State probation officials will investigate how many sex offenders were not evaluated to see if they should be labeled as sexually violent predators.
The Denver Post reported Sunday that the state Justice Division received copies of only 250 evaluations of convicted sex offenders who met initial criteria based on their crimes. But according to state computer records, more than 1,300 met those qualifications. Only two people not in prison have been identified as sexually violent predators in Colorado since the law requiring the evaluations went into effect in 1999.
Twice-convicted serial child molester Bret Ibsen was not evaluated to determine if he should be identified as a predator. The former coach confessed to molesting 10 children, including members of his team.
Once a person is identified as a sexually violent predator, officials notify that person’s neighbors directly and hold meetings about the offender. Otherwise, residents must obtain information about registered offenders by going to the police or a sheriff’s office.
The Adams County probation department did not have the evaluation done in Ibsen’s case because the judge did not order a pre-sentence report, said Mike Garcia, chief probation officer for Adams County.
Thomas Quinn, director of probation services for the State Court Administrator’s Office, said Tuesday he will meet with his staff to determine if there were other similar cases.
“That would be a gap we would have to close,” Quinn said Tuesday.
Quinn said the data about the sexually-violent-predator evaluations are not readily accessible, and he does not know how many were performed.
Kim English, research director for the Colorado Justice Division, has said she has received only about 250 copies of evaluations from probation officers. She was unsure whether some reports were completed but not forwarded to her.
The Colorado Department of Corrections, which is required to perform the evaluations before certain sex offenders are paroled, had not done any of them until contacted by The Post. The department is now performing the evaluations on eight sex offenders.
Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, said corrections officials contacted the governor two weeks ago and committed to evaluating all sex offenders who had been missed.
The governor was also worried about any evaluations the probation office should be doing on the front end before sentencing but isn’t, he said.
“It is clearly concerning, but it’s not something the governor has any control over,” Hopkins said, adding that the probation department is under the jurisdiction of the court administrator’s office.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said he will investigate whether new legislation is needed to fix the problem.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
