Full Notification

Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010
Posted on Wed, Apr. 28, 2010
Police seek Belleville, Cahokia sex offenders for registration violations
BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN
News-Democrat

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department is searching for two convicted sex offenders who failed to inform police when they moved out of uninhabitable homes.

Kenneth Conklin, 35, listed his home as 107 Princeton Drive near Belleville, but when St. Clair County Sheriff's Investigator Gerry Brown showed up at the door of the mobile home Monday for a routine sex offender compliance check, he instead found an abandoned structure without floors, walls, running water or electricity.

Police are seeking Conklin not only because he failed to notify police of an address change but also because they are looking for him in connection with another criminal sexual abuse investigation involving a child. The sexual abuse police are investigating allegedly occurred at the mobile home where Conklin is no longer living, according to St. Clair County Sheriff's Capt. Steve Johnson.

"We believe he has left and is in Missouri, but beyond that, we don't have any specific information about his whereabouts," Johnson said.

Conklin is serving probation on a 2008 conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a victim who was between 13 and 16 years old.

Anyone with any information about Conklin's whereabouts is asked to call Investigator Scott Toth at 277-3504, Ext. 5776.

"On a daily basis we conduct sex offender verification checks," Johnson said. "That's how these two came to light because we go out and confirm and reconfirm where they are living and if they are in compliance."

The second convicted offender, Comfort Heidelberg, 48, listed his residence as 22 Laura Lee Drive near Cahokia. He showed up at the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department in Belleville to register and instead of waiting for an investigator to fill out the required paperwork, Heidelberg left.

On April 23 Brown went to the address Heidelberg listed in Cahokia to have him finish the paperwork and when Brown arrived at the home to check on Heidelberg's compliance, he found a vacant building with all the windows and doors missing that was heavily damaged by fire, Johnson said.

Heidelberg was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender, not the first time he's been charged with the offense.

According to court documents, Heidelberg has a criminal history that includes four convictions for battery, a conviction for aggravated assault and four convictions for failing to notify police of an address change as a convicted sex offender.

Police are looking for Heidelberg and anyone with any information about where he may be is asked to call Investigator Matt Jany at 277-3504, Ext. 5712.

There are 378 registered sex offenders in St. Clair County and 416 registered sex offenders in Madison County.

To find out if a sex offender is living in your neighborhood and if that offender is compliant with state sex offender laws, visit the state's sex offender database at www.isp.state.il.us/sor.

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