More than a dozen sex offenders in Pettis County were found to not be in compliance with a Missouri State Statute on Halloween.

During “Operation Lights Out”, a release from Pettis County Sheriff Brad Anders says:

The Pettis County Sheriff’s Office ran four teams of two for its compliance checks outside of the city limits. He said he and Pettis County Prosecutor Phillip Sawyer handled the residential homes (Four Seasons and Pettis County Assisted Living) in the county as well as Hughesville and Houstonia. Major Rowe and Captain Simons handled Green Ridge and some of the Windsor addresses, Sergeant Long and Sgt. Cline handled south Pettis County, and Deputy M. Dehaven and Deputy Asbury handled Smithton and a portion of north central Pettis County to include Dresden and La Monte.

The Sedalia Police Department handled everything within the city limits with two teams of two with some assistance from other officers. These officers were Officer Schnell, Officer Pappert, Officer Cherry, Officer Overstreet and Officer Marshall.

The two agencies checked on all 70 offenders that met the criteria outlined in the Missouri Statute and Missouri Supreme Court rulings. Out of those 70, 15 were found to be noncompliant. Noncompliance issues encountered ranged from not being home, not turning off the light or posting a sign, or just being nonchalant about these requirements.

Anders says: “It was extremely helpful to have our prosecutor with us during this first joint operation, and he had some excellent advice and guidance that helped make this operation run a bit more smoothly. Warrant applications and probable-cause statements will be forwarded to his office this week for all 15 sex offenders who chose to not comply.”