WARREN, Ohio - It's information parents, and caregivers need to be aware of - whether a potential child predator is living nearby.

Hundreds of sex offenders live among us across the valley.

21 News went along with the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office during its two-day sex offender sweep to provide viewers with an exclusive look at what it takes to make sure offenders are following the law.

The department started doing the sweeps at random three years ago when the new administration took over. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification unit also conducts checks and monitors the whereabouts of registered offenders throughout the year.

During the sweep, they visited residential neighborhoods and knocked on doors without advance notice. Deputies say their biggest fear is that an offender out of prison could re-offend.

"This is a concerted effort on our part to let those who are registering know that we are going to be checking on them and not only that, the local jurisdictions know where they're at and they're going to be checking on them as well," Russ Molinatto said, a deputy sheriff with the SORN Division.

Molinatto would like to think that enforcement is helping to drive down the total number of offenders in the county.

They search for any indication the offenders could still be a risk to others or lying about their actual residence.

"Kind of a telltale sign of a violation is if we come in and we find toys in the home," Paul Monroe said, Trumbull County Sheriff. "Probably shouldn't be there, coloring books, things that a child would have."

Victims can range in age, some as young as 18 months to 70 years old.

The pandemic isn't slowing the department down. In September, deputies checked on all 222 registered sex offenders in Trumbull County.

While most were found to comply, two were not. Deputy Molinatto says they're under investigation, and warrants were issued after questions surfaced about their residency claims.

After seeing the enforcement in action, we wanted to know just how many more are missing.

A 21 News investigation found 275 registered sex offenders are in non-compliance in the state of Ohio.

Counties with the highest in Northeast Ohio are Cuyahoga County with 32 and Summit County with 40.

In the valley, Trumbull County has two, Mahoning County has three, and Columbiana County has two sex offenders not reporting were they live, which they're required to do by law.

We also found Mahoning County has over 100 more registered sex offenders compared to Trumbull County.

Homeless offenders are tough to track, and they often end up at motels. By law, sex offenders have to register an address with the county sheriff's office, even if it's a shelter or a motel.

"Where they can register homeless is limited, and we try to do that here in Trumbull County," Gabe Wildman said, assistant prosecutor for Trumbull County.

Wildman is a key member of the child abuse prosecution unit, which investigates crimes against children. He sees an average of three to five failure to register cases a month. The unit sees a variety of cases that sometimes can involve someone a parent thought they could trust.

"We see sex crimes that are horrific; we see child rape, we see child pornography, we see trusted caregivers sort of in those roles," he said.

A quick search of your address on the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office website shows how close a registered offender may live near you.

"You can see within a mile of your home how many sexual offenders live in your area," Monroe said. "There might be nobody, but if you have children or grandchildren, you might want to know about this."

Wildman agrees that awareness always helps.

"The only thing scarier than living next to a sex offender is not knowing that you live next to a sex offender," Wildman said.

Parents are urged to talk with their kids about apps and websites where predators could be lurking. Wildman says the app Kik is notorious for them to use while searching for minors.

"That's an app that I wouldn't allow my children to have," Wildman said. "We see a whole bunch of activity on that, a whole bunch of cases have come through that."