Lyon County's Game of Hide-and-Seek
Some people possess remarkable faith in geography. They look at a map, discover a respectable amount of open desert between towns, and conclude that civilization has forgotten to install witnesses there. It is a dangerous philosophy, particularly in Lyon County, where the sheriff’s deputies appear to have developed the habit of knowing where criminals are.
On Sept. 25, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Western Command arrested Richard Baker of Dayton after authorities determined that he had failed to complete registration requirements imposed upon him as a Tier III registered sex offender. He was arrested for a felony violation of Nevada Revised Statute 179D.550 and transported to the Lyon County Jail.
Now, a sensible man might suppose that being required by law to register would be an arrangement rather difficult to misunderstand. The government, after all, is not generally famous for its fondness for vague paperwork. It tells you what form to fill out, where to fill it out, when to fill it out, and, presumably, what sort of pen it prefers you use.
Yet, as usual, a few philosophers examine the requirements and say, in effect, “Perhaps if I simply do not do this, nobody will notice.”
That is the sort of optimism that can keep a man cheerful right up until the deputy arrives.
Also on Sept. 25, deputies with the Northern Command arrested Stephen Lafever of Fernley. Lafever is likewise a Tier III registered sex offender and, according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, had failed to complete the registration required under Nevada law. He was arrested for a felony violation of NRS 179D.550 and booked into the Lyon County Jail.
Thus, in a single day, Lyon County produced two fresh examples of the ancient human theory that if an obligation is sufficiently inconvenient, perhaps it will disappear if ignored long enough. It is a theory with a long and distinguished history.
Children have employed it with homework. Husbands have employed it with household repairs.
Politicians have occasionally employed it with unpleasant questions. And somewhere in every county there is a fellow who has received a letter marked “IMPORTANT” and decided that opening it would only make matters worse.
The trouble with statutory registration requirements, however, is that they are not invitations to participate. They are legal obligations, and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office says registered sex offenders are responsible for understanding and complying with the registration and verification requirements imposed by Nevada law.
The sheriff’s office also maintains that it has zero tolerance for violations of those requirements and will continue enforcement when violations are identified. This should settle one matter about Lyon County: the wide-open spaces are real, but they are apparently not wide enough to swallow paperwork, statutory obligations, or deputies.
A man may look across the Nevada desert and see nothing but sagebrush, mountains, highway, and sky. A sheriff’s deputy may look at the same landscape and see something entirely different: a county full of addresses, records, databases, telephones, computers, and people whose business it is to notice when somebody forgets—or declines—to do what the law requires.
So if anyone is contemplating a game of hide-and-seek with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, I recommend the traditional rules: the seeker counts, the hiders hide, and everybody eventually discovers that the seeker has been doing this professionally.
