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No. 101,201 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. DOUGLAS LECLAIR, Appellant.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT 1. The purpose of the Kansas Offender Registration Act, K.S.A. 22-4901 et. seq., is to protect the public from sex offenders as a class of criminals who are likely to reoffend, and to provide public access to the registration information required when an offender falls within the provisions of the Act.

2. An offender required by the Kansas Offender Registration Act to register at the local sheriff's office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation must notify those offices in writing when they intend to permanently leave a residence whether they have established a new residence or not.

Appeal from Saline District Court; RENE S. YOUNG, judge. Opinion filed April 15, 2010. Affirmed.

Meryl Carver-Allmond, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Christina Trocheck, county attorney, and Steve Six, attorney general, for appellee.

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Before RULON, C.J., ELLIOTT and HILL, JJ.

HILL, J.: In this appeal, we affirm the conviction of Doulas E. LeClair for failing to register under the Kansas Offender Registration Act. But we do so for different reasons than those found by the district court.

LeClair left the county and did not establish a new residence for some time. Obeying the Kansas Offender Registration Act, K.S.A. 22-4901, et seq., LeClair registered with the Saline County Sheriff's Department as an offender on April 4, 2007. As a component of this registration, a sheriff's deputy explained to LeClair his duties under the Act. LeClair signed and initialed a document confirming that he understood these duties. LeClair's duties included the following:

"Within ten (10) days of entering into any county where I reside or temporarily reside for more than ten (10) days, I must register with the sheriff of the county.

....
"If I change my address, or any other information in reference to my registration changes, I must give written notice to the sheriff's office where I last registered and to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) within ten (10) days of the change. .... "If I change my residence to another state, I must inform the sheriff's office where I last registered and the KBI of my change of residence and must register in the new state within ten (10) days."

Sometime around June 1, 2007, LeClair asked his landlord, Galen Thacker, to drive him to the Salina bus station. LeClair had purchased a ticket to Las Vegas, Nevada, and planned to leave Kansas permanently. At the time of his departure, LeClair was not immediately planning to settle in Las Vegas but rather use the city as a starting point to

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explore other parts of the Southwest before deciding where he wanted to live. LeClair never notified the sheriff's department he was leaving Salina.

After arriving in Las Vegas, LeClair spent a couple of days in a shelter and then traveled to Provo, Utah. On June 5, 2007, LeClair mailed a letter from Provo to the sheriff's department. The letter included the following statement: "I, Douglas M. LeClair . . . a registered sex offender in Saline County, am leaving the state of Kansas; I will not be returning. When I get to where I am going, I will contact local law enforcement." The letter did not contain an address where LeClair could be reached. The Saline County Sheriff's Department received no additional notifications or registration documents from LeClair.

LeClair stayed on the move for a time. Including his trip to Provo, LeClair spent approximately 3 weeks traveling to various cities in the Southwest. During these visits, he slept outside. Then, sometime around the third week of June, LeClair returned to Las Vegas and decided to settle there. On June 29, 2007, LeClair asked the Social Security Office to send his disability check to the Salvation Army in Las Vegas. The next day, he rented Apartment 10-C at 29 North 28th Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, LeClair registered as a sexual offender with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on July 9, 2007. LeClair's Nevada registration listed his new address as 29 North 28th Street, Apartment 10-C; Las Vegas, Nevada.

In October 2007, the State charged LeClair with five counts of failing to register as an offender as required by K.S.A. 22-4904(b). The State based each count on LeClair failing to notify anyone of his move after he left Salina. The first lapsed 10-day period and the following four 30-day periods each period served as the basis of a separate charge. So, Count I charged LeClair with failing to register any time from June 1, 2007, through June 11, 2007. Count II charged LeClair with failing to register from June 11, 2007, through July 11, 2007. Count III charged LeClair for failing to register from July 3

11, 2007, through August 11, 2007. Count IV charged LeClair with failing to register from August 11, 2007, through September 11, 2007. Finally, Count V charged LeClair with failing to register from September 11, 2007, through October 11, 2007.

The State extradited LeClair to Kansas for trial. By agreement the court tried the matter. At trial, LeClair testified that when he registered in Las Vegas, an official with the police department promised to notify Kansas authorities of his registration and new address. Indeed on March 12, 2008, the Saline County Sheriff's Department did receive an email from the Las Vegas police department that told them of LeClair's registration there on July 9, 2007. At the conclusion of the bench trial, the district court acquitted LeClair of Counts II

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