MARK GREENBLATT:

Eventually, Matthew Carr went to prison in Wisconsin, but it turns out there are hundreds of convicted military sexual offenders whose names and offenses don't appear on any public registry once they leave the service.

A nine-month investigation by Scripps News discovered at least 242 offenders who have gone under the radar, disappearing into neighborhoods across the country and, in some cases, have gone on to prey again and again.

The federal Adam Walsh Act requires civilian sex offenders to register before they're released from prison, but the military lacks the authority to do that. So, instead, the Department of Defense turns to the honor system, trusting the very sex criminals that it convicts to register themselves after they leave the military brig.

Of more than 1,300 cases reviewed, we found that one in five rapists, child molesters and sexual offenders convicted in the military do not appear on any public registry. And there are other problems. When Matt Carr showed up in New York, federal probation officials say mistaken paperwork from the military made it appear as if he was convicted of a lesser assault, just a misdemeanor that is not a sex offense there.

New York State ruled he didn't have to register. That allowed Carr to move in stealth to Wisconsin, where he never checked in with police.