Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
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Debbie Dujanovic ReportingProducer: Kelly Just
It seems nobody wants a sex offender in their back yard. How about six? How about 10? An Eyewitness News Investigation uncovers groups of Utah sex offenders living together.
We found offenders living under the same roof and in clusters all over the city. We've mapped some of them out -- 2100 south and 200 east, along 200 south at 1300 east, another at 425 east, plus one at 300 south and 400 east.
We take you undercover, inside the problem. Wait until you see who's letting it happen?
This woman's too scared to show her face, but wants you to know what's happening at her Salt Lake City apartment complex.
Woman: "There's one next door, there's one upstairs, there's one downstairs, so there's four; and in one there's two of them."
Another woman told us she and her son stay secluded inside their apartment.
Reporter: "So what do you do all day?"
Mom: "I just stay in the house. Do nothing really, just take care of my son inside."
She can't afford to break her lease, she's stuck. We found the same thing happening throughout the city, over and over again: Seven offenders live in an apartment next to the University of Utah.
Carol Comish, Concerned Mother: "There are kids who live in that building, that's kind of scary."
Our search of court records and public documents turned up 11 other Salt Lake apartment complexes with multiple sex offenders. We found one with nine, six in another building, two places with four offenders each. Five times, we found offenders sharing an apartment.
We took a hidden camera inside several of these places to find out what new renters are being told. Posing as a student, our producer asks a lot of questions.
Producer: "So what can you tell me about the place?"
Manager: "A quiet place, a good place."
Manager 2: "They're safe. A lot of good people here."
Producer: "Is it a good, safe building?"
Manager: "Yeah, try to keep it that way."
Manager 2: "I'm a family values building and I don't want any riff raff. It's a good environment in here."
Manager 3: "We got all kinds of people, but most of them are just sweeter than hell and that."
None of the landlords either knew about or wanted to talk about the number of sex offenders in their buildings. And, we found out, some of these offenders should not be living together. Offenders still on parole or probation must follow strict rules
We've obtained a copy. It says they're not supposed to associate with other felons. Is the state of Utah breaking its own rules?
When we called to ask that question a curious thing happened, almost immediately, sex offenders on our list were finding new places to live. One parolee who had state permission to live with another offender told us out of the blue, he was forced to move out fast or face prison. Officials told him it was because of public outcry."
We sat down with the man in charge of Adult Probation and Parole. Apparently, all the moving around was just a coincidence.
William Fowlke, Director/Adult Probation & Parole: "It was just a review of our system, a review of our supervision and felt like that was probably the right thing to do."
If separating them is the right thing to do now, why were they allowed to associate in the first place?
William Fowlke: "It's only with the permission of the agent that association occurs."
That's right, the state's been taking full advantage of a loophole. The rule says offenders cannot associate without the approval of an AP & P officer, approval officers have been giving.
William Fowlke: "It's an exception. It's an exception"
We found this "exception" at a dozen complexes in just 14 Salt Lake zip codes.
Psychologist Dr. CY Roby established Utah's sex offender treatment program and has been dealing with sex offenders for two decades.
Dr. C.Y. Roby/Clinical Psychologist: "We don't want them to have that kind of contact because where you've got groups of offenders together, sometimes they end up engaging in behaviors they shouldn't."
One parolee, a sex offender, told us that's exactly what's happening with at his complex. He lives among several state supervised sex offenders.
Because there are so few places sex offenders can afford to live, the state says it has to sign off on them living together. As for the residents who feel outnumbered? The state says they should've done more online research.
"The tenants are notified through the registry itself. Any citizens can go to the registry and find out who's living in their area."
But that online registry changes all the time. Since we started our investigation, two of the clusters have grown to 10-sex offenders each.
Our search of the Utah Sex Offender Registry revealed a dozen different apartment complexes with multiple sex offenders. Here's the complete list of those locations.
1310 East 200 South
938 East 300 South
445 East 300 South
425 East 200 South
376 East 300 South
312 South 400 East
756 South 200 East
1712 South 840 East
2015 South - 2025 South; 200 East
218 East Edith Ave. (approx. 1250 South)
275 East Westminster (approx. 1900 South)
25 West Burton (2360 South)
