Fast Facts:
tom.powell@wreg.com
twitter.com/tompowell3
(MEMPHIS 7/09/2010) -- First, a WREG On Your Side Investigaton exposed flaws in the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. We found missing photos, incorrect and missing addresses. That caused us to wonder whether the list is a reliable way to protect your family.
Now we've found another discrepancy. Records show one sex offender updated his information this year, but his family says there's no way that's possible.
Read on and you'll see some pretty convincing evidence, that if Eligh Sam Jones reported to the registry this year, then it was nothing short of a miracle.
Marquita Jones isn't happy her dad's name on the list. "I love him a lot," she says. According to the TBI database, her father last reported to the registry on February 17th, 2010.
But Jones promises us there is absolutely no way her dad could harm anyone. "These are my dad's ashes," she says as she shows us a box in her living room.
Jones says her dad passed away in 2008 after a 19 year battle with cancer. "I was there," she says. "I watched him take his last breath." She kept the program from his memorial service, plus she still holds on to a plastic bag with hair she cut from his beard.
Those are the memories she keeps. She wants to get rid of his name on the registry. "My dad's been dead for two years," she says. "How can he update something on February the 17th when he's not even here?"
To get the TBI to remove her dad's name from the list will take more than a phone call. She has to purchase a copy of her father's death certificate, then mail it to the TBI offices in Nashville.
Perhaps that's not a huge burden, but Jones says her father's case speaks to the bigger issue. "It makes you feel how many other people are on the register that is not here or how many people that are not even registered."
We wanted to know whether the date listed as Jones's last registration/report date was simply a clerical error. We placed a call to the TBI Friday, but that call has not been returned.
- OYSI exposed flaws in Sex Offender Registry
- One man listed his address as a P.O. Box
- Records show a man who died in '08 registered this year
tom.powell@wreg.com
twitter.com/tompowell3
(MEMPHIS 7/09/2010) -- First, a WREG On Your Side Investigaton exposed flaws in the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. We found missing photos, incorrect and missing addresses. That caused us to wonder whether the list is a reliable way to protect your family.
Now we've found another discrepancy. Records show one sex offender updated his information this year, but his family says there's no way that's possible.
Read on and you'll see some pretty convincing evidence, that if Eligh Sam Jones reported to the registry this year, then it was nothing short of a miracle.
Marquita Jones isn't happy her dad's name on the list. "I love him a lot," she says. According to the TBI database, her father last reported to the registry on February 17th, 2010.
But Jones promises us there is absolutely no way her dad could harm anyone. "These are my dad's ashes," she says as she shows us a box in her living room.
Jones says her dad passed away in 2008 after a 19 year battle with cancer. "I was there," she says. "I watched him take his last breath." She kept the program from his memorial service, plus she still holds on to a plastic bag with hair she cut from his beard.
Those are the memories she keeps. She wants to get rid of his name on the registry. "My dad's been dead for two years," she says. "How can he update something on February the 17th when he's not even here?"
To get the TBI to remove her dad's name from the list will take more than a phone call. She has to purchase a copy of her father's death certificate, then mail it to the TBI offices in Nashville.
Perhaps that's not a huge burden, but Jones says her father's case speaks to the bigger issue. "It makes you feel how many other people are on the register that is not here or how many people that are not even registered."
We wanted to know whether the date listed as Jones's last registration/report date was simply a clerical error. We placed a call to the TBI Friday, but that call has not been returned.
