AUSTIN (KXAN) – It appears a paperwork oversight allowed an Austin sex offender to neglect his duty to register with authorities for more than four years without being charged with the requisite felony offense.

Roger Dale Yancey Jr., 59, convicted of rape, was supposed to register with Austin authorities by Oct. 26, 2011, but he never did. Yancey was also supposed to register annually in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, but he did not, according to an arrest affidavit and Texas Department of Public Safety records.

APD charged Yancey with failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements Jan. 7, 2016. During the four years he spent neglecting his requirement to register, Yancey was involved in 11 incidents with APD and listed as homeless in all those incidents, an arrest affidavit states. During that time period, Yancey was also listed on the DPS’s public sex offender registry as residing at 1137 Gunter St. in Austin.It appears a paperwork oversight led to the problem.

An APD spokesperson said the city’s sex offender unit did not receive the necessary paperwork from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice when that department released Yancey from jail. TDCJ was supposed to send paperwork to APD’s Sex Offender Apprehension and Registration Unit (SOAR), indicating Yancey would be living in Austin, an APD spokesperson said.

TDCJ “didn’t send the paperwork to notify the SOAR unit,” said an APD spokesperson. “That is the issue.”

But that may not be the case, according to TDCJ.

TDCJ spokesperson Jason Clark checked his department’s records, which show TDCJ did send Yancey’s paperwork to Austin notifying authorities the repeat criminal would be living within the city limits.

“Our records show TDCJ faxed and mailed forms CR-32 and CR-35 (pre-release notification forms) to the Austin Police Department on October 18th [2011], ” Clark said in an email. Clark also provided the prerelease forms to KXAN, which can be seen here and here.

The oversight allowed Yancey to go years without being charged with a third-degree felony. Aside from his 1979 sex-assault conviction, Yancey has been convicted of multiple felonies.

Burglary (1976)

Marijuana possession (1977)

Burglary of vehicle (1985)

Burglary of habitation (1988)

Possession of cocaine (1992)

Criminal trespass (2010)

Possession of a controlled substance in a drug-free zone (2011)

In a previous interview regarding sex offender registration, APD Sgt. Elizabeth Donegan said the SOAR unit monitors over 1,900 convicted sex offenders, and the unit is doing the best it can with the limited resources it has.

“Are there sex offenders that could possibly be falling through the cracks? Yes,” said Donegan.

Sex offenders like Yancey are required to register their whereabouts and update authorities on aspects of their life, such as new jobs, vehicles and online personas. The law required Yancey to register once a year for the rest of his life, some sex offenders must register more frequently. The law is intended to keep the public aware of where sex offenders live.

KXAN previously reported on other Austin sex offenders that went for months, if not years, without registering as sex offenders before they were charged with the crime.

In one case, sex offenders William Joe Galbreath went two years without registering in Austin before he was charged, according to an arrest affidavit.

MAP: Sex Offenders in Travis County

KXAN has mapped all the registered sex offenders in Travis County that have an address. KXAN created this map with data obtained from DPS on Oct. 22, 2015. The data in the map is subject to change. Transient, homeless and incarcerated sex offenders are not included on this map.

For a current listing of all sex offenders in your area, visit the DPS sex offender search website.