Buchanan County Sheriff releases information from Halloween offender check

By: Darren Doyle

BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. (KQTV) -- Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett has released the 2025 Halloween compliance numbers for registered sex offenders in the county.

A total of 252 registered sex offenders were checked on Halloween. Of those, 210 were found to be compliant with the Missouri statute, which prohibits their participation in Halloween-related activities.

Thirty-seven of the offenders were verified as being at work during the checks, while 17 unhoused offenders reported to the lobby of the Sheriff's Office that evening.

Twenty-three violations were submitted to the Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney for potential charges resulting from the compliance checks. Twenty-one of those were violations of the Halloween statute, and two were related to residency restrictions.

The evening’s operation was led by Investigator Kenny Shryock and Sex Offender Analyst Cindy Ownby, assisted by 34 Sheriff's Deputies, three administrative aides from the Sheriff’s Office, as well as a member of the St. Joseph Police Department and a Deputy from the U.S. Marshals Service.