Sex Offender Checks Quick; Deputies Can't Enter Homes

CLEVELAND - From the beginning when bodies were first discovered on Imperial Avenue, questions have lingered about whether police missed obvious clues.

Much of the controversy centers on a Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputy who checked on Anthony, a registered sex offender and suspect in the 11 slayings, in late September.

NewsChannel5's Duane Pohlman went along with another deputy checking other sex offenders to reveal a program that is limited by the law and overwhelming in numbers.

Deputy Rodney Blanton knocks on a lot of doors. He is one of just two deputies in Cuyahoga County who check to see if sex offenders are where they're supposed to be.

With 3,600 sex offenders in the county, the routine home visits are quick, some lasting just 15 to 30 seconds.

A little more than a month before the grisly discoveries on Imperial Avenue, another deputy conducted the same quick check on Sept. 22 at the home of Sowell.

"He was there. 'I live here.' Good enough. So, it would have probably been a 30-second verification, just like you witnessed this morning," said Detective Susan DeChant, of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.

Since sex offender laws don't allow the deputy to enter the home, the deputy didn't report anything unusual. If he did, detective said they would have investigated.

"Absolutely, there would have been a report done and there would have been more investigation on it," said DeChant.

But, with thousands of sex offenders, there's no time to check anything other than an address, and the notion that the quick visit to Sowell's home should have caught him in the act is simply not realistic, detectives say.

"It's not going to stop an offender from reoffending, if that's what they're going to do," said DeChant.

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