22 ‘transient’ sex offenders arrested after 6-week crackdown in Fort Lauderdale

For six weeks, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have gone after sex offenders who have not complied with the law.

On Tuesday, the departments came together to announce the arrest off 22 offenders. Those arrested were considered transient offenders, because they registered an intersection rather than a specific address.

“These are folks who register as transient and pick an area that the ordinance allows them to register and live in but obviously they weren’t staying there,” said Fort Lauderdale Chief of Police Rick Maglione at a press conference Tuesday. “Although the operation is concluding, we are going to continue to investigate and pursue these types of individuals.

‘Transient’ sex offenders are those who don’t have permanent addresses and register a specific intersection instead, which is allowed by the state. They are mandated by law to check in every 30 days.

But police say that does not always happen.

In some cases, sex offenders end up living in neighborhoods without attracting attention.

Barry Golden, from the U.S. Marshals Services, told reporters at a news conference that sex offenders often skirt the law — which restricts where sex offenders can live — by registering as a transient.

“So it gives them the freedom to move around the county and basically not be monitored by law enforcement,” he said.

Although the operation ended, police said more arrests may be forthcoming.

Miami Herald news partner CBS4 contributed to this report.

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 7:11 PM with the headline "22 ‘transient’ sex offenders arrested after 6-week crackdown in Fort Lauderdale."