Local advocate gets change to state's sex offender policy

(10/20/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Back in September, crime victims' advocates discovered the state of Texas deleting names of registered sex offenders from a website which helps track them. The Department of Public Safety initially said it did so with good reason -- that they were all deported or had moved out of state. But tragedy has caused DPS to reverse that policy.

In the days following the murder of HPD Officer Rodney Johnson, city of Houston crime victim's advocate Andy Kahan discovered shooting suspect Juan Quintero was a convicted sex offender. He was not listed in the state's sex offender Internet database.

"It just struck me as why?" said Kahan.

The Department of Public Safety said Quintero's name had been deleted from the list because he'd been deported and was no longer considered a resident of Texas. It's been their policy to remove names from the list once offenders are confirmed to have moved out of the state or country.

Kahan saw the loophole created then by Quintero's return to Houston. He was a sex offender who should have been registered, but who was no longer. So Kahan wrote a letter to the state, asking them to change their policy to add back to the database all names of sex offenders who supposedly were deported.

Kahan says there's no telling if Officer Johnson might still be alive today had Quintero's name never been eliminated from the list.

"Maybe someone might have spotted him. Who knows," said Kahan. "But under the prior regime, that could never have happened because he wasn't there."

Kahan can't say how much this change might impact future victims of crime. It's better, though, that we have the knowledge, he says, with which to protect ourselves.

"Time will tell," said Kahan. "Time will tell if someone else's life will be saved. We don't know. The bottom line is there's no downside to keeping this up. It's a win-win for everybody."

Kahan tells us he's surprised at how quickly this change has been implemented. It took just over two weeks for the state to change its policy. The Department of Public Safety is now returning more than 2,000 names to the list -- 2,098 to be exact, all because Kahan's complaint.

Click here for a link to the sex offender registry.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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