Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

I would like your advice on a difficult situation. From the mid 1970's through the early 1980's my father-in-law molested my sister-in-law. When it was found out, he did not go to trial, but took a plea deal. My husband does not know what he was officially charged with. He only knows that he spent 6 months in county jail and 6 months in a half-way house and at both places he was able to leave on work release. For whatever reason, whether it was because he plead to a lesser degree or because it was before Megan's Law came out, he is not a registered sex offender. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law stayed with him up until 9 years ago so I do know that he is still a very dysfunctional person.

We've had very limited contact with my husband's family over the years, but we recently found out that he has moved from living in a rural area to living in an apartment complex of about 100 apartments. This concerns me greatly as he is not a registered sex offender and parents are not aware. My husband and I have been considering contacting the police in his area (he lives 13 hours away from us) with all of the information that we can provide to them so that they can look into his past further and be aware. However, I would like to write to them anonymously because my husband and I do fear him. My husband was physically and emotionally abused by him growing up. This man threatened to kill him as a child and threatened to kill my mother-in-law when she divorced him. I don't want him to be aware that we have been "stirring the pot" after all these years, but it makes me sick to my stomach to think of him possibly hurting another child. There are few people that know about his past so if he became aware that the police knew, I'm sure he would be able to narrow it down to how they found out. Would the police be visiting him if we wrote a letter or would they just keep his name on file for reference or monitor him? Would they take it serious if we wrote an anonymous letter with all the information? Is there anything you would suggest that we include or do? Thank you for your help.

You could write your letter, but I seriously doubt that he would be classified as a sex offender. Since it happened quite some time ago, and the laws, as you have basically stated you know, have changed since then, there is no way to apply todays laws to a crime that was committed so far in the past. Especially once he has paid his debt to society, as determined by the laws at the time. For him to be prosecuted and convicted under todays laws, there would need to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he's committing those crimes in the present or very recent past (since the laws have changed).

If he lives 13 hours away, why do you fear him so much? I can understand wanting people to know of his past, especially a past such as his, but the fear of someone so far away seems to be a touch irrational. I'm just wondering if the escalation of that fear is worth the energy you'd expend stirring the pot on this one. An anonymous letter would hold zero weight legally. If they could spin it right, they could maybe be pointed in a new direction to look at him if there are crimes that fit his modus operandi happening that they are investigating, but that's a long shot.

We're not wanting him to be registered for his past crimes (or even looked into again for his past crimes). We just want the police to be aware that he is there and could be a potential threat to children who live in the building(s). We would only provide the prior information as "proof". We know he paid his debt to society per se, but he's still a very dysfunctional man who shouldn't be trusted around children.

In all honesty, the advice MarinePilot offered is best. Yes, a letter would let the Police Department know about his past activities but other than the slight chance of him becoming a suspect of POSSIBLE recent crimes it would not accomplish much.

Most likely AT MOST they may create a FI card as we call it, basically entering his info in a database in case they have contact with him or a complaint is filed against him the info would already be in thier database.

It won't hurt to send the letter, but I would not expect much when you do.

Thank you both for your help. I'm still undecided if we should send a letter or not. On one hand I would feel better knowing that I gave the police the information that he is there and hopefully they would keep it on file so if something should ever happen, they know to look at him as a possible suspect. I know I can't save the world from him, but I wish I could protect the innocent children that could potentially fall prey to him. Even if they just filed the information away, at least in my heart I would know that I tried.