Sexual and Violent Offender Registry Roundup in Billings [YouTube]

Montana law enforcement agencies conducted an intensive compliance check in Billings from June 23 through June 26, with the goal of locating offenders who aren’t in compliance with Montana’ s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox explained the need for the compliance checks.

"Under Montana law, we have a system of ranking violent and sexual offenders," Fox said. "Tier I and non-designated sex offenders must verify address once per year, Tier II sex offenders must verify address every 180 days and Tier III (the most dangerous) sex offenders must verify address every 90 days."

Fox said the roundup was successful in bringing offenders into compliance.

"During the operation 233 offender address verifications were conducted, 17 known non-compliant offenders were brought into compliance, 24 people were found to be non-compliant, 5 arrests were made (4 probation violation, 1 outstanding arrest warrant) and 1 runaway / missing person found at an offender’s residence," he said.

The Billings Police Department, the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, the Montana Department of Corrections, federal probation authorities, and the U.S. Marshals Service participated in the operation.

A similar operation was held in the Missoula area in May.