A couple of weeks ago, by chance, one coworker was looking at a new home in a zip code 40 miles from work and checked the offenders registry. It showed another coworker with a rap sheet that included two convictions and 5 years in jail at age 42 for offenses against children under 14. That was in 1984. It spread around the campus in minutes. The convict was let go in just a few days time (he had worked there for many years in a professional position). The registries work in mysterious ways.
A lady on an email list I am on looked up someone on the national database and freaked when she found a church worker who visited her family on the list.