Remembering Zachary's law

Zachary’s Law requires sheriff departments in Indiana to maintain an up-to-date sex offender registry that allows residents to learn about sex offenders living in their community.

Zachary’s law was created in 1994, one year after the molestation and murder of 10 year-old Zachary Snider of Cloverdale. Christopher Stevens, who was convicted earlier that year for child molestation, confessed to the murder and to having previous sexual relations with the boy.

Convicted in Marion County that February, Stevens was sent to live with his father to serve out his probation. The 20 year-old was reportedly seen spending time with the boy, against the wishes of Zachary’s father, who told Stevens to stay away from his son. One month later Zach went missing.

In honor of Zachary’s death, Zachary’s Law was passed to force sex offenders to register with the sheriff’s department of the town in which they are living. They must also notify the police of their principle address and the address of their work or school. If they should leave the county for more than 72 hours, they must also give notification.
 

Stevens was originally sentenced to death row for his crime, but the sentence was postponed due to appeals stating that his court-appointed lawyers were ineffective. In 2007, Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter filed another request to reinstate the original sentence.
 

According to the Allen County Sherriff’s Web site, the registry also consists of two groups, those who must stay on the list for ten years and those who will be on it for the rest of their lives. Those considered sexually violent predators, and those convicted of committing a crime against a victim 12 years of age or younger fall into the latter category and will remain on the list for life.

In Johnson County, a program called the “Base Map” gives residents the ability to check the distance between their house and a sex offender’s.

“If you want to see who is in your area you can,” said Franklin Police Department Sergeant Bill Pfifer. “The mapping is a little off, but the addresses are correct.”
 

The current mapping system isn’t perfect yet, Pfifer said, but the sex offender addresses are still accurate.
 

To keep the maps up to date, Johnson County sex offenders must verify their addresses every 90 days.
 

The Indiana Sheriff’s Association website says all offenders must provide full personal identification, including names and addresses. They must also report information about their conviction and a description of their crime.
 

This registry is controlled by the state, but the duty falls to each individual county to make sure offenders in the area report their information honestly. Offenders must register with the sheriff’s department within 72 hours of moving to a new location.
 

Offenders’ whereabouts are kept track of by prison officials who inform local sheriffs of the new addresses of released sex criminals. The sheriff then gives registry information to all law enforcement agencies in the area.
 

Sex offenders are then forced to stay at least 1,000 feet away from schools, daycares and youth centers and at least a mile from their victims, according to the Franklin Police Department.


Logan Deffner, Matthew Muncy and Robin Connelly contributed to this report.