We recently told you about the State of Texas' on going search for its 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders and we will share with you a gallery of photos of those dudes at the end of this article but this has more to do with those offenders who have already done their time and now are back amongst us in the public but recognized as a "sex offender". Smith County has a database of registered sex offenders and periodically, County officers do a "sweep" to make sure all offenders are doing what they are supposed to do.

Its Called "Operation Spring Sweep 2022"

The Smith County Sheriff's Office performed a sex offender residence compliance check of all sex offenders who are registered with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office according a press release we received from Sgt. Larry Christian, Smith County PIO. Officials with the Sheriff's Office said that verification checks of this type are unannounced and comprehensive. The checks included members of different local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, coordinated with the U.S. Marshals Service Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force

Of the 459 individuals who were checked April 27th and 28th, 454 were found to be in compliance.

Five were found to be out of compliance with warrants to be issued which could spell a return to a the big house for a few. According to Sheriff Smith, "It took three days to conduct this verification check, but it took a lot of hours of planning and coordination to make it happen. Having the right people and the right number of people assigned to this effort was key and I am grateful to each one of them for their hard work." And we are grateful as well to all of the participating agencies including

• the Smith County Sheriff’s Office CID Unit,
• Tyler Police Department
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice-OIG
• U.S. Marshal’s Service
• U.S. Marshals Task Force Officers

Sex Offender registrations, as well as the compliance checks, are coordinated by Smith County Sheriff’s Investigator JeriLynn Scott. To report information on a sex offender, call 903-590-2680 and take a look at the most wanted offenders in the state below and contact authorities if you spot one of them.