"From Alabama to Zion National Park"

Before I wrecked my life and ended up on Florida’s Sex Offender registry I always intended to travel in my retirement. Now, after prison and probation, I am in fact retired, and “free,” and have not given up my dream of seeing natural wonders and historic sites, visiting great cities, traveling to as many places as possible within the restrictions placed on me as a registered citizen.

While I may attempt traveling the world in the future, everything I’ve heard and read about International Megan’s Law requirements makes it sound difficult and even dangerous for a registered person. I therefore decided that my own home country is a pretty big place that, so far at least, nobody can keep my out of. Including all of its states and territories the United States spans half the globe and extends from the arctic to the equator. A guy could spend his whole retirement traveling this great land and never really see all of it.

As many of you may have discovered, however, interstate travel as a registered citizen isn’t as simple as getting in your car and driving away. Unless you don’t mind the prospect of inadvertently violating the registry laws of either your own state or whatever state you’re in at the time and ending up back in prison for a registry violation, it’s crucial to be conversant with and obey the registry laws of every state you plan to pass thru, which for me is every US state and territory.

The starting point for my research was the chart “Summary of State and Territorial Registration Laws Concerning Visiting and Temporary Residence by Adults” available on the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offender Laws (ACSOL) website. It’s a good summary chart, but it hadn’t been updated since 2018. Using the state statute references in the ACSOL chart I downloaded every state and territory’s registry laws, read them all, updated the information on the chart and corrected any errors that I found.

I also obtained a list of phone numbers for all 50 states’ SOR offices, and called every state to ask supplemental questions. As you might expect, some SOR offices don’t answer the phone and never call back if you leave repeated messages. Some states SOR offices have outgoing messages that don’t allow you to leave a message but only refer you to unhelpful online FAQ documents. Nevertheless, I found that when I was able to speak to a real person (which was about half the time) the SOR office personnel were uniformly courteous and willing to provide helpful answers to my questions.

The result of my research is the new and improved Summary of State and Territorial Registration Laws Concerning Visiting and Temporary Residence by Adults” chart. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW. My plan is to keep re-researching and updating this chart for at least the next ten years (i.e. 2021-2031) while I travel the USA.

However, all of this research – whether the state laws themselves, written responses to letters, or the oral responses by a random person in a state SOR office – may bear no relation at all to what you or I may experience if pulled over by an over-eager redneck sheriff’s deputy because you have a blown tail light. Do you want to be the first person to test the limits of any of this? I’ll bet the answer to that is NO.

So be careful out there, and safe travels!
Legal Disclaimer

I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY. THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE FOR QUALIFIED LEGAL ADVICE.

Because sex offender laws are frequently revised by legislatures and reviewed by courts, the most current version of the applicable laws should be consulted and can generally be found by using your search engine to locate the statutes referenced on this site. This website does not include all laws that may apply to registrants in any particular state.


NEW! Updated 9/24! State & Territorial Visitor Registration Laws Guide

Click HERE. It'll pop up on your screen in a separate window.

Summary Map Click HERE. It'll pop up on your screen in a separate window.


NEW! Updated 9/24! State & Territorial Visitor Registration Laws for FORMER & LONG-TERM Registrants

MANY REGISTRANTS DO NOT UNDERSTAND that most states have registration laws that apply to out-of-state visitors even if you have served your registration duty in your state of offense and are no longer required to register there. Violating these states' laws during your visit can get you caught in these states' registries or even incarcerated EVEN THOUGH you have been removed from your own state's registry!

Furthermore, you may be surprised to learn that some states' registration laws may not apply to visiting registrants who have, in your state of offense, served your registration duty for the number of years specified by law in the state you are visiting - even if you are still on the registry in your state of offense.

Because confusion surrounding this issue will be a growing problem as more and more Americans (including myself) become long-term or former registrants, I have researched the registration laws of every U.S. state and territory related to this issue.

Click HERE to see this new research.


Recorded 6/23: My 2023 NARSOL conference domestic travel presentation

I have given several presentations on domestic travel at NARSOL and other national conferences. My presentation at the 2023 NARSOL conferences was recorded and is now available as a You Tube video.

This is about an hour long but contains a lot of information about domestic travel, so Click HERE to watch.


The Traveling Registrant

The Once Fallen website offers this must-read information for all registrants planning to travel. Click here: http://www.oncefallen.com/travel.html

Unwelcome Images

My personal story of prison, probation and ... redemption? is posted on Medium. If you're interested you can click here:

https://therabbitisin.com/unwelcome-images-c06a3760b11a

Your first hurdle:

Permission to leave town

My state of offense (Florida) has a registry law that, like those of many other states, is completely silent on the question of what notice I as a registered person have to provide in the event that I intend to travel out of state temporarily but have no intention of establishing any “permanent residence,” “temporary residence” or “transient residence” in any other state. Instead, Florida’s SOR law reads as follows:

“A sexual offender who intends to establish a permanent, temporary, or transient residence in another state or jurisdiction other than the State of Florida shall report in person to the sheriff of the county of current residence within 48 hours before the date he or she intends to leave this state to establish residence in another state or jurisdiction … The sexual offender shall provide to the sheriff the address, municipality, county, [and] state … of intended residence … The department shall notify the statewide law enforcement agency, or a comparable agency, in the intended state [or] jurisdiction … of the sexual offender’s intended residence. The failure of a sexual offender to provide his or her intended place of residence is punishable as [a third degree felony].”

943.0435(7) FS.

Apparently, the drafters of Florida’s SOR law – and the many similarly worded statutes of other US states – never anticipated that a registered person would ever leave their state for any other reason than to establish a “permanent residence,” “temporary residence” or “transient residence” wherever they're going. Therefore I assume that I and many of you could legitimately assume we would be within our legal rights to just leave our state without telling anybody as long as you have no intention of, and scrupulously avoid, establishing any kind of residence that would violate your state’s statutes.

However, I DO NOT recommend doing this under any circumstances.

Why? Because there’s a 120% chance that your local sheriff’s department believes you have to tell them you’re leaving and where you’re going no matter what your state’s SOR law says or doesn’t say. Suppose you get pulled over somewhere for having a blown tail light. The sheriff’s deputy looks you up and discovers you’re an out-of-state registered offender. Next, he calls local law enforcement in your home state and asks, “Hey, did y’all know this guy was here?” They of course will say “No, we didn’t even know he left our state and we think that’s a registry violation – he is an ABSCONDER!” at which point you’ll be arrested, handcuffed and sent back to prison.

I don’t know about you, but that’s not how I want to spend my vacation.

Therefore I strongly suggest that you visit your local sheriff’s department or registry office and inform them of your intention to travel. I did this for the first time in October 2020, and have traveled out of state frequently since then, each time making sure to do so “within 48 hours before the date he or she intends to leave this state.”

Having gained some experience with traveling while registered I offer you the following advice:

Always notify your local law enforcement of your intention to travel and provide as much detail as possible about your travel plans. In particular, it helps to have at least one specific destination for your trip. Your local law enforcement is expecting you to have a destination. You probably do have at least one destination, and if it’s not a friend or relative’s home you probably had to make some kind of reservation ahead of time. Either way you know at least one address where you’ll be, so give it to the staff person behind the glass. They will feel more comfortable with this even if your plans include extended time to get to and return from the specific destination(s), during which you’ll be enjoying yourself.

I have found that if I give a general description of your travel, like some of the states you’ll be passing through, the staff person will happily enter that onto whatever form their filling out as “additional notes.” This may actually help you in case you get pulled over someplace because when the sheriff’s deputy calls your home state it’s all right there in the computer.

Recently I established a summer home in Iowa. Unlike Florida and many other states, Iowa’s registry law explicitly, but clumsily, addresses out-of-state travel. It says:

“[A] sex offender, within five business days of a change, shall also appear in person to notify the sheriff of the county of principal residence [i.e. the principle residence in Iowa], of any location in which the offender is staying when away from the principal residence of the offender for more than five days, by identifying the location and the period of time the offender is staying in such location.” 692A.105 IS.

While I was at my new Iowa sheriff’s department registering, getting photographed, fingerprinted and providing a DNA sample, I took the opportunity to ask how travel was going to work in my new state. I pointed out that although I can always provide a destination when traveling, there is no way I’ll be able provide locations and addresses ahead of time for every campground or motel room I might be staying at along the way.

The lady behind the bullet-proof glass stated that their policy for this type of travel is that I will need to keep a travel log for each trip, which I will need to turn in upon my return. This just shows how local sheriff’s departments come up with some policy to deal with these situations. As you know from reading elsewhere on this blog, I recommend you always keep a travel log as well as all receipts just in case you need to prove your whereabouts, so this sheriff’s department requirement, while ridiculous, turns out not to be a problem for me or anyone following my recommendations.

Friday, September 29, 2023

 Idaho

Hells Canyon National Recreation Area

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Idaho Code 2022 §§18-8301 through 18-8414.  I.D.A.P.A. §11.10.03.000 through 11.10.03.012.

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Two working days for initial registration and updates.  Transient registrants must report location every 7 days.  §§18-8307, 18-8308.

Statutes do not address registration requirements for visitors. However, "Temporary lodging" means any place in which the offender is staying when away from his or her residence for seven (7) or more days 18-8323 (1)(h). Added Aug. 2024. Also, “any person who enters this state … and makes an application for an identification card or a [drivers] license in this state” is presumed to be establishing a residence. §18-8306(4). Sheriff will notify you of the 2 day obligation to register (see above). 

Rolfe survey indicates that visits of 7 days or more require registration.  

Temporary volunteers or employees:  Must register if in state for more than ten consecutive days, or for an aggregate period of 30 days in a calendar year.  If “employment involves counseling, coaching, teaching, supervising or working with minors in any way,” must register “regardless of the period of employment.” §18-8303(6).

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

May not reside or loiter within 500 ft. of school, and may not reside within more than one person also required to register, with certain exceptions.  §§18-8331, 18-8332.

Presence restriction:  Day cares, unless picking up or dropping off one’s own children.  §18-8327.

Duration & updates:

Lifetime.  Petition to remove – 10 yrs.  Sexually Violent Persons must update every 3 months.  All others update annually.  §18-8307.

Per Rolfe Survey, Visiting Registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.


Deer feeding at roadside

Most recent visits: August & September 2023

I have read through Idaho’s statutes several times and still have a number of questions about it, but calling the Idaho SOR office proved useless because all you get is an outgoing message that says they only answer questions from attorneys.  Therefore in discussing the number of days you can be in this state or what restrictions might apply to you while visiting I need to err on the side of caution. 

For example, Idaho Statutes do not address registration requirements for visitors.  However, “transient registrants” must report location every 7 days (§§18-8307, 18-8308) and I notice that the Rolfe Survey claims visits of 7 days or more require registration.  Putting those two things together I conclude that if you’re in state for 7 days or more that would automatically make you a  “transient registrant” and you have to register … so just be gone by the end of Day 6.

Do partial days count?  I don’t know and they won’t answer that question, so your safest bet is to assume they do.  However, Idaho Statutes sets no maximum number of days per calendar month or year, and they won’t answer that question either, so I my assumption is that return visits are okay.


Scenic Idaho river

First pass through Idaho

These are the assumptions I felt safe in making on my 2023 Pacific Northwest Tour, when I passed through Idaho twice.  My first pass consisted of three consecutive partial days, well within the state’s limit.  On Day 1 I entered from Montana on U.S. 2 and took a look at Bonner’s Ferry (where I had lunch), Sandpoint and Kootenai before returning to Montana.  And I must say I was not impressed.

On Day 2 I entered Idaho again from Montana again late in the afternoon, this time on I-90, on my way to my reserved campsite at Hepburn State Park.  Nice place.  The next morning I got back on I-90 and headed west into Washington State.  As brief as each of those partial day forays into Idaho were, they were consecutive and they all counted.


Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Second pass through Idaho

My second pass through Idaho consisted of four consecutive partial days, again well within what I infer to be the state’s limit.  These two visits were separated by 12 calendar days and were in two different months (Aug & Sept) so according to the assumptions I made above I was fine.

My first partial day of my second pass through Idaho was not planned in advance.  I had been in Oregon and decided to go take a look at Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and the most logical way to get back from there to my reserved motel room in Ontario OR was SR 71 and US 95 in Idaho.  And you may say Oh Please!  How can that little short cut even count?!  But my job here isn’t to comment on the utter stupidity of any state’s registry laws, it’s to explain how I navigated those laws so you can too.

On Day 2 of this pass I entered Idaho from Ontario OR early in the morning, made a loop up US 95 and down State Road 55.  My original plan was to find a campground somewhere in Boise National Forest, but that was the day I changed my mind and decided to go back to Ontario and scope it out as a possible future base camp for Pacific Northwest travel (see the Pacific Northwest Tour Overview and my Oregon blog entry).  So yes I spent most of the day in Idaho but still a partial day.


Devil's Orchard, Craters of the Moon National Monument

Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Craters of the Moon National Monument

Day 3 was my most extensive travel day in Idaho.  Entering from Ontario again, Sawtooth National Recreation Area was magnificent and my only regret is that I couldn’t devote any more time to it.  Maybe next time!  

I wanted to return to a place I’d been to years ago – Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Like Lava Beds National Monument only bigger (see California), it consists of vast lava beds (laid down only 2000 years ago) and twisted formations.  I walked the Devil’s Orchard Nature Trail, drove the park loop road to see Inferno Cone and Big Sink Overlook.  It’s like a dream world.

From there I headed east late in the afternoon on my way to find a campground somewhere east of Idaho Falls.  Ririe Lake Recreation Area fit the bill nicely and had showers too.  This was the only night I slept in Idaho on my second pass.  The next morning, my fourth consecutive partial day, I grabbed some breakfast at a convenience store and headed over the Tetons into Wyoming.

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