four reoffend,” Kerce said.

A certain percentage of people are going to disappear off the radar, and they sometimes move far from the Peach State.

Kerce has tracked Dougherty County absconders as far as Maine, Nevada and California. When the absconder runs out of state, that’s when it is time to request the service of the U.S. Marshals Service.

But people do have a big incentive to meet the requirements.

“Failure to comply could carry up to 30 years in prison, and they don’t want to go back,” Kerce said.

The monitors showing the county’s sex offenders are required at city and county government offices, which is covered by the one at the Government Center, as well as at the office of the Dougherty County Clerk of Court and at the sheriff’s office located downstairs at the courthouse.

A list also is available at the sheriff’s office website at https://dcso.policetocitizen.com/SexOffenders/Catalog, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation maintains a listing available at https://gbi.georgia.gov/services/georgia-sex-offender-registry that allows for the search for individual offenders by name.

Sheriff Terron Hayes had praise for the two deputies working the job.

“It’s very important,” he said. “This is a difficult job. For two people to manage a registry of over 370 people, that’s a lot of work.

“It’s hard to keep up with people as it is, but these are people we have to keep track of, basically all of their whereabouts, where they’re working, what they’re doing. Lt. Kerce and Sgt. Kendricks do a fantastic job.”