Loophole Allows Sex Offenders To Move To North Carolina Without Registering

WTVD reporters find dozens of sex offenders who did not register with state.

ByABC News
June 3, 2010, 1:23 PM

June 3, 2010 — -- An investigation by reporters at an ABC station in North Carolina has uncovered a loophole in North Carolina law that allows sex offenders from out of state to move to North Carolina without having to give register as sex offenders.

The investigative team at the ABC-owned station in Raleigh-Durham, WTVD, found that dozens of people listed on the national sex offender registry because of convictions in other states for offenses like rape and sexually abusing children are now living in North Carolina, but a search of the state's sex offender registry doesn't turn up their names.

Under North Carolina state law, sex offenders who were convicted or released from prison before 1996 and moved to North Carolina before December 2006 do not need to register in North Carolina.A search turned up 32 people in three of North Carolina's largest counties whose names appear on the national sex offender registry but not on the state registry.

CLICK HERE TO READ AND WATCH WTVD'S REPORT

One of those individuals is Robert Fish, who was convicted of a sex offense in New York state in 1996 before moving to North Carolina. Fish was sentenced to three years of probation for having actual sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl.

Reema Baloch told WTVD she met Fish via the internet in September 2001 after he moved to Raleigh. She said she lived with him for two years and had a child with him.

She said it wasn't until earlier this year while in the midst of a custody battle with him that she discovered his past.

"I got up and I started yelling and just horrified and scared," she recalled.She had checked the state registry for sex offenders multiple times in the past, but not the national registry.

"I had a feeling in my heart that there's something not right about him. And so one day, I went to the national registry," she recalled. "And that's when I discovered it."

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Reema Baloch told WTVD she met Fish via the internet in September 2001 after he moved to Raleigh. She said she lived with him for two years and had a child with him.

She said it wasn't until earlier this year while in the midst of a custody battle with him that she discovered his past.

\"I got up and I started yelling and just horrified and scared,\" she recalled.She had checked the state registry for sex offenders multiple times in the past, but not the national registry.

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