CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The West Virginia State Police is tasked with registering the more than 4,000 sex offenders in the state. In addition, troopers must conduct regular compliance checks and investigate violations of the state Registration Act.
The U.S. Marshals Service worked in conduction with State Police on a month-long compliance sting in the 32 counties in the Northern District, Marshal Gary Gaskins said.
The Marshals’ Sex Offender Investigations Branch provided $20,000 in overtime that allowed State Police Troops 1, 2 and 3 to conduct 662 compliance verifications on registered offenders.
This resulted in 15 state arrest warrants obtained and nine arrests, 74 state ongoing investigations with possible charges pending and three federal prosecutions initiated, Sex Offender Investigations Coordinator John Hare said.
“Each year we coordinate with the State Police to enforce the laws on registration,” Hare said. “The three federal cases involve subjects possibly moving out of state that we found through database searches and interviews. Two of those were found to be elsewhere and one is still in West Virginia.”
Another 573 offenders were in compliance. This is approximately one-third of the sex offenders residing in the district, although about 100 new offenders are added to the registry each month…
