New site shows sex offenders enrolled in colleges, universities

FSCJ has most registered offenders enrolled

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – College students and parents can now find out who's a registered sex offender on their campus. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement unveiled the new site Wednesday.

Channel 4's Tim Pulliam tried out the new search out and found that Florida State College of Jacksonville had the most registered sex offenders enrolled.

It's a shocking discovery for Aaron Wright, a Biomedical Science student for Florida State College in Jacksonville.

"It's surprising to know colleges would allow sex offenders to study alongside students," said Wright.

Under the new the state's Sex Offender Registry for colleges and universities, Channel 4 found 13 students are registered sex offenders at the downtown campus.

"I never would have known without that information," said Wright.

"Yes, that bothers me because I'm a female," said student Andrea Durham. "I'm here, but then again, I do have someone that I walk to my car with, so it's not that bad.

FSCJ released this statement:

The safety of our students, employees and anyone who enters our campuses or centers is among our highest priorities

Once we have had time to review the information on the FDLE Website, FSCJ will provide information about admissions and employment policies regarding offenders, and legal and fair access to education for community members who seek to improve their lives.

"I have a 15-year-old getting ready to go to college here soon, and it would be nice for her to know who to look out for and who to stay away from," said mother of three, Anna Chornak.

Four schools that did not have a single sex offender registered were Florida Coastal School of Law, Jacksonville University, Edward Waters College and University of Florida.

Interim Chief of Police at University of North Florida, Bill Strudel, said, "We have no one listed at the moment. There is a person who attended classes here as late as this spring who should be on the list, and the current system is so new, we're discovering how to put that person on the list."

Of the 60,000 registered sex offenders in Florida, 600 have active college registration information on file.

Click here for FDLE's sex offender search.