KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasQuestions About Nevada's Sex Offender Registry
Fernando Aguero is in jail in Mexico Friday afternoon accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a little girl from Fernley in northern Nevada.
Aguero was a registered sex offender in California but when he moved to Nevada he didn't register. And that is raising questions about our system.
The little girl is home with her family after police found the pair in a homeless shelter near Tijuana, Mexico. But questions about this case linger.
Critics and supporters of the state's sex offender registry will tell you it has an inherent flaw. It's only as reliable as the people on it. Websites listing predator information are no different, proven yet again by the case of Fernando Aguero -- a wanted man paraded like a trophy for the media.
After seven days on the run Mexican police arrest Fernando Aguero and re-unite his 8-year-old victim with her mother. Aguero is a convicted sex offender from California and under its laws he should appear on its sex offender website.
Officials in California won't comment on a specific case, but tell Eyewitness News offenders are removed from the database when they notify law enforcement they plan to leave the jurisdiction -- whether they actually leave or not.
Toni Pedley, with the Children's Advocacy Alliance, said, "If California, and any other state in the nation, would keep them on their website, at least until any other state that they are moving to, at least until they are notified by the state that they say they're moving to, that they're in compliance that would be a help."
Aguero failed to register as a sex offender in Nevada and absent from California's site he left no trail. His victim's mother had no way to investigate Aguero's criminal history and law enforcement had no knowledge of his arrival in Fernley.
Major Bob Wideman, with the Nevada Department of Public Safety, said, "The issue is supervision. The sex offender registry process is not the same as supervising the whereabouts of sex offenders. It simply doesn't do that."
Instead, the system relies on the sex offenders themselves to provide information. Fernando Aguero is just one of thousands nationwide who don't.
The Internet website should probably have a disclaimer. It can be a valuable tool but it is not fail safe. The offender listed in your neighborhood may no longer be there. And someone else you've never heard of may have taken his place.
