Screening Logic Uncovers A Sex Offender

At Screening Logic, we came across an alarming occurrence. This is a case study of a convicted and registered sex offender for which the New York State Office of Court Administration (NYS OCA) provided absolutely no results. This case study is a step-by-step analysis of the research performed to reveal missing information that was not provided by the NYS OCA.

For the purpose of this case study, we will refer to this subject as JOHNNY BADMAN¹.

Screening Logic ran multiple different inquires on this individual. We received many "hits", one in particular was from a Cyber Investigation, through which we uncovered two articles, both pertaining to the same sexual abuse incident.

We also ran a Pointer File NY (PF NY) inquiry and were presented with four booking records; one for forgery, two for sexual abuse, and another for rape. One of the booking records also matched the sexual abuse articles that were discovered in the Cyber Investigation. See figure 1 for PF NY results.

Figure 1 – Pointer File New York Booking Records

¹ Names have been changed to protect their identities.

When contracted for additional services, Screening Logic has in place a specific protocol involving the research of PF NY “hits”. The common practice for the majority of our clients is to open up a Developed Criminal Record. Wherein we call on each individual booking record, and locate the court we need to reach out to in order to obtain the final disposition.

For this particular individual, we tried the NYS OCA Statewide for the convictions we sought. See Figure 2 for the NYS OCA results.

Figure 2 – New York State Office of Court Administration Statewide Results

Every instance where Screening Logic receives PF NY hits that are not obtained by the New York State Office of Court Administration (NYS OCA) search, we recommend that further research be performed. After receiving no results from the NYS OCA search, we reached out to our liaison at the NYS OCA requesting information on all booking records for this individual. The only information that was provided to us was one incomplete sexual abuse case out of Volney Town Justice. Please note that the case itself containing the final disposition was not given to us and the original results said No Results Found.

We were provided a court control number, incident date, and the court in which the case was heard. We were not provided any charge information. This is unfortunately a common occurrence with the NYS OCA. In an email response from our liaison, we were told that the incident date that matched our PF NY hit for Forgery was then sent up to a Management Analyst. They determined whether they could provide us any information on that case. Figure 3 displays the limited information provided to us, even after we have paid the fee for the NYS OCA.

Figure 3- Email from NYS OCA Research Analyst

A Sex Offender Registry search was added, as per Screening Logics’ procedures, when contracted for additional services. These results were verified by Name, Date of Birth, and Social Security Number. Once a Sex Offender Registry “hit” is discovered through the initial search of Name and Exact Date of Birth, an investigator calls the New York State Sex Offender Registry to obtain further details of the registered sex offender. The investigator will also re-verify the identifiers of Name and complete Date of Birth, as well as the full Social Security Number. Figure 4 is the complete results from the New York State Sex Offender Registry.

Figure 4 - New York State Sex Offender Registry Results

Because the NYS OCA Liaison did not offer satisfactory information regarding all booking records in question, Screening Logic, when contracted for additional services, will reach out to the jails to obtain the court information. We will then follow up with said courts in order to obtain the final disposition information for each charge. There are dead ends, and not every booking record results in a corresponding passable conviction.

We did reach out to the Wayne County Jail, as well as the Oswego County Jail, in order to obtain the court information for the remaining two booking records. Per the records department of the Oswego County Jail; the booking record dated 04/11/2016 was in relation to the case out of Volney Town Court. The subject was held in that jail for a continuance of sentencing. The Wayne County Jail had similar records in regard to the 05/08/2016 booking record. The subject was then transferred from the Oswego county jail to the Wayne County jail in order to complete the 180 day jail sentence. These particular booking records are prime examples of when a booking record does not necessarily equate to a conviction.

A registered sex offender did not have results come back on the NYS OCA; however, through thorough research and due diligence, Screening Logic came to the rightful conclusion below.

Extensive research and follow up did reveal that two convictions were indeed passable to our client. The first is the Sexual Abuse case for which the subject was a level one registered Sex Offender. Figure 5 displays the completed results provided by the court. The NYS OCA did not have any results in relation to this case other than an incident date and the court information, and only after asking the NYS OCA to take a second look because their original results were No Results Found. The NYS OCA Information was only provided to Screening Logic after contact was made regarding their reporting of no records. Without PF NY we would not have known to ask for more from the NYS OCA.

Figure 5 - Developed Criminal Record Results

The second case we were able to provide to the client was a pending forgery case. A second case that the NYS OCA did not have any other information on, besides the court control number and the incident date, after originally reporting No Results Found. Figure 6 shows the final results sent to the client.

Figure 6 – Developed Criminal Record Results

End Results

This evidence is in favor of the Pointer File New York inquiry. If used in conjunction with the New York Office of Court Administration, the results are the most accurate and compliant within FCRA guidelines. However, cases of this nature should not be missed by the NYS OCA or any researcher providing a background investigation. PF NY was on the client’s side in properly locating and identifying a convicted sex offender. As a result of our staff’s due diligence, thorough research, and not accepting the NYS OCA’s lack of results, we delivered a complete criminal history on the subject for our client.

Additional Information

New York State Office Of Court Administration Has Its Limitations

The New York State Office of Court Administration (NYS OCA) is a fantastic entity for obtaining various convictions for individuals with a criminal history.

However, it is a severely flawed system. There are quite a few restrictions to the cases that are provided by the NYS OCA, one being they do not report a misdemeanor conviction after ten years if it is the sole conviction.

This is part of the New York Misdemeanor Redemption Policy. In addition, they do not provide vehicular misdemeanors unless it is an Operating Motor Vehicle under the Influence conviction. The most alarming, is the extreme number of cases missing from the results.

The NYS OCA has yielded zero results, even for convicted criminals, some of which have multiple convictions. The NYS OCA will only provide fingerprinting convictions based on the exact name, and exact date of birth submitted. They do not search for additional spellings, aliases, or suffixes, of any name. Each submission to the NYS OCA is exactly what is searched. One practice that can be problematic is if the subject has a suffix reported on one conviction and does not have the suffix reported on another. In this case, you will not get both convictions back in your search results. The same follows for any alias or changes in spelling for any given name, as well as date of birth variations.

Pointer File New York™ (PF NY) pulls the booking records for individuals all over the State of New York. When contracted for additional services, Screening Logic uses this information to research each record and determine if it resulted in a passable conviction, which we then provide to our clients. There are times when courts are unwilling to assist in providing additional information and we have to utilize the New York State Office of Court Administration. More frequently than not, the NYS OCA provides only a fraction of what PF NY discovers.

At Screening Logic, we do our due diligence when it comes to all aspects of the background investigation. We are determined to do the right thing, always. This is particularly true in our criminal research. The Pointer File New York™ (PF NY) database is an essential diligence tool that allows us to view a history of booking records. When contracted for additional services, we then research these findings to determine whether the arrests resulted in passable convictions. The only passable offenses we provide are misdemeanor and felony convictions. We developed PF NY in conjunction with the NYS Sheriffs’ Association, as an alternative method to obtaining criminal information in New York State. By digging down to the level of booking data, Pointer File New York™ overcomes the fundamental and systemic flaws associated with the NYS OCA search.