7 Sex Offenders In Lake Forest, Lake Bluff: 2023 Safety Map

LAKE FOREST, IL — There are seven sex offenders registered with home addresses in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, four fewer than a year earlier, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

As of October 2023, all but one are listed as non-compliant with the requirements of sex offender registration.

Michael J. Richter, 47, of Lake Bluff, was convicted in Lake County of a charge related to child sexual abuse imagery of a 10-year-old when he was 41 and has failed to maintain accurate registration records, according to the registry.

The registry is maintained by Illinois State Police, which directed questions about non-compliant offenders to local police agencies.

One Lake Bluff offender is currently registered as homeless and another registered in Lake Forest address is currently in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Wojciech Dzierzanowski, 51, was sentenced in 2021 to nearly four decades in state prison after pleading guilty to a dozen counts of sexual abuse and assault.

The below map indicates the registered addresses of sex offenders in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff. Pins on the map represent addresses of offenders convicted of sex crimes. When selected, they will display information about the registered offender at that address.

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In Illinois, registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. They may not appear in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday characters, such as Santa or the Easter Bunny, in public. Registered sex offenders, however, may wear a Halloween costume in their home, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries play a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website, estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child.

The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.

The Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers, a nonprofit organization for clinicians, researchers, educators, law enforcement and court officials involved in sexual abuse cases, cautions that children do not face a heightened risk during the Halloween season: "There is no change in the rate of sexual crimes by non-family members during Halloween. That was true both before and after communities enacted laws to restrict the activities of registrants during Halloween. The crimes that do increase around Halloween are vandalism and property destruction, as well as theft, assault, and burglary."

Related:

• NARSOL Objects To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Offenders
• Why Patch Publishes Sex Offender Registry Maps