APD responds to claims it did not verify registered sex offender's information for years

APD sex offender apprehension & registration unit update

Austin police is responding after a sexual assault survivor claims the department, in her case, did not verify a registered sex offender’s information for 7 years. APD said they are doing everything the law requires them to do. That appears to be the root of this dispute.

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Police is responding after a sexual assault survivor claims the department, in her case, did not verify a registered sex offender’s information for 7 years. 

APD said they are doing everything the law requires them to do. That appears to be the root of this dispute.

What they're saying:

Tressa Cooper was sexually assaulted in 1999. The man who did it spent more than a decade in prison and is now on the lifetime sex offender registry.

The more than 1,500 sex offenders in Austin are required to come to the police department and provide information about where they live and work to the Sexual Offender Apprehension and Registration, or SOAR Unit.

APD sex offender apprehension & registration unit

A sexual assault survivor said she was told the Austin Police Department did not verify registered sex offenders’ information for seven years.

"And if they feel that anything is off, they let the detective know, hey, something didn't feel right, let's go do a compliance check on any information that was given," said Sgt. Mesan Woo with APD's Sex Offender Apprehension and Registration Unit.

A compliance check is when a detective physically goes to a home or business and makes sure the sex offender is where they say they are.

Cooper said she wanted to make sure her offender was complying, so she called APD.

"I want to know when did you, when did Austin Police Department physically verify the information provided to them? And I was told that they were not able for the last seven years, this was in 2022 when all of this started," Cooper said.

"Have y’all been doing verifications since 2020?" FOX 7 Crime Watch reporter Meredith Aldis asked Sgt. Woo.

"Yes, we have, every year," Sgt. Woo responded.

"Have y’all been doing compliance checks since 2020?" Aldis asked.

"Absolutely, every year," Sgt. Woo responded.

There isn’t a law that states officers must do compliance checks.

"I think a lot of people misunderstand the law as it is and try to interpret it different ways," Sgt. Woo said.

Sgt. Woo said they do them when they can.

"Every month it definitely happens. Week by week, it depends on the caseload, because the people that go out and do compliance checks, there are detectives right now, the three detectives that are assigned to the unit are able to go out to do the compliance checks. So, depending on caseloads, how many cases are coming through the queue, their investigations, the time that they have," Sgt. Woo said.

By the numbers:

When FOX 7 asked about compliance checks within the last five years, Sergeant Woo said: "In 2020 there were 523 compliance checks completed, in 2021 we had 64, 2022 240, 2023 we had 835, 2024 1,115, and to date in 2025 there are 367."

He said within the last two days, they teamed up with the U.S. Marshals for an operation to conduct compliance checks.

"We completed 207 compliance checks in the last 2 days and out of those, we had 7 reports of potential non-compliance that will lead to investigations," Sgt. Woo said.

What's next:

Cooper said she doesn’t feel safe. She is working with Lavinia Masters, with the Texas Sexual Assault Survivor’s Task Force, on legislation to fix what she calls a loophole.

"To not even know if he's following what he's supposed to do, if he is where he's supposed to be, or doing what he is supposed to be doing, it's very terrifying. That sphere of the unknown is what victims live with forever is that not knowing what happens and then you're adding to that trauma, so you're re-victimizing us all over again," Masters said.

"The majority of our sex offenders that we register, that walk through our doors are compliant on a day-to-day basis and if they're not, my personnel are there to make sure that that they're held accountable through investigations," Sgt. Woo said.

Cooper said she wants victims to be notified when their offender fails to verify their information and she wants the state to monitor and make sure local authorities are following the law when it comes to verifications.