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18,507 registered sex offenders

And that’s just the ones we know about! A friend of my wife’s found out she has a registered sex offender living on her street. So, for fun, I went to the California Megan’s Law site to see who was in my neighborhood. I didn’t expect to find this:

18,507 registered sex offenders

Holy cow! According to the site there are 18,507 registered sex offenders in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. That’s 1 for every 890 people — 1 for every 249 people under 18 (based on year 2000 census data).

The site has a lot of data including photos and offenses of every registrant. The offenses are terse but meaningful. For example: Harmful matter: seduction of minor/elec. mail/internet f/only.

Creepy.

Update: For kicks, offenders near Disneyland.

Sex offenders near Disneyland

Comments

  1. The Disney Blog on 2005-02-01 07:39:51 wrote: Sex Offenders living near Disneyland John at Flagrantdisregard (a wonderful daddy blog I’m suprised I haven’t found before) posts a map of registered sex offenders in Southern California, the density of that map is quite creepy. Then to squick you even further, he posts a

  2. Zwack on 2005-02-01 12:13:28 wrote: *Given that the blue squares are sex offenders and that the Yellow area is Disneyland… That looks to me like one Registered Sex Offender lives in Disneyland… Who is it? Mickey? Donald? Z. *

  3. No Diggity on 2005-02-01 12:29:14 wrote: It’s probably the cryogenically frozen body of ‘Uncle’ Walt.

  4. apesh1t on 2005-02-01 12:33:30 wrote: Zwack: The black dot within the yellow area is Disneyland. i.am.apesh1t

  5. Dan Van Riper on 2005-02-01 12:37:49 wrote: Notice how the map of LA has solid blue areas, alternating with areas that are white or mostly white? I’ve learned from dealing with neighborhood issues in my own small city (far from LA) that these kind of population distributions don’t happen by accident. Urban decay and sprawl are caused by government policy, policy that is rarely, if ever, driven by the local citizens and homeowners. Corporate influence peddling and individual acts of corruption play a big role in implementing these policies, just as they play a major role in forming policy. I’d like to see an economic map placed over this map of sex offenders. Why have the LA city leaders chosen these areas to warehouse the majority of sex offenders? And, what accounts for oddities, such as the sex offenders scattered around (and in!) Disneyland? What does this say about the “quality” of the neighborhoods surrounding the fiefdom of the corporate mouse? -dwvr

  6. No Diggity on 2005-02-01 12:38:38 wrote: I think Zwack means the Blue square by that lower body of water (which I believe is closer to Disney’s California Adventure area.) Maybe the offender ’lives’ in the Grand Hotel?

  7. No Diggity on 2005-02-01 12:40:56 wrote: By the looks of that upper map, raising your kids in Newport Beach might be the best choice. (although this map may not display the offenders in Orange County)

  8. luke on 2005-02-01 12:48:33 wrote: *In response to dwvr, the white areas are mostly places without houses. *

  9. john on 2005-02-01 13:19:58 wrote: The map does include Orange County (OC) offenders. For whatever reason, the vast majority of them are north of the 55 freeway. It costs more to live in south OC… Maybe sex offenders, in general, have low incomes?

  10. Joe Grossberg on 2005-02-01 13:33:30 wrote: Zwick: My guess is that the defender was a wiseass and the cops are dumb. It’s an obnoxious, if funny, prank.

  11. Kevico on 2005-02-01 13:56:20 wrote: No, the entire yellow part is Disneyland. Take a look at the 5 which does border Disneyland property. I think that the hotel is around where the blue square is, so maybe the offender is living there.

  12. Spug on 2005-02-01 14:12:02 wrote: *Surprise Surprise, have any of you gone beyond the borders of the happiest place on earth and seen anaheim? *

  13. Adam Villani on 2005-02-01 14:18:57 wrote: I believe these maps don’t show the exact location of the sex offenders’ residences, and are just approximations. Also keep in mind that “sex offender” includes everyone from flashers or people caught having sex in a park to rapists. Also, there’s a very strong correlation between the dots we see on the map and general population density. It also seems to correlate with economic factors, too. OC south of the 55 is much less dense and also, generally wealthier. Adam

  14. Chris on 2005-02-01 14:35:59 wrote: well..i’ve heard some sex offenders might not be so severe..For example in some states if someone is goin to the bathroom in public, they might be convicted for indecent exposure. So on the bo0ks, a simple mismplaced pee, results in sex offender status.

  15. Defamer on 2005-02-01 15:15:19 wrote: In Search Of… A Haven Safer Than The Magic Kingdom When we saw this map of the sex-offender danger lurking perilously close to Disneyland, we wondered if the Megan’s Law website could help us find a safer place in California…

  16. Markus on 2005-02-01 15:21:34 wrote: I think the sex offender in Disneyland is Captain Hook!

  17. flaime on 2005-02-01 15:38:53 wrote: *A point to make…the blue dots are pixel size…The map is not related to scale in pixels (it would be larger, if it were). Also, note that there are 18,507 registered sex offenders living in LA. Theres 3.5 million people in LA city limits, and 10 or so Million in the LA Metro area. odds are that most people will never meet on of these registered individuals. *

  18. Jim on 2005-02-01 17:43:14 wrote: Actually, with 18k offenders and 13m people the odds are quite good that people will meet at least one of the offenders. Thats just 1 in 1000.

  19. Andrew Cholakian on 2005-02-01 17:55:51 wrote: I can assure, as someone who’s been there, that raising kids in newport is an all around bad idea.

  20. Anne Raine on 2005-02-01 18:44:47 wrote: *Oh Please! What an inane boogie man game. If parents put the same resources into insuring their children were being carefully cared for, and informed about proper boundries with strangers, friends, or family and accordinly trained as to their responses to anyone who violates those boundries, no one would have time to make a bunch of dots around disneyland. As a youngster I learned the difference between things we have some control over (ourselves) and those things, or people over which we have no control! Teach your children well! *

  21. matthew on 2005-02-02 07:14:10 wrote: *“no one would have time to make a bunch of dots around disneyland.” nerd alert! nerd alert! actually, the ‘bunch of dots around disneyland’ were most likely generated dynamically via gis. so it took about as much time as typing this comment in. oh! we’re done. nerd alert! nerd alert! and why are you drawing lines between educating ourselves about our neighborhoods and protecting our children? *

  22. on 2005-02-02 12:05:23 wrote: You can search for yourself and zoom in on Disneyland (do a search for zipcode 92803). Once zoomed in far enough you can even click on the blue dot and get a complete bio of the offender in question. All the offenders nearby Disneyland that I clicked on had child molestation charges. Pretty creepy.

  23. SFist on 2005-02-02 15:15:59 wrote: Anaheim or San Francisco: Which is Safer for the Children? So we’re cruising Defamer today for pretty, young gossip, and we stumble across a map of Anaheim, centered on Disneyland, from the Megan’s Law Database via southland blogger Flagrant Disregard. Even we were a bit shocked and saddened. But then we th…

  24. Anon on 2005-02-02 15:43:46 wrote: The comment about educating yourselves…I’m sure the person meant to articulate that instead of being AFRAID all the time about child molesters and a zillion other things, it might be better to take a level-headed approach and talk with your children about what they should do if someone were to aproach them on the playground or on their way to or from school. Oh wait, scratch that. Nobody lets their kids play at a playground anymore, or lets them walk to and from school because the world is just SO FULL of danger. Gosh, I miss my childhood – we walked by a house a block from the school where an alleged child molester lived. We all knew if he came near us, we were to run away. We weren’t afraid. It was really no big deal. Meanwhile, my best friend’s dad was forcing himself on her.

  25. Anne on 2005-02-02 18:42:35 wrote: *The comment by Anon posted today at 3:43, interpreting the meaning of my post from yesterday, was entirely correct. I might add that his comment, unlike mine, was made with great sensitvity and diplomacy. I too, was raised at a time, when kids walked home from school,went to public playgrounds, and rode their bikes to the public library or the ice cream shop to meet their friends. To believe that child molesters and sex offenders were not around during those years is absurd! There were probably as many during the 1950’s, in relation to the population, that there are today. Like memorizing the alphabet, my mother required my sister and I to recite with specificity what we would do in hundreds of scenarios. If a man walks up to you……..or drives up to you…………or calls on the phone………..or goes to your school……….or invites you into his house……..and he says this………or he says that……….or he does this…………..or he does that………WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO??? Her training paid off a number of times but my earliest memory was when I was 5 and my sister 8. We were walking our bikes to a gas station 1/2 block from home to put air in the tires, when a big black car pulled along side of us and opened the passenger door to ask us directions to a certain street. We had been trained not to take a step toward the car, maintaining a distance where we could not be grabbed, and to be extremely alert. Within a moment or two we saw that the driver had his pants down over his knees and his penis was exposed. In that instance, we were trained to drop our bikes and run to the nearest people and tell them what had happened. That is exactly what we did as the man sped off. We had also been trained that when possible to record the license number, which, on that occassion we could not do so safely. We were warned of strangers, friends, family members, teachers and even priests. And yet we were not fearful, nor would anyone descibe us as distrustful or stand-offish. We had simply been informed about evil people and the evil things they “could” do to us, if we did not know how to react. One last point, what does a parent plan to do with all the information on a map? Drive your children around and point out the houses where they live? That is ludicrous! And finally, I applaude Anon’s statement regarding his/her best friend’s dad forcing himself on his daughter because statistically, more children are molested by family and friends than by strangers. But hey!, if those dots around disneyland make it easier for you to sleep at night - go for it! *

  26. Disneylandguy on 2005-02-03 12:49:27 wrote: *Maybe everyone should stop talking. I’M the offender in disneyland, and I preferr to be referred to as R2D2. I mean, honestly, people- do you really think that George Lucas cares about tinkerbell?? The feds MADE me move here. *

  27. rcs on 2005-02-03 22:16:43 wrote: I think perhaps the comments made by Anne(see#20) are most inciteful and perceptive…she must be very wise!!

  28. Anon Thinker on 2005-02-05 09:17:04 wrote: Re: the sex offender who lives in Disneyland Did any of you guys see the part of “Blues Brothers” where one of the brothers puts a false address on a government form, and when some police later go to check on him, they discover that his “home address” is Wrigley Field? Do you really believe that no one ever gives false or mistaken information to the government? Just because a sex offender’s supposed address, and the supposed location of that address, are in a government computer, doesn’t mean that everything is accurate. Anyone who believes that government never makes mistakes–what’s wrong with some of you people? :-)

  29. Anne on 2005-02-05 19:31:40 wrote: *Thanks rcs (#27) for your kind remarks. I don’t know that I am wise, but I do possess some knowledge about child molestation and sex offenders. That knowledge derives from my personal training as a child, my experience in training my own two children who are now grown, and years of experience as a public prosector. Without any reservation I can tell you that the very most important thing I know is this: Educate them, train them, prepare them, reherse them, and indeed, make them experts on when and how to react in every conceivable situation imaginable. Then you have empowered them with the ability to protect and defend themselves. I believe it is no less a parental responsibility then providing them with food, shelter, clothing and education. And one quick comment to anon thinker #28. It is a felony crime for any convicted sex offender not to register his true and correct address and phone number within a few days of his or her moving. That law is enforced and prosecuted vigorously, providing a powerful incentive for sex offenders to comply. *

  30. Luddite Robot on 2005-02-08 14:20:15 wrote: I remember a movie, I think it was the Blues Brothers, where a parolee gave his parole officer Wrigley Field as his address. The street address of it, not “Wrigley Field”. If figure this is the same thing.

  31. Observer on 2005-02-08 19:57:59 wrote: I have examined my own community (Fontana) on the Megan’s Law website and must comment that this author’s graphical portrayal (of Fontana) is a mite bit exaggerated. Not to say we don’t have a very real and serious problem. We do. But the graphics here are in error to quite a degree.

  32. GreatLakes on 2005-02-13 02:23:55 wrote: Boy - sucks to be you guys. Ah well - California’s breaking off into the Pacific anyhow, right? ;D

  33. jetflyer on 2005-02-17 18:06:34 wrote: *I am amazed at the continues lack of rational thought by too many Americans these days, especially with regard to the hysteria surrounding registered sex offenders “living near you!” Now someone is actually paranoid about those living “near” Disneyland, as though there proximity to the park makes the danger to your child within the park so much greater. Given the price of admission to the park, and that the overwhelming number of kids in there will be with a parent and closely supervised, not to mention the number of staff and cameras, I don’t think any pervert with that much premeditation would choose this as a place to find victims. Indeed, I wonder what the number of actual attacks within the park actually has been since the place opened, and of those, how many were residents of the local neighborhood, and of those, how many were registered sex offenders? If the answer to that question was Zero, would you feel any safer? I would, however I�d still be afraid of a malfunctioning piece of equipment or poorly trained ride operator. I�ll bet more people have been killed or maimed at the park than molested. Do you people even stop for second of reflection before regurgitating a thought? I’ll bet that a more frequent crime within the park is thievery - pick pockets, car break-ins, etc. That said, I’d be more interested in knowing who the thieves are that live in nearby and want to know what Mr. Eisner is doing to protect my money. I mean, he has a vested interest in making sure that if my wallet gets lifted, it’s by me when I take it out to pay for a $3 bottle of water, or $10 set of friggen mouse ears. Let’s be rationale people. If you actually plan your vacations or days off around where the pervs might live, then you have deeper issues. Comments welcome. Signed, A Registered Sex offender Living (Harmlessly) Near You (and possibly the pilot of your next commercial airliner) *

  34. kittydude on 2005-03-06 16:11:47 wrote: duh,people ,its tigger!!!!

  35. Paul on 2005-03-19 13:51:13 wrote: Ooooohh, R2D2. I never knew. I should have suspected it, with you projecting images of that Leia chic and sucking up that third wheel the way you do. And that cryptic beeping, so only 3PO could really know. And Luke! Did he know?!!! (Of course, he kissed Leia too–and she’s his sister.) Was C3PO in on this too? Oooohh, that droid. All joking aside, I would ask folks to use common sense above all else in defending your children or disabled/dependents/elders against the possibility of sexual abuse. YES, it comes from within the family–as often as outside. And watch out, because often enough it is done to children by other children–even their own siblings. What’s the defense? COMMUNICATION, I can’t stress it enough. You HAVE to talk to your kids about what is OKAY and what is not. That’s the bottom line. And don’t get complacent: “Oh, she’s had self-defense classes. She should be fine.” or “He’s a big boy, they’ll look for someone else.” Not gonna fly folks. It could be ANYONE, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. Being a good parent, a good ally to your children, and a good communicator is your main defense against this and other unfair advantage being taken against them. Do as Anne at #25 says. She is right about this, it happened to my wife as a youngster too…well, worse in fact, and a boy came to her defense. It also happened to her on the school bus, and the driver payed no attention…. The two girls got off early of their stop, and were scolded but would not return to the bus. They went to one of their houses and told parents. Why? Because they were told in advance, what was okay and what was not. This explanation will save your child’s life. Just think of having an eight year old with an STD, or even dead, and you will get my point. Get your kids to talk, by showing THEM that they are VALUABLE and that you care. Be there to defend them, and make sure they know you will be there for them, whatever may happen even if it is out of their control. And thank you to the good parents of the world, I know you may feel alone out there in watching over the most precious people in your life. Take courage, it is working. Even those of you whose children have been violated.

  36. john on 2005-03-22 11:21:09 wrote: In case you’re just finding this, there are some good comments you should read over at The Disney Blog as well.

  37. flagrantdisregard on 2005-03-22 11:36:49 wrote: Sex offenders’ likelihood to repeat crimes debated Some followup information to 18,507 registered sex offenders: Sex offenders’ likelihood to repeat crimes debated, Sex Offenders Lurk Away From Registered Areas, State studies Colorado model for paroling sex offenders….

  38. Concerned Mom on 2005-03-22 15:22:04 wrote: I checked the site for offenders in my neighborhood and was surprised at how many live within a block or two of schools. There’s even one in my mom’s tract that’s directly across the street from the elementary school. He has a view of the Kindergarten playground from his front yard! All of those I looked up have committed crimes against a child under 14. Don’t they have to live a certain distance from schools and playgrounds?!!

  39. Angela on 2005-04-15 00:21:20 wrote: And to think I was just complaining to the husband tonight about the dozen or so offenders in our town, and the very next topic was about what part of OC we could possibly tolerate living in again (really none, as it turns out).

  40. I on 2005-08-02 19:02:51 wrote: dont forget that quite a few of these “sex offenders” are law abiding gay men that are just looking for a piece and get caught with their pants down in some public restroom…doesnt make it any better, but its something to keep in mind….and dont forget about the hookers. maybe we should legalize prostitution and see what happens to the grid…or…….maybe mickey’s a male prostitute and thats what the blue square in disneyland is…..

  41. wusscookie on 2005-08-07 01:28:59 wrote: I lived in L.A. most of my life, and alot of you have good theories. H E L L O ! The Disney area is popular because there are lots and lots of excited children caught up in fantasy, along with haggared parents and alot of chaos. Ever try to locate someone you lost near the magic kingdom. By the time any authorities can be located, the child………..

  42. Foobar on 2005-08-09 13:19:58 wrote: Just know that the majority on that list are from minor offenses dating back 20+ or more. Many on the list should not be on the list. But given the unconstinutionality of it, I wonder why murderers, thieves and drug pushers (who sell drugs to children) are not listed? Instead, you get some guy who boned his 17 year old girlfriend when he was 18. Or that stupid 43 year old who download some pic from a friend of someone under the age of 18. If folks realized how easy it is to be branded a sex offender, these laws would change quick. www.sohopeful.org www.sosen.org

  43. Darrell on 2005-08-26 21:06:21 wrote: what’s with the witch hunt honestly people it’s like closing the gate after the horse got out. we here in america are so hung up about sex it’s a shame. what we need is a little more education and compassion. there are some serious issues going on here and pasting some guy or girls name and picture all over the internet is not addressing the real problem. i’m not saying i have the answers but as a sex offender who has paid his debt to society and just trying to get on with life, i find it extremely insulting that you have to know who i am i am no threat to you or your children child molesters have problems of their own i know mine are different but we all need to be a little more understood to get a grip on this age old occurance. these are very deepseated issues that aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh but i do go on thanks for listening

  44. The Teresa Egg on 2005-09-05 02:32:39 wrote: ck. Perhaps if you tried to be a decent person and sought therapy before you acted you might have learned what dignity and honor are about. By your boo hooing it is apparent that you have not even tried to explore the consequences of your actions. Try to become what you want people to see and perhaps things will change. Be very glad that I was not the first person to discover your secret, rest assured, there would have been an ambulance involved. You playing the victim here is unsettling, I detected no remorse or conscience. Yep, be very glad that I wasn’t the first person…you pathetic little victim