House Bill 658, recently introduced in the Ohio legislature, aims to expand laws requiring notification of the presence of a sexual offender in an area.

A sexual offender is classified under one of three categories: sexual predator, habitual sex offender or sexually-oriented offender. Under current Ohio law, only those who fall under “sexual predator” are subject to community notification.

The new bill calls for community notification of all offenders, no matter what classification.

Rep. Jim Carmichael is the sponsor of House Bill 658. His motivation for developing a more encompassing registration and notification requirement involved an incident in September that shocked people in his district.

A man classified as a sexually oriented offender was released from jail and moved to a small, quiet neighborhood in Wayne County, only to attack again.

His latest victim was a 14-year-old girl who lived within 1,000 feet of the sexual offender, Carmichael said.

She was abducted, raped, killed and dismembered.

“They found her head and limbs without her torso,” Carmichael said.

Now Carmichael is adamant to force all sexual offenders to notify neighbors of their presence in the community.

“Anybody that’s convicted of rape – anybody – has to notify anyone within 1,000 feet,” he said.

The process of notification requires a local prosecutor to provide the offender’s release date to the sheriff’s department of the county. When that date arrives, the offender must report to the sheriff’s office in his jurisdiction and a warrant is issued for his arrest if he does not comply.

“Everyone is notified individually,” Carmichael said.

Each household within 1,000 feet of the offender’s home receives a letter indicating a sexual offender has moved into their neighborhood.

According to Megan’s Law, which was signed by President Clinton in 1996, all states are required to disclose sexual offender information to the public. However, the definition of a sexual predator and their subsequent registration and notification to the public differs by state.

Doug Berman, professor of criminal law, said every state has its own form of registration and notification of sex offenders. He said the notifications challenge the constitution. Versions coming out of Connecticut and California say it is unconstitutional to impose a public disclosure law.

“In a collective sense, it’s valuable to protect the community,” Berman said. “The real challenge is deciding on real limits.”

Chief Steve Martin of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said Columbus residents are notified in two ways.

“We have a Web site and we send letters to the community saying that a sexual predator lives in their geography,” he said.

They send 1,400 to 1,700 letters to families every 90 days. That’s two to three runs to the post office a week, Martin said.