The East Valley Tribune reported that a Chandler, AZ man is threatening a $200,000 defamation suit against the City of Chandler and the Chandler Police Department for erroneously notifying his neighbors that a registered sex offender was living in his home.
Apparently Kurtis Hamady, an acquaintance and convicted sex offender, listed Chad Tow’s address as his own.
Naturally, Mr. Tow is a wee bit miffed.
Most people seem to appreciate the sex offender registries. (Though if you read the comments in this post I made last August, clearly not everyone is enamored with sex offender registries.)
Mr. Tow’s situation however, certainly demonstrates one of the problems that these types of “public disclosure systems” can create.
All I know is what is printed in the Tribune piece. From that, it seems fairly easy to draw a conclusion that a better address verification system needs to be in place.
Many people are under the impression that home sellers in Arizona have to disclose the fact that a registered sex offender lives near them.
This is not the case.
From the Arizona Association of Realtors Seller Property Disclosure Statement (SPDS):
Please note: By law, sellers are not obligated to disclose that the property is or has been: (1) the site of a natural death, suicide, homicide, or any other crime classified as a felony; (2) owned or occupied by a person exposed to HIV, or diagnosed as having AIDS or any other disease not known to be transmitted through common occupancy of real estate; or (3) located in the vicinity of a sex offender. However, the law does not protect a seller who makes an intentional misrepresentation. For example, if you are asked whether there has been a death on the property and you know that there was such a death, you should not answer “no” or “I don’t know”; instead you should either answer truthfully or respond that you are not legally required to answer the question.
So, if it concerns you that a registered sex offender may be living near a home you are purchasing, do not rely on the seller to tell you! As with anything, you should perform your “due diligence” and check this out yourself.
You can search for registered sex offenders in Arizona at this site: State of Arizona Sex Offender InfoCenter (note, the site I mentioned in last August’s post linked above appears to be off-line).
If you are not in Arizona, you can probably find your states sex offender registry by Googling “Statename sex offender registry”. Or find your state’s link on this site (I have not confirmed that all 50 links work..)
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The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
I don't know what the policy is there but in Albuquerque as long as they are on probation (sex offenders or anyone else for that matter) the probation department makes a home visit to verify they are living there. Of course this doesn't help in the case of a registered sex offender who is not currently on probation. I agree that an address verification system needs to be in place or what good is the registry doing?
I have mixed feelings about the registry.
While I think that it's important to be aware (accurately) of the nearby sex offenders, a buyer shouldn't feel a false sense of security. If you check the registry and don't find one nearby, it means very little.
I hate to be negative but I have 3 children and can't be lulled into a sense of safety just because no one comes up on the registry. It only registers those we KNOW about. For all you know, your next door neighbor is a sex offender – just hasn't been caught yet.
@Ashley – I *think* they make home visits here for certain "levels", but can't really keep up with it all.
@Linsey – *fabulous* point. I don't think it was negative at all, it was spot on!
You know: I’ve only had one client (since I started in 1994) ask me how they can determine if a sex offender (registered) lives in or near the home they were considering. And as it turns out, there were 3 within normal walking distance. So, you just never know until you do your ‘due diligence’ as a potential home buyer.
Great point you made here Jay:
“As with anything, you should perform your “due diligence” and check this out yourself.”
Matt Pellerin – Realtor
I can definetely see why Mr. Tow was upset but not sure if it's worth $200,000 dollars. After all police are doing there best to protect and serve all including his household and family. All police departments should enact a sex offender check and balance system that travels through several confirmation stages before posting info to the world. I would go after the acquaitance!
@Matt – I think we've had two inquire about sex offenders. How many researched it on their own, who knows. (It may have only been one, definitely not three…)
@FWH – $200K seems excessive, though putting a value (or cost) on something like this is difficult. I agree *completely* it was far more the fault of the "acquaintance"!
My son just was releast forserving one year in jail after serving as a sex offender he's a leveal one sex offender im not saying its right for what he did cuz its not,but im just stating that they are human to no matter what they have done god forgives and so must we,but any ways what im trying to say is that thay all need places to live at to. You just cant leave them on the street to do it again, Some need medication and heck all of them need some counceling,my son regreats what has happen and has to live with it for the rest of his life,but we are haven a had time trying to find a place for him to live and cant stay with family cuz we all have kids.please if anyone can help me do so and thank god bless you …………………………………..mother sad in az
i wonder how many of you are supposedly christians that are judging and desiring suffering on people who had a past of a sex offence. you know jesus died for every sinner. but as long as you hang on to your hate you will be not in gods house. as a matter of fact sex offenders will be in heaven and you will be in hell forever. at least sex offenders only have to live in this hell temporarily is forgiven. not all sex offenders need to be treated this way. what will you do when one of your family members get caught? most sex offences happen by reletives.
these laws are wrong and you that hate people of any kind will burn in hell.sex offenders cannot even go to church where church is for sinners not the perfect in society. judge not lest ye be judged.unfortunately the scarlet letter placed on these individuals endangers you and your kids more instead of rehabilitation and support. registries have the opposite effect of helping. all this put on the sex offenders causes problems in thier life that can cause reoffence or even a act of mass murder. see how rediculous this is? its pretty bad when someone is treated like a pariah that molests a kid but someone who murders a kid and does not molest them is not treated as bad. god bless you and good luck, you'll need it sooner or later.
Police should check everything what concerns the crime. And I think they do right to protect inhabitants from sex offenders. Sometimes we don't even pay attention to our neighbors, and even don't know who they are. Perhaps they are the very same sex offenders. And we live next door to the criminals.