Offender

A convicted Ozarks sex offender may be committed and kept from re-entering society. Rodney Lee Swearengin is about to finish his prison time. He is expected to be released August 16 but could face another jury before freedom. Swearengin could become Missouri’s 147th sexually violent predator. This year Missouri juries found 10 people in the entire state to be sexually violent predators. On Monday, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office filed a sexually violent predator petition for Swearengin.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A new bill introduced today would allow some sex offenders to request to be removed from the lifetime sex offender registry. There are more than 21,000 registered offenders on the registry. Offenders are required to register every 90 days.   A representative from Kimberling City wants to allow some offender to be removed from the registry, based on a three tier system: Tier I The first tier would have the lowest risk sex offenders. These are criminals least likely to re-offend like those convicted of indecent exposure.

Springfield area CRIME STOPPERS needs your help to find Thomas Richards, a convicted sex offender who's wanted for Failure to Register and several other warrants. Richards, who's 31, is a white male, five feet eight inches tall weighing 135 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He has tattoos on both arms and scars on his chest and abdomen. He was convicted in 2004 for Second Degree Statutory Sodomy against a 16-year-old male victim. Richards has lived in Springfield, Mt Vernon and Lebanon.

The Springfield police chief says dozens of repeat violent offenders are locked up thanks   to a new target list. The "repeat offender target list" focuses on arresting and charging people who police say consistently commit violent crimes. Officers in the Criminal Investigation Section and Crime Analysis Unit are identifying this year's list of career criminals involved in violent crime. Past year's lists have led to charges filed against 52 people. “I noticed gunshots.

  It's being called a loophole, and according to those most affected by it, a very dangerous one.   Missouri sex offenders can live right next to a daycare provided that daycare is operated out of a church.     The state of Missouri says there are 500 religious affiliated childcare centers and about a third of them have sex offenders living within the 1,000 foot buffer zone; Grant Avenue Baptist in north Springfield is one of them.   You could call kids the building blocks of Grant Avenue Baptist Church.

A sex offender tells us it would give him his life back; a victim's advocate says it would put people at risk.  Those are two very different responses Wednesday to a bill on the verge of passing in the Missouri house that would change the state sex offender registry.   Right now if you're a Missouri sex offender your name is on the registry for life.  Arepresentative from Versailles wants to make some exceptions to that steadfast policy.   David Kline is watching himself grow up, flipping through a photo album of sorts, but there's nothing nostalgic about the photos on his television screen; they're courtesy of the Department of Corrections and the Greene County Sheriff's Office.  That's because Kline essentially grew up in prison.

Springfield Police's crackdown on sex offenders this Halloween found a number of violators in the area. Corporal Matt Brown with the SPD said officers conducted checks on 54 addresses in the city to ensure compliance with the Missouri Halloween Sex Offender Law.  Brown said officers found a total of 6 violations under the law, and two additional individuals who did not register as a sex offender under new addresses. Officers are completing criminal case reports and are passing them off for review to the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, Brown added.

There are over 600 registered sex offenders who live in Greene County. While many will be at home on Halloween, those convicted after August 28, 2008 must adhere to specific regulations. Some wish the rules would change. "My name is Frances Davis and I am a sex offender. " Davis has 11 great grandchildren. She lives in Springfield and is convicted of raping an 11-year-old family member. "I hated myself, I really did, I hated myself. I hated doing what I've done,” said Davis.

The search for a fugitive sex offender from Oklahoma has ended. San Antonio, Texas authorities captured Matthew Mallory this evening. Police say Mallory is a registered sex offender with a history of sexually assaulting minors. Investigators say Mallory had been traveling with a14-year-old relative. She's been taken into custody. Over the weekend, federal authorities said they thought Mallory was heading for Missouri.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo - Many neighbors are frustrated a registered sex offender was living under the radar in their neighborhood. Officers found Michael E. Campbell near the intersection of West Bypass and Grand. According to court documents the area is the last known address for Campbell. Around 6:00 in the morning, Tammie Tennessee would see Campbell in her neighborhood. “He was always walking a dog. It was real early,” Tennessee said. “I figured that's why he was walking so early because he didn't want too many people to see him. He is kind of scary looking.