According to a report compiled by the West Virginia Division of Criminal Justice Services, 40 percent of sex offenders currently on probation, on parole, or in prison admitted that they had previously committed a felony sex offense as an adult and reported that they had no relationship to the criminal justice system at the time of their current sex offense.

With those kind of statistics, West Virginia’s Sex Offender Registry becomes an even more valuable tool for discouraging sex offenders from committing more criminal acts.

The state’s Sex Offender Registry was created by West Virginia State Code, Chapter 15, Article 12 to “assist law-enforcement agencies’ efforts to protect the public from sex offenders by requiring sex offenders to register with the state police detachment in the county where he or she shall reside and by making certain information about sex offenders available to the public.”

Offenders are to register every year with Sex Offender Registry in Charleston. They keep track of when the sex offenders are to register, which is during their birth month.

Tyler County’s sex offenders are monitored by the State Police Detachment based in Paden City. There are a total of 34 sex offenders in Tyler County, with 22 of those being labeled “sexually violent offenders.” Trooper First Class E.M. McFarland is one of several troopers who investigates when a sex offender refuses to check in.

“If (Charleston does not) receive notification of an update from (the sex offenders) on a yearly basis by the time they are required to have done so, then they notify us and we initiate an investigation into that,” said McFarland.

Offenders who comply with the Sex Offender Registry go to their nearest State Police detachment. New photos are taken, and information is updated, such as addresses, work information, telephone numbers, property, internet accounts, and the names of people living in their household.

” If anything changes – if they lose their job, shut down an internet account, switch phone numbers – they only have 10 days in which to change the information with us,” said McFarland. If they haven’t changed it with us, then we initiate criminal charges against them, which is a felony violation for most of them because most of them are life registries.”

The State Police takes the updated information and verifies the data to make sure each offender is telling the truth. Any change must be communicated to the State Police.

While the program is a good one, the only complaint McFarland has is there are not enough people available to keep an eye on the sex offenders.

“We need people dedicated to the sex offenders that can spend more time on it, because the road troopers don’t have enough time to go out and constantly double-check these people, which, in my opinion, needs to be done,” stated McFarland. “It’s effective in the fact that we do maintain good information on all these predators, but we need more people.”

The following is information on all of Tyler County’s sexual offenders.

Sexually Violent Offenders:

William V. Baker Jr., 55, of Box 42 A Bridgeway, Middlebourne – Third degree sexual assault, first degree sexual abuse.

Chad L. Bassett, 26, of 2421 South St., Friendly – Third degree sexual assault.

Ronald L. Bassett, 40, of Rt.1 Box 242, Middlebourne – Two counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Jamie N. Cathers, 32, of 204 S. Wells St., Sistersville – Third degree sexual assault.

Ronald D. Cline, 57, of 107 Chestnut St., Sistersville – Two counts of first degree sexual assault.

Kenneth L. Cooper, 42, of 701 Dry Run Rd., Sistersville – four counts of sexual abuse by parent, guardian or custodian and four counts of incest.

Charles J. Fiber, 32, of 502 Stealey St., Middlebourne – Possession of child pornography and attempted to transfer obscene material to a minor.

Mark A. Hartley, 36, of 310 Jackson Ave., Sistersville – Attempted third degree sexual assault.

Donald R. Headley, 51, of 110 E. Charles St., Sistersville – Third degree sexual assault.

Timothy J. Judge, 27, of 507 Wells St., Apt. 4, Sistersville – Third degree sexual abuse.

Michael V. Kemp (not pictured), 49, of 451 Little Church Rd., Friendly – Four counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Rickey E. Keys, 39, of 610 Pike St., Sistersville – Third degree sexual assault and incest.

Johnny Long, 58, of 301 1/2 East St, Apt. 2, Middlebourne – Two counts of rape and illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material in the State of Ohio.

Ellen M. Phillips, 37, of 213 Stealey St., Middlebourne – Employ minor to engage in obscene acts and child abuse-sexual act in the State of North Carolina.

Eric C. Robinson, 39, of HC 67 Box 186, West Union – Attempted second degree sexual assault.

James E. Robinson, 66, of Middlebourne Manor, Apt. 8, Middlebourne – Third degree sexual assault and three counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Angela D. Thomas, 48, of Lot No. 6 Bank View Addition, Middlebourne – First degree sexual assault.

Kenneth L. VanCamp, 60, of RR. 1 Box 239, Middlebourne – Incest.

Roger D. VanCamp, 56, of 3702 Tyler Hwy., Sistersville – Second degree sexual assault of a child in the State of Texas.

Matthew R. Wayne, 27, of 247 Mill St., Sistersville – Third degree sexual assault.

Robert G. Williamson, 70, of 187 Friendly Rd., Friendly – First degree sexual abuse.

Non-Violent Sex Offenders

George D. Burch Jr., 65, of N. Second Ave. 71, Paden City – Second degree sexual abuse.

Rodney G. Dalrymple, 53, of 2799 South St., Friendly – Two counts of incest.

Herbert H. Davis, 81, of HC 62 Box 5A, Alma – Third degree sexual abuse.

Landrew S. Francis, 22, of 101 McKinney St., Sistersville – Third degree sexual assault.

Jackson K. Henthorn, 76, of 173 Hanford Ave., Sistersville – Two counts of third degree sexual assault.

Joshua A. Pressley, 23, of 521 Buck Run Rd., Sistersville – First degree sexual abuse.

Ira E. Ruble Jr., 70, of HC 69 Box 13, Alma – Two counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Kenneth L. VanCamp, 60, of RR 1 Box 239, Middlebourne – Incest.

Roger D. Wade, 62, of HC 69 Box 35, Middlebourne – Two counts of third degree sexual assault and five counts of possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Kevin F. Wilkinson, 48, of 2309 Next Rd., Sistersville – Second degree sexual assault.