A registered sex offender who formerly lived in Livingston County has been charged with failing to update his information after being found living in Onondaga County, according to Livingston County Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty.
Sheriff’s investigators traveled to Liverpool on May 24 and arrested William W. Whalen, 41, on an arrest warrant for failure to register and verify as a New York State Registered Sex Offender. Whalen is a level three registered sex offender.
The investigation alleges that Whalen failed to provide his change of address as required by law.
“He was registered her in 2022 and went off the grid so we continued to track him, ultimately to Liverpool,” Dougherty told the Livingston County News via email.
A level three offender has a high risk of re-offense, according to the state’s Sex Offender Registry.
State Corrections law requires any sex offender to register with the division no later than 10 calendar days after any change of address, internet accounts with internet access providers belonging to the offender, internet identifiers used by the offender, or his or her status of enrollment, attendance, employment or residence at any institution of higher education.
Whalen was transported and turned over to Central Booking deputies at Livingston County Jail for arrest processing The District Attorney’s Office recommended that Whalen be released on his own recognizance after arraignment as the charge does not qualify for bail under the state Bail Reform.
Whalen was later arraigned at Livingston County Centralized Arraignment Part at Livingston County Jail before Village of Dansville Justice David E. Werth, who released Whalen on his own recognizance. Whalen is scheduled to appear back in court on a later date.
The Livingston County Public Defender’s Office represented Whalen at his arraignment. The Livingston County District Attorney’s Office did not appear at the arraignment.
The investigation and the arrested were handled by Investigator Connor Sanford and Investigator Matthew Orman of the Criminal Investigations Division.
Whalen had been convicted in 2009 in Onondaga County of promoting a sexual performance by a child less than 17 years old, a class D felony. Whalen was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison, according to the state Sex Offender Registry.
Whalen, who was living in Syracuse at the time of the original charge, pleaded guilty to a single count, which satisfied 13 additional felony counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child relating to 13 videos of child pornography that were found on Whalen’s computer, an assistant district attorney told syracuse.com at the time of Whalen’s sentencing.
The ADA told the newspaper that Whalen made available to others a video of child pornography from his computer.
Dougherty expressed frustration that a level three sex offender would be released on an appearance ticket due to bail reform laws.
“I am going to continue to call out how dangerous these reforms are, and have been, until we get common sense back into our justice system,” Dougherty said in a statement.
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