Over a dozen sex offenders in Fayette County arrested for not complying with registry

A multi-day operation headed by local and federal law enforcement agencies resulted in the arrests of 13 registered sex offenders in Fayette County who weren’t compliant with the sex offender registry, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.

The sheriff’s office, along with the U.S. Marshals Service and Kentucky State Probation & Parole teamed up to carry out a Fayette County sex offender registration operation. The goal of the operation was to ensure supervised, registered sex offenders in Fayette County were compliant with the terms of their probation/parole and applicable laws.

The operation took place on July 26 and 27, according to the sheriff’s office. The coalition checked 78 sex offenders, 57 of which were deemed compliant, the sheriff’s office said. Of the remaining 21, eight were given sanctions and 13 were arrested for violating parole.

One of the individuals arrested, Martese Warner, 31, was also charged with trafficking in marijuana, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of drug paraphernalia.

As of Wednesday morning, all of the 13 suspects arrested were still in custody, according to Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt.

“It is my hope that as we move forward that these 13 will have their parole and/or their probation, whichever one it is, rescinded or revoked, and it is my hope that they will have to serve out the rest of their sentence while incarcerated,” Witt said.

All three law enforcement agencies carried out a different role in the operation. The sheriff’s office verified addresses, the marshals service checked for federal violations, and probation and parole verified parole conditions were met.

The U.S. marshals said that during the operation they seized 21 cell phones that were unreported or contained violations, three hard drives, two laptops, two “sexual devices/aids,” one knife, one hatchet, one loaded firearm, one box of 9 mm ammunition, 370.3 grams of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, two digital scales, and $700.

Those seized devices will be analyzed and if there is any other explicit material on them, offenders could face additional charges, according to Jeremy Honaker, chief deputy U.S. marshal.

“This operation should send and will send a strong message to those in Fayette County who are not compliant,” said U.S. Marshal Norman Arflack. “This non-compliance will not be tolerated in Fayette County or anywhere else in the eastern district of Kentucky.”

There are 456 registered sex offenders in Fayette County, according to the sheriff’s office. That number has increased recently and Witt said it may be the highest it’s ever been.

The sex offender compliance unit within the sheriff’s office checks residency compliance for sex offenders at least every 90 days. They hope to continue working with the marshals service and probation and parole.

“We know that we accomplish so much more when we work together,” Witt said.

“It is critical that we all work together, more than we’ve worked together ever before, and we share resources,” Witt said. “Here that’s been going on for a long time in Fayette County. These partnerships didn’t occur overnight, they’ve been going on for years and we all want the same thing: We want a safe community for everyone.”

Herald-Leader reporter Taylor Six contributed to this story.