Among the thousands of people evacuated from New Orleans and later dispersed across the country are 4,500 registered sex offenders who authorities have no way to trace and are asking to voluntarily call in and report their whereabouts.

At the time of the hurricane, parole officers in New Orleans were supervising 13,973 people, including the 4,500 sex offenders. Due to records being destroyed in the flooding, the Department of Corrections may not know who most of them are, much less where they are.

Pam Laborde, a spokesperson for the department, said of the 4,500 sex offenders -- including prostitutes and video voyeurs -- the department is most concerned about 300 who were required to regularly visit parole offices now closed by Katrina.

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The department set up a toll-free number it hopes that any evacuee on probation or parole will call to register their current location (1-800-342-6110). Some states that have accepted Katrina evacuees have begun running background checks on their newest residents.

Laborde said that shelters and communities that have evacuees could also check names against the National Sex Offender Public Registry or the Louisiana State Police Sex Offender/Child Predator Search.

Florida recently passed a law that requires registered sex offenders to report to local jails, instead of shelters, during a hurricane. Louisiana has no such law, and probably won't have until they build a jail above sea level in New Orleans.

See Also:
Registered Sex Offenders Among Evacuees
Where Are Evacuated Sex Offenders, Other Criminals?

Background:
Locate Sex Offenders
Identifying Sex Offenders