No Way Out

Constable Victor Trevino, who has a squad that checks on the 450 or so registered sex offenders in his Precinct Six, says this was hardly a case of someone trying to elude registration. His officers made the arrest.

"He wasn't trying to hide -- we knew where to find him," says Trevino. "It's a nitpicky case, but we don't have a choice. It's not up to us to make a judgment call."

Hester says she first sent the deputy constables to advise Dewey that he needed to register his new address as the Star of Hope.

Buckley, however, says Dewey simply doesn't have an address to report. "Unfortunately, because he's homeless, he may spend a week at a shelter, then a week at another. He doesn't know where he's going to be day to day.

"He doesn't have a right to be at the Star of Hope," says Buckley. "It's not his address. They can kick him out at any time."

Hill says that Hester told him in November that "Mr. Dewey knows what's going on. He's not going to get away with it this time."

Buckley says he hopes there can be a negotiated settlement that doesn't include a prison term, because of Dewey's poor health.

"If they punish him as a felon for this, I don't think he'll ever see the light of day. Two years might be a life sentence for Dewey," says Buckley. "I'm hoping we can work something out where there's some kind of mutual understanding that this won't happen again.

"The problem is that he remains a homeless person without any resources," says Buckley. "You can't just tell a guy not to be homeless."