Rensselaer County Sheriff, Jack Mahar, today announced the Sheriff’s Office has arrested four sex offenders in the past four weeks including the re-arrest of a violent, Level 3, repeat sex offender who abducted and sexually abused a 13-year-old girl in 1976.
Albert L. Davenport, 60, was arrested last week for possession of pornographic photographs on his laptop computer. The photos were of children whose ages ranged from 3 to 13 years old. Davenport was supposed to be living in Stephentown on Route 43. The Sheriff said he changed his address and failed to report it.
Sheriff’s Investigators, assisted by the Cohoes Police Department, located Davenport in Cohoes, seized his
computer and cell phone and charged him with possession of material containing an obscene sexual performance by a child.
Davenport was arraigned in Berlin Town Court by the Honorable Judge Rechen and remanded to the Rensselaer County Jail without bail. Rechen said Davenport was arraigned in Berlin because there was no judge available in Stephentown at the time. There is a reciprocal arrangement among the local neighboring justice courts, Rechen said.
Davenport also received felony charges of Failing to Notify the Division of Criminal Justice Services of an address change as a sex offender. In 1976, Davenport abducted a 13-yr-old Cohoes resident, held her at knife point, raped and sodomized her. He was sentenced to 25 years for that crime.
In addition to Davenport, the Sheriff’s Office took three other sex offenders into custody in the past four weeks, another Level 3 offender for violating the address verification requirement and two Level 2 offenders for cultivating marijuana at their residencies. Three additional arrests are currently pending for Level 3 offenders for Failure to Register.
According to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, there are currently 344 registered sex offenders living in Rensselaer County. Out of that number, 121 are Level 1 offenders, 120 are Level 2 offenders, 96 are Level 3 offenders and 7 offenders are awaiting determination of their status by the courts as of today.
Level 3 sex offenders are required to report to the Sheriff’s Office every 90 days to update their photos, addresses, the vehicle they are driving and to discuss their internet use, among other issues. Level 2 offenders must report to the Sheriff’s Office once a year and provide the same information. Every six months, deputies go to their homes and apartments to verify they are living where they claim they are. “The list of offenders is checked daily, and if someone is one day late reporting, we go pick him up and charge him with a felony violation,” said Sheriff Mahar.
The New York State Sex Offender Registry is accessible at www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us and allows visitors to look up registered sex offenders by name and address.
Anyone who suspects that a registered sex offender is residing at an improper address, or has information about any other criminal activity, is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Crime Tips Hotline at 270-0128.