Pursuing sex predators - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

Pursuing sex predators

There are nearly 7,000 registered sex offenders in Mississippi.  With so many and the occasional offender moving to the state some have slipped through the cracks.

One of which is Andrew Lee Cowan in Lafayette County who according to state officials failed to stay compliant with the registry from December 2010 to December 2011.  His trial is set for March 26 in federal court in Oxford.

State Attorney General Jim Hood says you can not overstate the importance of keeping track of predators, such as Cowan.

"It's not like you can get somebody off of crack the same as you can a sex offender," Hood said. "Particularly those perverts that molest children."

Hinds County has the most registered sex offenders in the state at 481.  19 are not compliant, which means the felons have failed to re-register with the Department of Public Safety every 90 days, or have failed to meet a myriad of guidelines, in accordance with state law.

Rankin County Deputy Sheriff Raymond Duke said the list of what offenders are required to tell authorities is extensive.

"Where they reside, where they are working, what they're driving, even if they live on a house boat," Duke said.

Rankin County currently has 100 percent compliance among their 129 sex offenders who are out on the streets. The county has more than 300 registered, however the lion's share call the correctional facility in Pearl home.

There are exceptions though that Duke says do not always go out of their way to be compliant.  That was the recent case with Jack T. Cooper who moved to Rankin County.

"Checking on his address I find out that he is supposed to be greater than 1500 feet from a restricted area," Duke described. "He is in-fact within about 300 feet from a daycare."

Cooper has since moved from his Brandon address to comply, and now lives in Jackson, according to the state's online sex offender registry.  

If Cowan is found guilty he will head back to prison for five years and have to pay a $5,000 fine.

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