Sex Offender Being Classified 9 Years After Release

CANTON — More than nine years after being released from St. Lawrence County jail, a convicted sex offender was never classified. The oversight will be corrected today in St. Lawrence County Court.

Ryan VanBeek, then 23, was convicted in April 2001 of attempted third-degree rape, a misdemeanor. He was sentenced in St. Lawrence County Court by Judge Eugene L. Nicandri to 180 days in county jail.

Mr. VanBeek, then a Fort Drum soldier, admitted trying to have sex with the 20-year-old wife of another soldier in April 2000. The incident took place in the town of Fowler during a drinking party.

Upon his release on Aug. 20, 2001, no sex-offender registration hearing was held. The state Division of Criminal Justice Services, which oversees the state's sex offender registry, noticed the error in April.

A sex-offender registration hearing for Mr. VanBeek is scheduled for today before acting County Judge Kathleen M. Rogers. The length of his registration will depend upon his sex- offender classification.

Defense attorney Richard S. Candee, representing Mr. VanBeek, said recently that his client consented to being classified a Level 1, or low risk, sex offender. He hasn't closed the door on filing motions to have the conviction vacated or expunged.