10 weeks after Hurricane Katrina and more than a month after Governor Perry requested the information, FEMA has finally seen fit to provide Texas with the list of Louisiana registered sex offenders. Well done FEMA -- 70 days and 4 possibly preventable sexual assaults later.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 15, 2005
Texas gets list of sex offenders
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN - Weeks after they first demanded the information, state officials on Monday received the names of registered Louisiana sex offenders who sought federal disaster assistance in Texas, officials said.
Texas has been urgently seeking the names so it can provide them to law enforcement agencies around the state -- and potentially prevent sex crimes.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security late Monday provided the computerized information to the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.
"We're pleased that we finally got the information that will help Texas try and ensure the safety of its residents from sex offenders who were registered in Louisiana," Walt said. She said the state would have to analyze the information before determining how many sex offenders are here.
Texas, using its own resources, had already determined there were at least 140, but officials expect there are more than that. Since Katrina prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people to Texas from Louisiana, at least four men who described themselves as storm evacuees have been charged with sex crimes -- including the aggravated sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl in Richardson.
Officials have pressed federal authorities for the information for weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency refused to provide a list of all evacuees who signed up for help here, citing federal privacy laws.
They reached a compromise by agreeing to check the names of disaster aid beneficiaries against a list of known Louisiana sex offenders, and then give Texas the names of those who match. But the process dragged on for weeks, and became a major source of tension between Perry and FEMA. Two weeks ago, Perry sent a blistering letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA. The governor told the Star-Telegram last week that FEMA's failure to quickly provide the data stemmed either from a managerial problem or "just total ineptitude."
Chertoff, in a letter to Perry on Nov. 9, said he believed the matter had "been resolved," though officials, including the governor, emphasized that it had not been. In a hand-written postscript, Chertoff said he would like to handle disputes "informally" in the future.
"I'm sorry I learned about your letter through a press release instead of through a phone call," Chertoff wrote.
Jay Root, (512) 476-4294 [email protected]
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