Wendy Williams vowed to continue her coverage about the arrest of Kenneth Petty following his failure to register as a sex offender in the state of California — and, she delivered. While fans at her March 11 show were waiting to hear her drag Nicki Minaj, just as she did the day prior, Wendy took a different approach.
“There’s a bigger picture,” the talk show host, 55, began. “What do we do about our kids?” she asked before declaring that her reaction was “not so much about Nicki [Minaj], it’s about how do you keep your kids protected?” Wendy then brought in a friend, who she identified as a “crime expert,” Billy Stanton, to explain how the registry of sex offenders works.
“It may vary from state to state, but when you’re a convicted sex offender, you file with the state, you give them your name,address, DNA sample and fingerprints — all of that good stuff so law enforcement can track you,” Stanton explained. “Now, if you move, it’s incumbent upon you to notify the new place of residence to law enforcement so they can track you too… Once you’re registered to the state, the state kicks it up to the feds, and that’s how he get caught.”
Wendy later asked, “Is there jail time if you don’t register [as a sex offender]?”
“Well, this is where it gets hanky here because they’re looking for the background, the circumstances. Now, if Mr. Petty’s crimes were anything but, he has some high dollar money, he’s probably hired a high power attorney,” Stanton said. “My guess is, he’s not going to do any hard time.” To keep safe and take precaution, Stanton suggested getting a “pedophile app” to highlight sex offenders in your area.
U.S. Marshals confirmed to HollywoodLife that Kenneth Petty was arrested on Wednesday, March 4 after failing to register as a sex offender in California. — Something residents of that specific state are required to do within a certain amount of time of moving, according to California’s Megan’s Law. Kenneth moved to California in July 2019.
According to the docs obtained by HollywoodLife on March 4, Kenneth’s criminal history includes a 1995 conviction for first-degree attempted rape, which stemmed from an incident with a 16-year-old girl in 1994. He served time in New York state prison for the crime and was required to register as a sex offender in the state.