Officials Say Rules Allow Offenders Against Adults To Remain Anonymous
CONCORD, N.H. -- Some convicted sex offenders can move to New Hampshire and not be listed on the public sex offender registry, law enforcement officials said.
Although all convicted sex offenders are required to register with the state, officials said that not all sex offender information is released to the public.
Residents of a Portsmouth, N.H., neighborhood were made aware of the specific state rules after a convicted rapist from Massachusetts moved into an apartment building. William Dawley followed the rules and registered with the state.
"We knew Mr. Dawley was living in Portsmouth," Portsmouth police Capt. Janet Champlin said. "He did register, as he was supposed to by law."
But Dawley's neighbors didn't know he served 20 years for raping a woman in Massachusetts. They learned about his past when he was arrested and charged with assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
"We're alleging he held a knife to her and sexually assaulted her," Champlin said.
Officials said that if neighbors had looked up Dawley's name in the registry, they wouldn't have found it. In Massachusetts, he was on the public list, but his move to the Granite State allowed him to remain anonymous.
"In our state, because they're not offenders against children, we don't make their information available to the public," state Trooper Jill Rockey said.
Rockey helps run the state's sex offender registry. She said that under New Hampshire rules, only names and addresses of sex offenders against children are shared with the public.
According to Rockey, about 40 percent of the state's registered sex offenders are only know to police because their crimes were against adults.
Rockey said that offenders are getting savvier about loopholes and restrictions, shopping around for the best states to live. Some offenders can move to New Hampshire after being convicted of certain crimes -- such as a peeping Tom offense or some computer crimes -- and not have to register at all because New Hampshire has different rules than other state.
But officials said that things will be changing soon. Within in the next two years, New Hampshire, like all states, will have to come into compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Law, which would establish uniform standards.
The state would also be allowed to publicly list offenders with crimes against adults.
"Anybody convicted of more than one offense of any sexual offense, their information would be made available to the public," Rockey said.
Officials said the new law will also allow better tracking of offenders. One study showed that about 25 percent of sex offenders nationally are unaccounted for. Rockey said that in New Hampshire, about 10 percent of known offenders have stopped registering.
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