Allen County is home to more than 410 registered sex offenders, and every time one of them moves, state law requires that person to notify police.
“Consistently, we have in the neighborhood of 50 or more address changes monthly,” said Cpl. Mike Smothermon, a detective who tracks sex offenders for the sheriff’s department. “People just don’t realize how often these moves take place. They don’t know who’s moving in or out of their neighborhood.”
For those residents who want to know, there is a way. The county’s sex-offender website lets people enroll to receive email alerts when an offender moves within a certain distance of their home.
“We want to get the word out that this is a free feature,” Smothermon said. “All you have to do is sign up for it.”
About 4,100 people receive the email alerts, which represents a little more than 3 percent of households in the county. Smothermon, who fears that most residents don’t know about the service, has been campaigning to boost enrollment, including distributing fliers to county employees and asking neighborhood associations to help spread the word.
In August, the website gained 75 new registrations for email alerts. September saw 96, October 50 and November 111. In December, registrations spiked to 339, a number that Smothermon credits to the Aliahna Lemmon case.
“It’s one example of something positive that can come from tragedy,” he said.
Aliahna, 9, lived north of Fort Wayne in a mobile home park that 15 sex offenders called home when she was reported missing Dec. 23. After her disappearance, investigators checked with those offenders, and they were cleared of any involvement.
Aliahna’s baby sitter, Michael Plumadore, who was not a registered sex offender, later admitted to killing and dismembering the girl, authorities said. Plumadore, who does not yet have a trial date, faces charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a body from the scene of a violent or suspicious death. He is set for a hearing Feb. 27 in Allen Superior Court.
Ellen Bero, who lives in the Woodhurst neighborhood on Fort Wayne’s south side, said Aliahna’s death prompted her to visit the county’s sex-offender website.
“Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone living in Woodhurst itself that was on the list,” she said.
Bero, 56, did find a few offenders residing near a school bus stop where she takes her great-nephew, a preschooler.
“Yes, it did concern me, but I also wait for him until he gets on the bus,” she said.
Bero, who does not have children, has not signed up for the email alerts, but she believes they would be a handy tool for parents wanting to look out for their kids’ safety.
When registering for the alerts, users of the county’s site can create a radius of a quarter-mile, half-mile, 1 miles or 2 miles around an address, and if an offender moves into that area, an email is sent. That email gives the offender’s name and address, along with a link to the site, which provides a mug shot and more details.
Smothermon noted that users can also ask for email updates about changes in the home, work and school addresses of a specific offender. This is particularly useful for victims and their families who want to avoid running into an offender, the detective said.
While the “vast majority” of Allen County’s sex offenders register their addresses with authorities, Smothermon said, some are scofflaws. In 2011, county police arrested 37 people for failing to register.
Offenders who are not following registration laws are listed on the county’s sex-offender site as “non-compliant.” As of Saturday, six people fell into that category.
The county’s site is part of a larger system that tracks offenders throughout the state. The software is paid for by the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association, a non-profit group, Smothermon said.
Local residents have been able to receive email alerts about offenders since Allen County’s site was established in 2006. Compared with other Indiana counties, Smothermon said, the 3.14 percent of Allen County households that are signed up for email alerts is second only to Hancock County, east of Indianapolis, with 3.15 percent.
Kent Hirschelman, who lives in the Dells of Bittersweet neighborhood near Homestead Road, said he checked Allen County’s sex-offender site awhile back and was surprised by the number of offenders in Fort Wayne.
“We should be more aware of that site and checking it to see what’s around,” said Hirschelman, a board member of his neighborhood association.
The association’s blog has a message on it from Cpl. Smothermon promoting the email alerts, but Hirschelman, 63, is not sure he’s going to sign up.
“I get over a hundred emails a day,” he said. “I don’t need any more.”
