Makes it a class E felony for a sex offender to submit fraudulent information regarding his or her identity or residence when registering or verifying under the Sex Offender Registration Act (Megan's Law).

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S3532-2013 Actions

• Feb 5, 2013: REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION

S3532-2013 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S3532

TITLE  OF BILL:   An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the
penalty for a sex offender submitting fraudulent information  respecting
his  or her identity or residence or both, when registering or verifying
such information pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act

PURPOSE: Adds a new section to Megan's Law, which creates a penalty  for
offering false information when registering as a sex offender.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section  1:  section  168-w  of the Correction Law is relettered section
166-x and a new section 168-w is added. Under the new section  168-w,  a
sex  offender who is required to register under Megan's Law and submits,
with fraudulent intent, false information respecting  his/her  identity,
residence or both is guilty of an "E" felony.

EXISTING  LAW:  Currently, Megan's Law only provides a penalty for fail-
ure to register (section 168-t of the Correction Law). The first offense
is an "A" misdemeanor and the second or  subsequent  offense  is  a  "0"
felony.   This legislation would create the specific offense of offering
a false statement when registering.

JUSTIFICATION:  In Monroe County, a sex offender  required  to  register
under Megan's Law, circumvented the law by giving a false address to the
registry.

The man who failed to properly register had been previously convicted of
raping  a  Rochester  girl  and  served  three  years  in prison for his
offense. When released from prison, he was given the highest risk rating
possible. He first registered with the sex  offender  registry  in  1996
when  he  was  released  from  prison. It was not discovered that he had
intentionally deceived law enforcement personnel and had broken the  law
until 2001, when his renewal form was returned as undeliverable after it
was sent to the wrong address.

The  object  of Megan's law is to protect public safety by insuring that
people in a neighborhood or community where a sex offender resides after
imprisonment are notified of the potential risk  such  person  poses  to
them  or  their  children.  Also, the registry created under Megan's Law
insures that law enforcement personnel  may  have  dependable  resources
that  allows  them  to  locate  all convicted sex offenders in a region.
Without accurate information  being  given  to  the  registry,  the  law
becomes toothless and unenforceable.

In the case cited above, the sex offender was able to live in a communi-
ty  for  5  years  without  neighbors or the local law enforcement being
notified of the heightened risk. Luckily  no  harm  resulted  while  his
whereabouts were unknown. However, this is a potentially dangerous situ-
ation which should not be tolerated and should be punishable.

In  charging  the  sex  offender, the prosecutor in Monroe County had to
rely on various statutes outside of the registry statute such as  falsi-
fying  business  records  and  offering  a  false instrument for filing.
Although the sex offender was charged with a failure to  register  under
Megan's Law, the first offense as provided by the statute is only an "A"
misdemeanor.

Therefore,  this  legislation  would  insure  that a specific offense is
created within the Corrections Law to deal with the  offering  of  false
information  when  registering  under  Megan's  Law  and insure that the
offender is appropriately punished as a felon.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:   2003-2004: S.120-A  -  Passed  Senate  2005-2006:
S.970  - Passed Senate 2007-2008: S.274 - Passed Senate 2009-2010: S.794
- Referred to Crime Victims, Crime &  Corrections  2011-2012:  S.1927  -
Passed Senate

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE  DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply
to any information submitted by a sex offender after its effective date.

S3532-2013 Text

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
  ________________________________________________________________________

                                    3532

                         2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                              I N  SENATE

                              February 5, 2013
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen. O'BRIEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime  and
    Correction

  AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to the penalty for a sex
    offender submitting fraudulent information respecting his or her iden-
    tity or residence or both, when registering or verifying such informa-
    tion pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act

    THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
  BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


    Section 1. Section 168-w of the correction law, as relettered by chap-
  ter 604 of the laws of 2005, is  relettered  section  168-x  and  a  new
  section 168-w is added to read as follows:

    S  168-W.  SUBMISSION OF FRAUDULENT INFORMATION RESPECTING IDENTITY OR
  RESIDENCE FOR THE PURPOSE OF REGISTRATION OR VERIFICATION; PENALTY.  ANY
  SEX  OFFENDER  REQUIRED  TO  REGISTER  OR  TO  VERIFY  PURSUANT  TO  THE
  PROVISIONS OF THIS ARTICLE WHO, WITH FRAUDULENT  INTENT,  SUBMITS  FALSE
  INFORMATION RESPECTING HIS OR HER IDENTITY OR RESIDENCE OR BOTH, FOR THE
  PURPOSE  OF, OR IN THE COURSE OF, SATISFYING HIS OR HER DUTY TO REGISTER
  OR TO VERIFY PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ARTICLE, SHALL BE GUILTY
  OF A CLASS E FELONY.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately and  shall  apply  to  any
  information submitted by a sex offender on or after such effective date.




   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD06997-01-3