2008 Woodie Awards
Sex offenders: 27 registered in district
Jonathan Edwards - News Editor
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Twenty-seven convicted sex offenders have registered with the Foothill-De Anza College police since 2000, acts which allow them to legally attend or work at either college, said Ron Levine of the Foothill-De Anza police department last week.
One such offender interviewed with the district police two weeks ago in an effort to attend one of the district's two colleges, according to the FHDA police blotter.
State law requires any convicted sex offender to register with campus police before attending classes or being employed at any California college or university, said Levine.
When asked about the interviewed sex offender, FHDA's Director of Campus Security Ben Rodriguez directed La Voz reporters to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.
Rodriguez claimed that the district forwards information about all sex offenders to the Department of Justice and the sheriff's department and they have a list of sex offenders attending De Anza and the district at large.
Terrance Helm, a deputy with the sheriff's department, denied that they keep any such records.
The sheriff's department is required by law to keep tabs on the sex offenders in the county, but it would be nearly impossible to constantly update the ever-changing list of sex offenders attending any particular college, said Helm.
"He's wrong. We're giving them the records. That's the law. I will call his superior," said Rodriguez.
Megan's Law, passed by the California legislature in 1996, requires that county and certain city law enforcement agencies make available sex offender's information to the general public.
This month marks the eighth anniversary of former President Clinton's signing Megan's Law into effect. The California state legislature signed
"Now, California's Megan's Law arms the public with certain information on the whereabouts of dangerous sex offenders so that members of our local communities may protect themselves and their children. The law also authorizes local law enforcement to notify the public about high-risk and serious sex offenders who reside in, are employed in, or frequent the community," according to the California's Attorney General's Web site.
Rodriguez repeatedly refused to provide La Voz reporters with information about potentially dangerous sex offenders attending and employed at their campus.
Ron Levine of the Foothill-De Anza police department called the La Voz office back to explain the district police's position on the issue.
"I'm not sure [releasing information about the sex offenders] serves the purposes of [students in the district]," said Levine. "Their offense could be very, very minor in the grand scheme of things. You have to stop and think of the negative impact."
The district still did not have information available to the public despite numerous requests over a week-long period.
La Voz's inquiry is the first request for this information, and the district police department is doing its best to accommodate the needs of the public and individual sex offenders, said Levine.
"I want to make this right and make sure we do the right thing and make the proper disclosure," Levine said.
Levine said he would compile a list of the sex offenders and their information -- names, partial addresses, contact information, nature of the offenses for which they were convicted -- which should be available for public viewing by the week of May 10.
Current legislation before the California legislature could change how such information is released, requring law enforcement agencies to release information for all sexual offenders in their jurisdiction or none of them, said Levine.