VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCPD) – The Valley City Police Department (VCPD) is releasing the following information pursuant to NDCC12.1-32-15, which requires law enforcement agencies to disclose to the public relevant and necessary registration information when a sexual offender registered under this section is a public risk and disclosure of the registration is necessary for public protection.
59-year-old Ronald Scott Thompson, the individual whose name appears on this notification has been convicted of a crime against a child or an attempted crime against a child, or has pleaded guilty to a sexual offense. In accordance with NDCC, this individual must register as a sexual offender or an offender against children.
The offender is not wanted by the police at this time and has served the sentence imposed by the court. This notification is not intended to increase fear in the community. It is the belief of the Valley City Police Department that an informed public is a safer public.
Neither the Valley City Police Department, nor the probation/parole agent supervising the offender has control over where the offender chooses to reside, work, socialize, or go to school unless the court has deemed it necessary to place restrictions on the offender’s movements.
The risk level of the offender is based on factual criminological information which has been provided by the courts, prosecutors, probation/parole officers, case files, offender treatment files, and/or other law enforcement agencies. Through an investigatory process, the Sex Offender Risk Assessment Committee (SORAC) of the ND Attorney General’s Office has compiled information on the offender and through an analysis of this information has made a determination as to the individual’s risk level.
Convicted sex offenders and offenders against children have always been released back into society once their correctional time expired. For the first time, law enforcement has a mechanism in place by which sexual offenders and offenders against children can be tracked. Law enforcement has also been given the authority and the duty of notifying the public of an offender’s movements if law enforcement makes a determination that the offender poses a risk to the safety of the public.
However, law enforcement will not tolerate the abuse of information released on the offender. The information shared with the public is for “safety” reasons only. This information is not to be used to threaten, harass, assault or intimidate the registered offenders.