SAN ANTONIO – There are approximately 3,500 sex offenders living in Bexar County and the San Antonio Police Department is responsible for keeping tabs on 3,000 of those offenders.
The department has an entire unit of officers and detectives dedicated to making sure the offenders are registered and following the rules.
Some of those offenders are homeless, making it even harder for officers to keep track of them.
Detective Rodolfo Gomez spends his days visiting the homes of registered sex offenders. He is responsible for keeping track of 750 offenders in his area of town.
"About 90 percent of them follow the rules, we've got that 10 percent that we have issues with," Gomez said. "My monthly average is anywhere from three to five cases a month for violations."
Most home visits take Gomez just a few minutes to verify that the offender is living there and following the rules.
Gomez has to work a little harder when his offenders are homeless.
"Once they're up and gone it's pretty difficult to find them," Gomez said.
With no place to go, some offenders end up listing Haven for Hope's Prospect Courtyard as their address.
On a recent visit 61 offenders were calling the courtyard home.
Due to their crimes, the sex offenders are only allowed to stay on the courtyard side of the Haven for Hope campus. They are not allowed to access areas where children and families live.
On his frequent visits Gomez checks a database to see who's really been staying there.
"Anything they do, they swipe their card for it, so it shows that they're on campus," Gomez said. "The ones that show the big gaps or breaks in service or being on campus, those are the ones that I start an investigation on."
Homeless offenders are required to register every 30 days to prove they are still staying in the same geographical area they registered under.
At Haven for Hope Gomez finds a few that set off red flags.
"I''ve got two that are definitely in violation and one that I've got to go back and do some more investigation on," Gomez said.
Of the 13 offenders Gomez checked on this visit, one man hasn't been on campus in 35 days, another appears to have vanished after just one visit.
"He came in once, had dinner and that was it," Gomez said.
After doing some checking, Gomez discovers one of the men had lost his ID badge and was using a temporary ID that didn't show his activities. He was issued a new ID.
Another offender, Lemmie Taylor, wasn't living at the courtyard but he did still show up for his required 30 day registration.
He was arrested on Oct. 16, for violation of sex offender registration. He failed to re-register after moving in with a girlfriend. He was reportedly living at the woman's apartment, which doesn't allow sex offenders.
Taylor is now in the Bexar County jail.
Gomez has some more work to do to track down the other missing offender.
Tommy Bustos stopped showing up to the courtyard and now has an active warrant for his arrest for violation of sex-offender registration with a previous conviction.
His whereabouts are currently unknown but Gomez believes it's a matter of time before he comes into contact with police and is picked up on the warrant.
That's exactly what happened this summer when 22-year-old David Flores failed to check in.
He said he was living at the courtyard but he hadn't been there in weeks.
Gomez eventually tracked him down and Flores was put back in jail.
Gomez credits Haven for Hope for their cooperation in helping him keep track of homeless offenders.
"It's a very good relationship and I'm glad that it's there and they help us out tremendously," Gomez said. "These guys are continuously being checked."
