Sex Offenders
January 26, 2012
Police looking for missing registered sex offender
Local law enforcement is searching for parolee and registered sex offender, Gilbert Avalos Jr., who removed his GPS tracking ankle monitor and his whereabouts are unknown.
Avalos is a Hispanic male, 23 years old, 5’8” tall, 195 pounds with black hair, brown eyes...
LINK - KGET.com
January 26, 2012
Yuba rape suspect released in December
An Olivehurst man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at knife-point last week served seven months of a two-year sentence, with credits for time served, and was released in late December, authorities said, but Joseph Scott Mason did not recieve an early release from prison, the California Department of Corrections said Thursday.
“Realignment did not have anything to do with (Mason’s) release date,” said Luis Patino, spokesman for the state corrections department. “He would still have been at exactly the same time.”
Mason, 48, was arrested Monday after Yuba County sheriff’s deputies said he raped a 46-year-old woman at least twice last week...
LINK - Appeal-Democrat.com
January 17, 2012
Sex offender arrested after failing to register
A 40-year-old parolee remained today in Tehama County jail after being arrested on Friday for failing to register as a sex offender, deputies said this morning.
Dwayne Lawrence Dillman, who had resided in Redding, allegedly failed to register with authorities as a sex offender after moving from Shasta County to the Bowman Road area of Cottonwood, deputies said...
LINK - Redding.com
January 14, 2012
SWAT, standoff, shooting, sex crimes, speedsters and other incidents encountered Jan. 8 to 14.
Relax, Livermore. The week is over.
Along with an arrested local teacher, a mid-town shooting and a drag-racing collision on the east side, the Livermore Police Department also nabbed a wanted parolee deemed armed and dangerous on Elizabeth Court.
A reportedly stolen vehicle, spotted in a driveway on the 300 block of Elizabeth Court Jan. 9 at 1 p.m., led police to determine wanted suspect Eric Ontiveros, 24, was inside the residence, authorities said...
LINK - Livermore.Patch.com
January 14, 2012
Parolee Arrested After Sexual Activity With Teen Girl
Officers responding to reports of shots fired Friday night instead found a parolee engaged in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl inside a vacant Sacramento home, according to police logs.
Sacramento police officers responded to a residence in the 2600 block of Altos Avenue shortly after 8 p.m. and found a man in his 30s with the girl. They reportedly told officers the sexual conduct was consensual...
LINK - CBSLocal.com
January 13, 2012
Parolee arrested after removing ankle bracelet
A convicted sex offender who removed his ankle monitor and failed to report to his parole officer was arrested at a Santa Cruz motel Thursday night, Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said.
Kevin Allen, 45, was on parole for felony sexual battery, false imprisonment and corporal injury to a spouse. He was being monitored via ankle bracelet...
LINK - SantaCruzSentinel.com
December 28, 2011
Phillip Lewis, fugitive sex offender, arrested in Rochester
A paroled sex offender from California who had been on the run for more than two years was arrested without incident Friday in Rochester.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force found Phillip Lewis at an apartment in the 1200 block of North Clinton Avenue. He was charged as a fugitive from justice and taken to Monroe County Jail.
Lewis, 54, was wanted by the California Division of Parole for absconding and failure to register as a sex offender...
LINK - DemocratandChronicle.com
December 25, 2011
Parolee gets 10 years in animal abuse case
A Sacramento judge has sentenced a parolee convicted of animal abuse to serve 10 years in state prison and ordered him to register as a sex offender.
Robert DeShields was ordered to serve the maximum prison sentence Friday after being convicted of felony animal cruelty for the sexual abuse of a Chihuahua mix named "Shadow," the Sacramento Bee reported...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
December 19, 2011
CCA private prison guard convicted of sexual assault gets 2 days in jail?
In September 2009 Tanya Guzman-Martinez was sent to Arizona's Eloy Detention Center for undocumented workers to await deportation back to Mexico. While in custody, Guzman-Martinez, who is transgendered, requested asylum under the Convention Against Torture; her argument was that she would be persecuted upon returning to Mexico for being biologically male but identifying as female. While Guzman-Martinez was eventually granted asylum in 2010, she nevertheless faced persecution and abuse as a result of being transgendered—just not from Mexican thugs.
According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union, Guzman-Martinez was harassed and assaulted by Corrections Corp. of America guards and inmates at Eloy between September 2009 and her release in May 2010. (CCA, which owns Eloy, contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented workers.)...
LINK - Reason.com
December 5, 2011
Sex Offenders Live Closer to Children as Litigation Unfolds
Five years after California voters approved Jessica’s Law, a yearlong legal challenge in state courts is allowing potentially dangerous sex offenders to live closer to children.
Paroled sex offenders claim the residency requirements under Proposition 83, otherwise known as Jessica's Law, are so strict that many have turned to prison or homelessness to survive. They are fighting the requirement that any registered sex offender is barred from living within 2,000 feet of any school or playground where children gather.
In Nov. 2010 a LA County Superior Court judge ruled the restriction increased the homeless population of paroled sex offenders, endangering the public and issued a stay. The ruling was temporary, however, as a flood of lawsuits from other paroled sex offenders flooded the courts...
LINK - Glendora.Patch.com
November 15, 2011
Sex offender parolee back in custody - one month after release
Less than a month after his release from a Los Angeles county jail, sex offender and former priest Michael Stephen Baker is behind bars again.
The 63-year-old is accused of violating his parole after a GPS device showed he was within 50 yards of St. Pius V Catholic school in Buena Park, according to state corrections officials.
Baker is on parole for molesting a boy he met at St. Hilary in Pico Rivera and a second boy at St. Columbkille in Los Angeles...
LINK - SGVTribune.com
October 5, 2011
Joseph Megna in Custody
The 29-year-old convicted sex offender who ran away from a prisoner transport van that had stopped along Interstate 94 on Tuesday, was recaptured around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol reported that combines and other equipment were brought to the scene of the cornfield 5 1/2 mile northwest of Tower city, where Joseph Megna was hiding, around 12:30 p.m..
The Washington State man was being transported from the east coast to California to face sex crime charges. He was scheduled to then be returned to Washington State, where authorities are awaiting to file new charges against him...
LINK - KSJBam.com
October 5, 2011
Corn Field Mowed Down to Find Escaped Sex Offender
Farmers are cutting down a massive North Dakota corn field today in an effort to flush out a convicted sex offender who bolted from a prison transport van and dashed into the field of eight-foot high corn stalks.
Joseph Megna, 29, escaped from the prison van around 4 p.m. Tuesday while the seven-passenger van had pulled over at a rest stop. The van was en route to Washington state where Megna was facing charges of child molestation. He was previously convicted on sex offense charges, and was being transported from Florida to face the new charges, police said...
LINK - ABCNews.go.com
October 5, 2011
More on escaped sex offender - private van en route to California before escape
Several dozen officers have zeroed on a farm field about five miles northwest of here in the second large-scale search for a suspect in eight days.
Barnes County Chief Deputy Don Fiebiger said 40 to 50 officers have surrounded a 1,000-acre cornfield after a deputy spotted 29-year-old Joseph Megna, a convicted high-risk sex offender who fled a transport van Tuesday afternoon, near a propane tank at a farm about 8 this morning.
An airplane and helicopter are also being used to search for Megna, who is not wearing any restraints...
LINK - InForum.com
October 5, 2011
Parolee gets life for rape and beating death
A California parolee has been sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole for raping and beating to death a 76-year-old woman.
Prosecutors say 28-year-old Thedward Candler pleaded guilty earlier to first-degree murder for killing Severa Madrone, who was attacked while on her morning walk in Gardena four years ago. Candler was sentenced Tuesday.
The Torrance Daily Breeze says the woman was severely beaten with a board...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
October 3, 2011
Sex offender, drug dealer to be released from prison, sent to Glenn County
A registered sex offender and a man convicted of selling drugs will be the first two parolees to come back to Glenn County under California's prisoner realignment program.
The inmates will be released from state prison today, and will have 48 hours to report to probation officials, said Glenn County Chief Probation Officer Brandon Thompson.
Under a program established by Assembly Bill 109, and formally known as "post-release community supervision," low-level inmates from 30 state prisons will be released to county probation, where they'll complete their parolee time...
LINK - ChicoER.com
September 28, 2011
Two sex offenders arrested in Milpitas
Milpitas police managed to get one alleged sex offender and a second wanted parolee and registered sex offender off the streets in separate incidents last week.
The first incident occurred on September 20 when a Sunnyvale man was arrested for allegedly exposing himself to two women in separate incidents at Great Mall, police say.
Officers responded to the mall parking lot at about 5:20 p.m. on a report of a suspicious person in the area. Authorities say they located a 22-year-old Fremont woman who said a strange man was standing behind her car as she was attempting to back up. She told police the suspect then approached the driver’s side window, lifted his shirt and pulled down his pants, exposing his genitals...
LINK - CrimeVoice.com
September 9, 2011
Sex offender gets “day-for-day” credit, serves 1 yr of 3 yr prison sentence?
A registered sex offender spotted this week near the home of one of his victims might be forbidden to enter the entire neighborhood, if state officials get their way.
A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said families of victims who want to be notified about a parolee’s release need to file a formal request for such notification.
A Canyon Country mother complained Wednesday she didn’t receive notice from the state when a convicted sex offender was released from prison over the weekend...
LINK - The-Signal.com
September 8, 2011
Private prison (CCA) supervisor pleads guilty to molesting female detainees
A former residential supervisor at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor pleaded guilty this week to molesting women he was transporting them from the center to the airport or bus terminal.
Donald Dunn pleaded guilty to two federal deprivation of rights charges, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Dunn admitted to touching illegal female immigrants “in a sexual manner” between December 2009 and May 2010, the release said. He said that he would stop the vehicle along the way, order them to get out and convince them he was conducting a legitimate search, it said...
LINK - Statesman.com
September 8, 2011
CDCR fails to notify victim after pedophile’s release
The mother of a boy molested by a registered sex offender was shocked to see his attacker out of prison and back on the street, having received no official notification of his release Saturday.
“This is ridiculous,” Caroline Mason, of Canyon Country, said Wednesday. “We are so done with not being informed about this guy living around our kids.”
In the spring of 2010, William Greggory Babb, 50, pleaded guilty in San Fernando Superior Court to one felony of contacting a minor with the intention of engaging in lewd or lascivious behavior...
LINK - The-Signal.com
September 6, 2011
City OKs bid to restrict sex offenders
Sex offenders will be barred from hanging out near areas where children congregate under a law passed Tuesday by the Menifee City Council, which said the restrictions were needed because of an impending transfer of low-risk offenders to county supervision.
The law forbids sex offenders from loitering within 500 feet of city-designated "child safety zones," such as public parks. It allows for some exceptions, like exercising or protesting in a park, or attending religious services...
LINK - PE.com
September 6, 2011
Sex offender disabled tracking monitor
Parolee and registered sex offender Jason Aaron Carter disabled his GPS ankle monitor in the area of H and Orange streets and his whereabouts are unknown.
Carter is described as black, 35 years old, 6 feet tall, 213 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and possibly a mustache and goatee...
LINK - Bakersfield.com
September 4, 2011
Sex Offender Parolee Arrested
Merced Area State Parole Agent Berber was monitoring high risk parolee sex offenders, when he was alerted that one of the parolees had cut off their ankle monitor bracelet. Parole Agent Rochester contacted the Merced Police Department asking for assistance in locating him.
According to Parole , Jason McPherson has a conviction involving child molestation and is considered a sexual predator. Merced Police Officers as well as Parole Agents were able to locate McPherson near West Olive and Austin Avenues and took him into custody without incident. McPherson was arrested for a violation of his parole and booked into the Merced County Correctional Facility...
LINK - KSEE24.com
September 3, 2011
Parolee with history of child molestation arrested in Merced
A man with a history of sex offenses was arrested for violating his parole, Merced police said.
A state parole agent based in Merced was monitoring high-risk parolee sex offenders when he was notified that Jason McPherson, 25, of Merced, had cut off his ankle monitor bracelet...
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
August 26, 2011
Humboldt County parolee arrested in Trinity County
Trinity County Sheriff's deputies arrested Samuel L. Summers, 32, a wanted parolee out of Humboldt County and a registered sex offender who had removed his GPS monitoring device.
The Trinity County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that it acted Thursday on a tip that Summers was living at a residence in the Hayfork area near Hayfork High School...
LINK - Times-Standard.com
August 24, 2011
Sex Offender Accused of Taping Woman at OC Tanning Salon
The Orange County Sheriff's Department has arrested a 33-year-old parolee for allegedly videotaping a woman in a Mission Viejo tanning salon.
Johnny Guy Leyva was arrested on Tuesday at his mother's home in Mission Viejo...
August 23, 2011
Private prison guard accused of having sex with out-of-state inmate
A former corrections officer at a privately run prison in Hudson is under investigation for allegations that she had sex with an inmate.
Amber Gunter, 26, of Brighton, said she never had sex with the inmate, a convicted murderer form Anchorage, Alaska. Instead, she told the Tribune, she’s the victim of an ex-roommate’s revenge.
Gunter worked as a corrections officer for a year and two months at the Hudson Correctional Facility, a 1,250-bed, privately run prison in southern Weld County. The prison has contracted with the state of Alaska to house 850 prisoners there...
LINK - GreeleyTribune.com
August 16, 2011
Parolee arrested for child molestation
Investigators say a California parolee has been arrested for molesting a 4-year-old relative.
Huntington Beach police Lt. Russell Reinhart says 45-year-old Gordon Ray Bodkin was arrested Monday afternoon, hours after police released his picture.
City News Service says police got a call at 4:25 p.m. reporting Bodkin was seen in an apartment building. He was arrested without struggle and is being held without bail...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 15, 2011
Parolee Accused of Hoarding Child Porn
An Anza man was arrested today on suspicion of collecting pornographic images of children.
Jeral Steven Cooley, 30, was arrested around 10:40 a.m. in a home in the 39000 block of Bautista Road, according to John Hall, a spokesperson for the sheriff's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force.
"Investigators located that man… and also found more than 75 images of child pornography in Cooley's possession," Hall said in an emailed announcement...
LINK - Temecula.Patch.com
August 15, 2011
Parolee will be held for trial on charges of sexual abuse, battery, threats
The judge ruled in a preliminary hearing today that there is enough evidence to hold Seth Paul Dees for trial after she heard testimony from a 27-year-old woman who said Dees slapped, choked and twisted her neck to one side while forcing her to perform oral sex.
Dees, a 32-year-old parolee with a shaved head, is being charged with forcing the victim to perform oral sex, false imprisonment, criminal threats and a misdemeanor battery, according to prosecutor Andrea Tischler...
LINK - VCStar.com
August 5, 2011
Private prison guard guilty of sexual assault
A former Texas detention center guard is about to get a different view of lockup after he pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual abuse of a female detainee, the Justice Department announced this week. Contract security Officer Edwin Rodriguez, 30, was assigned to pick up meal trays from the various housing “pods” inside the detention center. Rodriguez encountered the victim outside one of the pods as she dropped off empty trays from her pod. Rodriguez pulled the woman into the guard’s bathroom located adjacent to the victim’s pod and assaulted her. The female detainee immediately reported the sexual abuse to two individuals, including a former female contract security officer supervising the pod. The abuse occurred at the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville...
LINK - Star-Telegram.com
August 2, 2011
Hearing For Parolee Accused Of Kidnapping, Raping Girl
A preliminary hearing will be held in El Cajon Tuesday for a transient parolee facing kidnapping and rape charges stemming from the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl and a similar attack on a woman in East County.
Sheriff's investigators said David Lascelles, 50, got together with the alleged victim the morning of Dec. 6, 2010, on the pretense of taking her Christmas shopping.
After the two arrived at a Wal-Mart store in unincorporated El Cajon, Lascelles allegedly pulled a pistol on the girl, took her cell phone and forced her to lie on the floor of his Mitsubishi Eagle...
LINK - 10News.com
July 22, 2011
Leggett parolee arrested in Ukiah for indecent exposure
A parolee from Leggett was arrested in Ukiah Monday after allegedly exposing himself and making a series of obscene gestures and contact with women at an Ukiah female fitness center.
Clarence Bernard Christmas, 39, of Leggett, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor indecent exposure, misdemeanor sexual battery and violating parole...
LINK - WillitsNews.com
July 18, 2011
Police Searching For Sex Offender
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Local law enforcement is searching for parolee and sex offender, Austin Jerrell Wynn III, who they said failed to register upon his release and his whereabouts are unknown.
Wynn is described as white, 31, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 235 pounds with brown hair, blue eyes, mustache and goatee...
LINK - Turnto23.com
July 18, 2011
State Auditor: Sex Offender Commitment Program Needs to be Streamlined
Our review of the state's Sex Offender Commitment Program (program) between January 2005 and September 2010 revealed the following:
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Corrections) sent more than 6,000 referrals each year from 2007 through 2010 to the Department of Mental Health (Mental Health) for evaluation as potential sexually violent predators (SVPs).
Many more offenders became potentially eligible for commitment to the program when California voters approved Jessica's Law (Proposition 83)—the law added more crimes to the list of sexually violent offenses and reduced the number of victims considered for this designation from two to one...
LINK - BSA.ca.gov
June 27, 2011
Private prison guard arrested for sexual abuse of immigrant detainee
A guard at an immigrant detention center in South Texas is scheduled to appear before a federal judge after spending the weekend in jail on a charge that he sexually abused a detainee in 2008.
The Justice Department accuses 31-year-old Edwin Rodriguez of Raymondville of having sex with a woman who was awaiting deportation at the Willacy Detention Center in October 2008. The court hearing is set for Monday afternoon.
Rodriguez was an employee of Management & Training Corporation, or MTC, a contractor that operates the facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
LINK - VictoriaAdvocate.com
June 20, 2011
Sex offenders nabbed in motel raid
Children's toys, magazines and underwear have been found in a Wilmington motel where dozens of paroled child molesters and other sex offenders live.
The items were discovered when a massive police task force descended on the Harbor Inn late Friday.
The sweep ended with eight parolees and one probationer heading back to jail for violating the terms of their release.
Registered sex offenders are not allowed to possess items that would attract children...
LINK - DailyBreeze.com
May 27, 2011
CDCR to privatize GPS tracking of parolees
In California, convicted sex offenders and some gang members are fitted with GPS tracking devices when they get out of prison on parole. But that's a lot of little blips on a screen for parole agents to keep track of- too many, argues the state.
So they're asking for a private company to take-over some of the work.
In yearly operations, California Department of Corrections officers have made dozens of arrests at the State Fair. That’s some place with lots of kids, and lots of trouble for some convicts to get into.
So how did they know the parolees were there? GPS monitoring devices, strapped to he convict's ankles...
LINK - Fox40.com
May 26, 2011
Calif to change sex-offender tracking
Buried under a tidal wave of electronic data, California parole agents next week will significantly change how they monitor and respond to alarms from tracking devices that are affixed to released sex offenders, The Associated Press has learned.
An internal California Department of Corrections report obtained by The AP found that parole agents spend 44 percent of their work weeks reviewing the computer-tracked movements of parolees, and just 12 percent in the field.
They'll get some relief on Wednesday, when the companies that provide the satellite-linked ankle bracelets will begin screening the tens of thousands of electronic alarms that flood in each month. The companies will forward the most serious alerts to parole agents while weeding out those that signal more mundane problems such a low battery or lost cell phone signal...
LINK - KSRO.com
March 2, 2011
Riverside police seek sex offender parolee
Riverside police sought the public's help Wednesday in locating a convicted high-control sex offender and parole violator.
Riverside Police are seeking David Ray McReynolds. McReynolds is wanted for parole violations. He is a high-control sex offender...
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
February 22, 2011
Judge rules Jessica’s Law is unconstitutional
A San Diego judge has ruled that Jessica's Law's residency restrictions—which ban all registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park—are unconstitutional. For now, the ruling applies only to four petitioners, all registered sex offenders from San Diego County, who argued that Jessica's Law has forced them into homelessness. The ruling, however, will serve as the basis for deciding whether roughly 132 additional petitioners should be exempt from the residency restrictions.
Offenders who’ve committed a crime against a child under 14 and determined to be at high risk for re-offense aren't eligible for relief ...
LINK - SDCityBeat.com
January 28, 2011
Prowler found nude with stolen undergarments
Responding to a homeowner’s report of a prowler, Arroyo Grande Police officers found David Beeman nude, with a large bag full of women’s and children underwear and adult pornography in the caller’s hot tub on January 25.
Beeman, 32, was arrested and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail for prowling. He was later released on his own recognizance...
LINK - CalCoastNews.com
January 28, 2011
Parolee gets 5 years for molesting girl on a bus
A convicted sex offender and parolee who molested a teenage girl aboard a public bus in front of her friends was sentenced on Friday to five years in state prison.
James Edward Norkin, 50, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of lewd acts on a child with sentencing allegations and enhancements for being a stranger to the victim and previously being convicted and having been sent to prison for more than five years.
Norkin was already in custody at Chino State Prison when he was identified by prison staff as the suspect in a molestation that occurred aboard an Orange County Transportation Authority bus...
LINK - OCRegister.com
January 5, 2011
Homeless parolee gets nine years for attempted rape
A homeless parolee who tried to rape an acquaintance at San Diego City College Aug. 10 was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in state prison.
Steven Allen Sinclair, 26, pleaded guilty in September to assault with intent to commit rape. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide.
The sexual assault at the college reported late on Aug. 10, according to San Diego police...
LINK - CBS8.com
November 16, 2010
Allegedly drunken parolee arrested for fondling woman
A parolee who reportedly drunkenly fondled a woman at a Palmdale Chevron was arrested Tuesday, a sheriff's deputy said.
Jeffrey Corkhill, 30, of Palmdale, was arrested for the assault with intent to commit rape and violating his parole, Deputy Robbie Royster said.
The crime allegedly happened about 5 a.m. Thursday in the 3000 block of Rancho Vista Boulevard, he said. A woman stopped to get gasoline, and the suspect started making "inappropriate comments," Royster said...
LINK - DailyBreeze.com
October 10, 2010
Roseville police: Woman wakes to find sex offender in bed
A man wanted for failing to register as a sex offender and violating parole is behind bars after climbing into a sleeping woman's bed Saturday morning, according to police.
The victim alerted Roseville police at 2:30 a.m. when she suddenly awoke to find a man, identified as 28-year-old Anteus Magee, lying next to her, said Roseville police Sgt. Cal Walstad.
The parolee ran from the home before authorities arrived, Walstad said. Investigators set up a perimeter and canvassed the neighborhood where they found Magee just after 4:30 a.m...
LINK - News10.net
October 8, 2010
Salinas Child Molester on the Run
SALINAS, Calif-Police need your help to find 68-year-old Thomas Meza Lagunes, a sex offender who is on the run. The California Department of Corrections has issued a statewide alert to be on the lookout for a convicted child molester.
Central Coast News looked up Thomas Lagunes on the Megan's Law web site and found out that his last residence is in Salina on Sunrise Street.
Officials didn't tell us any specifics about this alert, but they did say when sex offenders like Lagunes are released from jail and don't show up to get a GPS monitoring bracelet, an alert is then sent out so other agencies can help track them down...
LINK - KCBA.com
September 15, 2010
Prison officials dispute study on sexual violence behind bars
State prison officials are disputing findings from a new federal study that identified two California prisons as having some of the highest rates of sexual violence in the nation.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics ranked two California adult men’s prisons among six others nationwide as “high rate” facilities based on the prevalence of “inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization.”
The report gave the California Medical Facility a prevalence rate of 5.8 percent and Pleasant Valley State Prison a rate of 5.5 percent. The national rate for adult male inmates was 1.9 percent...
LINK - CaliforniaWatch.org
September 15, 2010
Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008-2009
Between October 2008 and December 2009, BJS completed the second National Inmate Survey (NIS-2) in 167 state and federal prisons, 286 jails, and 10 special confinement facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Military, and correctional authorities in Indian country. The survey, conducted by RTI International (Research Triangle Park, NC), was administered to 81,566 inmates ages 18 or older, including 32,029 inmates in state and federal prisons, 48,066 in jails, 957 in ICE facilities, 399 in military facilities, and 115 in Indian country jails.
The NIS-2 is part of the National Prison Rape Statistics Program, which collects administrative records of reported sexual violence, and allegations of sexual victimization directly from victims, through surveys of adult inmates in prisons and jails and surveys of youth held in juvenile correctional facilities. Administrative records have been collected annually since 2004. Reports by victims of sexual victimization have been collected since 2007...
September 15, 2010
Bureau of State Audits Reviewing Dept. of Mental Health, Sex Offender Program
2010-116 AUDIT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES—Department of Mental Health, Sex Offender Commitment Program
The audit by the Bureau of State Audits will provide independently developed and verified information related to sexually violent predator (SVP) laws and Department of Mental Health’s (Mental Health) Sex Offender Commitment Program and would include, but not be limited to, the following...
August 28, 2010
Update: Parolee accused of sexual assault
A parolee has been identified as the suspect in a sexual assault that occurred in Cathedral City Friday afternoon.
Willie Rashaw, 29, is accused of raping the victim about 4:10 p.m. in the 37-200 block of Palo Verde, according to Cathedral City police.
The Cathedral City man had been convicted for carjacking and was recently released from prison...
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
July 15, 2010
More problems with GPS, sex offender parolees
A glitch in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's monitoring system falsely notified officials that sex offenders were entering the California State Fair.
Many sex offenders are not allowed in the fair; the department set up a red violation zone that around Cal Expo that will alert them whenever one on parole wearing a GPS-monitoring device enters the fairgrounds.
The monitoring system worked perfectly Tuesday when KCRA 3 put it to the test.
Then, on the fair's opening day, parole agents received alerts that more than one sex offender was inside...
LINK - KCRA.com
June 30, 2010
GPS Failing to Follow Sex Offenders
This story remains more than heartbreaking, especially when we heard from the families of both Chelsea King and Amber Dubois at the sentencing of their admitted killer John Albert Gardner. At one point Chelsea's father even said, “I am not alone in my frustration with a justice system that 10 years ago identified this coward (John Gardner) as a serious and violent threat to young girls and failed to imprison him and monitor him for the rest of his life.”
Right now in California, more than 7,000 paroled sex offenders are wearing GPS trackers to monitor their movements and in the last four months alone, 31 thousand alerts sent out by these devices were reportedly not properly followed up on. Something that upset Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher...
LINK - FoxNews.com
May 29, 2010
Sex offenders falling through cracks
The men who check in Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Lynda Cummings at the Marysville Police Department are not unlike sex offender registrants in other cities and towns across the United States.
Some of them have been convicted of and have done time for crimes that involved children; others, for offenses involving only adults. Some have offenses dating back several decades and have convictions for non-sex-related crimes as well.
But unlike registrant lists in surrounding jurisdictions, Cummings' list includes no parolee addresses.
Proposition 83, better known as Jessica's Law, forbids any registrant on parole or probation from living within 2,000 feet of a school, park or playground. And because Marysville is so densely concentrated, there is not a single foot of space within the city limits that is legal for registrant parolees to reside...
LINK - Appeal-Democrat.com
May 10, 2010
California parole agency breaks up sex-offender encampment in Anaheim
The beat-up station wagons and peeling RVs had been turning up outside the Coronado Street parole office in Anaheim for months, parked through the night. But in recent weeks it seemed they filled the whole block.
In Orange County, where more than a third of the paroled sex offenders are homeless, police estimated that 30 or 40 had taken to camping on the streets in this industrial stretch.
The situation appeared to stem from Jessica's Law, the 2006 statute that forbids sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or other places where children gather, severely limiting lodging options in densely populated cities...
LINK - LATimes.com
February 24, 2010
Women Call Private Prison Guards Predators
Two former inmates of a Corrections Corporation of America prison say CCA employees preyed on them sexually and banished them to solitary lockdown when they complained. One woman claims a CCA guard paid her "sugar daddy" on the outside, then demanded, and received, sex in prison.
Jessica Rubio and Serbennia Chase filed separate, $20 million federal lawsuits against the private prison contractor, alleging civil rights violations at the company's Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) at the District of Columbia Jail.
Rubio, who was arrested and sentenced in 2008 for sexual solicitation, says CTF employee "Sgt. Powell" paid her for sex four times when he should have been helping her "turn her life around..."
LINK - CourtHouseNews.com
February 4, 2010
Federal Corrections Reports
Find and read reports regarding Federal Corrections; ranging in subject from Capitol Punishment, to Family, Leadership, to Technology and much more...
January 8, 2010
Kentucky Gov Orders Female Inmates Removed from CCA Private Prison
Kentucky's governor has ordered some 400 female inmates removed from a corporate-run prison after allegations of sexual misconduct by male guards.
Gov. Steve Beshear ordered the women moved from Otter Creek Correctional Complex to a state-run prison starting by July 1.
The move comes four months after the Kentucky Department of Corrections called for security improvements at the prison in a report on 18 alleged cases of sexual misconduct by guards there.
The prison is operated by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America…
LINK - ABCNews.GO.com
November 11, 2009
Crime Alert: Authorities seek suspected sex offenders
The California Department of Corrections and Sacramento Police Department are seeking two suspects wanted on felony warrants for reportedly failing to register as sex offenders ($20,000 bail) and violating parole (no bail), Sacramento Crime Alert officials report.
Juan Torres is described as age 40, 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 172 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He is also known as Juan Soto Torres, Juan Torres Soto and Juan Soto. According to authorities, he was last known to live in the 5900 block of Sampson Boulevard in the Fruitridge area of Sacramento.
Robert Morris Dickson (right photo) is described as age 41, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 145 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. old white male. He is 5′ 8″ tall and weighs 145, with brown hair and brown eyes. He is also known as Robert Morriss Dickson and Bobby Dickson…
LINK - SacBee.com
October 28, 2009
Sex offenders decorate for Halloween
A yard full of Halloween decorations has one woman spooked.
A viewer contacted 17 News concerned a registered sex offender is attracting children to his home by putting dozens of Halloween decorations in his yard. However, the Kern County Sheriff's Department says the decorations are legal because the sex offender is not on parole or probation.
According to his wife, registered sex offender Matt Gordon lives in his Rosedale home with his family, including his grandson…
LINK - KGET.com
September 29, 2009
State Inspector Looks Into Garrido Parole Supervision
California's inspector general is conducting an investigation into the way the state Department of Corrections oversaw Phillip Garrido's parole supervision.
Garrido and his wife Nancy are charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of Jaycee Lee Dugard.
Several state parole officers visited the Garrido residence over the years after Dugard's kidnapping, but did not discover that she was allegedly living in the back yard with the two daughters authorities say Garrido fathered…
LINK - News10.net
September 28, 2009
California Struggles With Paroled Sex Offenders
Darrell Littleton calls them "his guys," but he does not trust them.
One got drunk and exposed himself to a jogger in a public park. Another was a fire captain until he molested his 13-year-old stepdaughter, went to prison and lost his wife, his job and his home. Now the man sleeps behind a drive-through restaurant.
Mr. Littleton is a parole agent, and "his guys," about 40 in all, are paroled sex offenders. On a September morning, as he does each day, Mr. Littleton fired up his laptop computer to check on his charges; the signals from their global-positioning ankle bracelets trace dotted trails cutting through a Google satellite map. Mr. Littleton tracks them, calls them frequently and shows up unannounced to make sure they are behaving themselves. But they still struggle to stay straight…
LINK - NYTimes.com
September 25, 2009
3 Sex offender parolees busted at county fair
Three parolees in Auburn came under the state's "Eagle Eye" this month.
According to Gordon Hinkle, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, "Operation Eagle Eye" was a success at fairs in the state this year.
The operation was used this year to monitor sex offenders on parole.
Using GPS techonogly, parole agents monitored any sex offender parolee that visitited the Gold Country Fair in Auburn…
LINK - AuburnJournal.com
September 1, 2009
The trouble with ankle bracelets
Since 1999, when he was placed under California parole supervision for a 1976 rape in Nevada, Phillip Garrido, 58, was subject to drug testing, required to wear a GPS device and subject to twice-monthly visits by his state parole officer. In 2006, a neighbor called 911 to report that children were living in Garrido's backyard in squalor, but the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department failed to search the registered sex offender's premises.
Last month, UC Berkeley police Officer Allison Jacobs became suspicious of Garrido, figured out that he was a registered sex offender who was accompanied by two adolescent girls, and contacted Garrido's parole officer. Jacobs told reporters that when she mentioned the girls, who Garrido said were his daughters, the parole officer responded, " 'Garrido doesn't have any daughters.'"
Garrido and his 55-year-old wife, Nancy, have been arraigned on a total of 29 charges of rape and kidnapping in connection with the 1991 abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard. They have pleaded not guilty…
LINK - SFGate.com
May 21, 2009
Parolee accused of three molestations
A 28-year-old parolee suspected of child molestation was arrested by Merced County Sheriff's investigators earlier this month, after deputies received a tip about the alleged abuse from Child Protective Services.
Anthony Giron is accused of inappropriately touching three girls on separate occasions while they were sleeping, said Tom MacKenzie, sheriff's spokesman. MacKenzie said the allegations came to light May 13 after the sheriff's department received a tip that Giron was molesting an 11-year-old girl.
Detective Alex Barba interviewed Giron and placed him under arrest. Giron was on parole for narcotics violations…
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
April 22, 2009
Arrest made for alleged sexual assault
A 24-year-old parolee may be headed back to prison after being arrested by Merced police for allegedly trying to sexually assault a 19-year-old man in Applegate Park.
Mario Fonseca of Planada was arrested Monday in the John Latorraca Correctional Facility on suspicion of committing the crime, according to Cmdr. Floyd Higdon.
Fonseca had already been in jail since Thursday on suspicion of violating his parole, when police arrested him Monday on the new charges…
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
April 10, 2009
CDCR Administration Didn’t Warn Public, Police About Runaway Predator
…Parole agents told Valle that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation usually thinks it has a better chance of catching runaway parolees if there is no public outcry, which might make the parolee more careful about hiding.
"We don't normally notify the public," said Rodney Armstrong, administrator of the local CDCR parole division office. "It's on a case-by-case basis. We look at the case, and if would aid us in finding the person, then we would think about notifying the public. Our number one priority is public safety," Armstrong said. "We have to look at each case and decide if that would help or hinder us."
The department thought it best not to notify the public when Riley cut the satellite tracking device off his ankle on March 21. The GPS device worked perfectly, sending an immediate alarm to agents, who checked the South Vineland Road group home where Riley was supposed to be living. He was gone.
Even though high-risk sex offenders are the responsibility of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Bakersfield Police Department regularly sends detectives to check on them. That's how the BPD discovered Riley had gone into hiding…
LINK - KGET.com
April 1, 2009
Parolee Accused Of Sacramento Sex Assault
A parolee was arrested early Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in a Sacramento apartment, police said.
Darrell Rogers, 37, was taken to jail on suspicion of sexual battery, forced oral copulation, assault, burglary and violating parole.
Rogers was also being sought for two warrants, jail records show…
LINK - KCRA.com News Sacramento
March 19, 2009
Keeping a Watch on Paroled Sex Offenders
Since learning that six paroled sex offenders had been placed in a home on her block, Alondra Jimenez hasn't had a moment of peace.
"I just wish they would make them go away," said the mother of three young children who lives only a couple of houses away from the home where the parolees have been living since November.
"It's very dangerous for the community," she said, adding she doesn't let her children play outside anymore. "They should move them so that the children can run and have fun…"
LINK - SanFernandoSun.com
March 9, 2009
Loss of subsidy hasn’t had dramatic impact on sex offender homelessness
Concerns that a 60-day cap on a state housing subsidy for paroled sex offenders would cause a dramatic increase in homeless sexual criminals have proven unfounded, corrections officials say.
Back before the housing funds were capped earlier this year, an average of 3.5 percent of the Shasta County's 130 paroled sex offenders were homeless at any given time, said David Nichols, the administrator of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's northern division.
Since the cap, seven offenders - or about 5 percent of the county's sex offender population - have registered as transients, he said…
LINK - Redding.com
February 5, 2009
Cost Cuts Could Send Sex Offenders Underground
Paroled sex offenders say new cuts to housing assistance will likely force more of them into the streets at greater risk to public safety.
Next week, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDRC) announces new policies, including a stricter 60-day limit on paying rent for parolees newly released from prison. The agency says in the past 12 months, the state has paid out almost $20 million in housing assistance for 7,897 parolees. Almost 5,000 of those parolees are convicted sex offenders.
"A lot of the guys are of the mentality that I'm not gonna do this, ya know, and they're gonna just cut the (GPS) monitors off and go. I mean, I hear guys talking about it every day," said a 57-year-old sex offender parolee named Russ. He was just booted from his room at a downtown Sacramento hotel because his parole agent said the state won't pay his $485 rent anymore…
LINK - News10.net (Sacramento)
October 29, 2008
Sex offender checks set for Halloween
Some of those wearing law enforcement uniforms going door to door in the Redding area Halloween night might be the real deal.
Parole agents with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and local law enforcement officers will make a countywide sweep on paroled sex offenders to make sure they're not mingling with trick-or-treaters.
It's called Operation Boo.
And it's no secret that it's coming…
LINK - Redding.com
July 30, 2008
Officials monitor transient sex offenders
Voters said paroled sex offenders cannot live near a school or park, so more are saying they don't live anywhere while bouncing from place to place to avoid the tight living restrictions of Jessica's Law. Now, the state plans to bar those "transient" sex offenders from staying at any address for more than a few hours, while allowing them to settle in homeless camps, under bridges or at bus stops, including those near schools or parks.
With the new rules, parole officials aim to define what it means to "reside" somewhere under Proposition 83. The 2006 ballot measure set some of the nation's toughest sex offender laws, including lifetime GPS tracking for most sex felons and a lifetime ban on them living within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children "regularly gather."
Critics call the changes for parolees a harsh and possibly dangerous reaction to the fact that in the Bay Area and other urban centers, little housing falls outside of the 2,000-foot zones…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
June 13, 2008
11 Arrested in Sweep: Federal, state, local agencies check Shasta’s sex offenders
…About a half-dozen of the men were arrested at downtown Redding motels, said Redding police Sgt. Mike Wood. Called Operation FALCON, an acronym for "Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally," the sweep is part of an annual national event organized by the U.S. Marshals Service, Wood said..
Split into about seven teams, the law enforcement officers — from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, Redding Police Department, Shasta County Marshal's Office, Shasta County Probation Department, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshal's Office and the Shasta County district attorney's office — conducted a countywide sweep, he said.
"It's kind of a zero tolerance," Wood said…
LINK - Redding.com
April 21, 2008
Alaska won’t have to stop sending certain inmates to Arizona prisons
A bill in the Arizona state Legislature that would have stopped Alaska and other states from sending certain inmates to Arizona prisons is dead. "We'll still be able to take your prisoners, and they'll be returned to you when their time is up," said state Sen. Robert Blendu, who proposed the bill along with Gov. Janet Napolitano.
As written, the bill would have barred Alaska and other states from sending inmates convicted of sex crimes and the most serious classes of felonies, such as murder, to private prisons in Arizona. Blendu said that won't happen.
"I didn't move it forward," he said…
LINK - ADN.com (Anchorage Daily News)
April 21, 2008
The Few, the Proud - the Convicted?!?
New Data Show Military Has Recruited More Serious Ex-Offenders Than Previously Known; Pentagon List Reveals Reliance on Sexual Offenders, Kidnappers, Arsonists
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 21 (AScribe Newswire) — New information released today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shows that in 2006 and 2007 Americans who were convicted of serious crimes including sexual offences, manslaughter, "terrorist threats including bomb threats", burglary, kidnapping or abduction, aggravated assault and sexual assault were allowed into the military under moral waivers granted by the services.
According to the data given to the committee by the Department of Defense, the Army allowed the most waivers in 2006 and 2007. During this period, moral or felony waivers were given to 3 soldiers who had been convicted of manslaughter. One soldier was allowed in following a kidnapping or abduction conviction, 11 were convicted of arson, 142 convicted of burglary, 3 who were convicted of indecent acts or liberties with a child, 7 who were convicted of rape, sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, incest or other sex crimes and 3 who were convicted of terrorist threats including bomb threats.
In the Marines and Navy, waivers were granted for similar offenses…
LINK - AScribe.org (Newswire)
April 1, 2008
Jessica’s Law Faces Hurdles
A state law designed to protect children from molesters is running into hurdles, slowing officials from enacting some of its components and leading to some unintended consequences.
Tough housing restrictions, skyrocketing costs of evaluating the risks that sex offenders could be repeat predators, and the potential for less monitoring time for parolees in the community have some officials concerned.
"This particular law has a lot of unintended consequences, and those may have such a weight that the intended consequences will suffer," said Heather Dauler of the San Diego Sex Offender Management Council…
LINK - NCTimes.com (San Diego North County Times)
March 19, 2008
Long Beach passes sex offender rules
…The amended version approved Tuesday also includes new rules that no more than one sex offender may stay in a hotel, motel or inn, even in separate rooms, and that the operators of these businesses may not knowingly rent to more than one sex offender at a time. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been known to place parolees in hotel or motel rooms.
The Long Beach ordinance builds on existing state laws that prevent convicted sex offenders released from prison since November 2006 from living closer than 2,000 feet from K-12 schools or parks. Registered sex offenders on parole also aren't allowed to live together in a single- family dwelling unless they are legally related by blood, marriage or adoption…
LINK - PressTelegram.com (The Press-Telegram)
March 19, 2008
Parolees ‘Gone Wild’ - Scary encounter leads to two arrests near Placerville
A shotgun-wielding parolee and an unregistered sex offender were arrested Sunday afternoon by El Dorado County sheriff's deputies after a man reported a scary encounter in Mosquito, a rural enclave north of Placerville.
The man told sheriff's deputies that he had gone to a home on White Oak Drive to help a woman bury a dead dog. Jason Harley Costa, 32, also was residing at that address, and he and the man had been involved in a previous altercation, said Sgt. Jim Byers, sheriff's office spokesman.
When Costa saw the man arrive, Byers said, he grabbed a shotgun and confronted the man outside the home. Costa is a parolee who is not supposed to have access to firearms. He allegedly struck the man with the weapon. When the man suggested that Costa put down the gun and fight him fair and square, Costa allegedly fired a blast into the ground, Byers said…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
March 12, 2008
Jessica’s Law - 44% increase in offenders authorities can’t locate
Parole agents are struggling to track homeless sex offenders in large part because of Jessica's Law restrictions.
He admits he is a convicted sex offender, but "Bill" did not want to reveal his real name or his sex crime. He did, however, want to speak out about the restrictions of Jessica's Law. "It's not good, for me and it's not good for the public," he said.
Under the provisions of the voter-approved Jessica's Law, convicted sex offenders may not live within 2,000 feet of any school or park. "That leaves very few places for offenders to live," said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Gordon Hinkle.
LINK - News10.net (News 10 ABC - Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto)
March 3, 2008
Parole department places sex offenders in local motel
A tipline caller recently contacted 29-Eyewitness News over concerns that several sex offenders were living at a motel together. We contacted parole who tell us they know about it and they are involved in the process. 29-Eyewitness News reporter Amity Addrisi uncovered a unique new strategy at dealing with the problem of housing and tracking sex offenders.
Jessica's and Megan's law were passed to protect children from convicted and registered sex offenders. They prohibit them from living or hanging out near schools and parks, where children are. With those restrictions finding a place to put sex offenders is a constant problem.
LINK - EyeOutforYou.com
March 3, 2008
Sunny Acres parolees asked to leave
The controversy over Sunny Acres continues, this time state agents say parolees must leave.
Here's the latest:
- A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told Action News parolees had to leave because of the facility's numerous code violations.
- So far one parolee was told to get off the property, while four more said they are expected to leave by Monday.
The sudden notice to leave isn't sitting well with the parolees.
LINK - KSBY.com (KSBY 6 Action News)
February 29, 2008
Six Sex Offenders to be Moved out of Altadena Group Home
According to the Department of Parole, the six individuals will be relocated out of the residence by Monday, March 3, the release said.
After residents of the "Meadows," a small, secluded Altadena community, learned the six registered sex offenders were living together in the neighborhood, they held a community meeting Tuesday. They sought answers from local officials as to how it happened, whether it was legal, and what they could do about it…
LINK - PasadenaNow.com (Pasadena News)
February 28, 2008
4-Year Sentence in Attack on Teen in Hawthorne
A parolee accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl off a Hawthorne street and sexually assaulting her was sentenced Wednesday to four years in state prison.
After prosecutors agreed to drop the kidnapping charge against him, Jamaal Todd Davenport, 20, pleaded no contest to one count of oral copulation with a minor, according to his defense attorney, Mark Haushalter. Davenport accepted the plea deal Wednesday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence Cho at the Airport Courthouse.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life…
LINK - DailyBreeze.com
February 21, 2008
Some prisoners are vulnerable to crime behind bars
There is societal pecking order within the inmate population and it appears that child molesters are on the bottom of the food chain. "Even in a criminal world there's a code," said Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner. "Child molesters are not well thought of in any quarters."
A week ago a prison inmate, serving a life term for killing his mother in Rocklin almost a decade ago, allegedly fatally stabbed another inmate. Steven Matthew Schultz, 28, reportedly used a homemade "shank" last Thursday to slash the throat of convicted sex offender Shannon Lee Graling, 53, at the California State Prison-Sacramento in Folsom…
LINK - EDHTelegraph.com
October 19, 2007
Some Sex Offenders Go Untracked
Hundreds of California sex offenders who are supposed to be monitored for life under an initiative approved by voters last year are now unsupervised because the law does not detail who is responsible for tracking them or how to pay for enforcement. The ambiguity in the measure, Proposition 83, commonly known as Jessica's law, could affect thousands of sex offenders returning to local communities. State corrections officials are warning local sheriffs and police that 553 convicted sex offenders who they believe fall under Proposition 83 have already been dismissed from parole and are not being monitored…
LINK - LATimes.com
October 12, 2007
CCPOA: State Memo Opens Loophole for Sex Offenders
October 12, 2007 - MEMO
Contact: Ryan Sherman 916-716-1400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATE MEMO OPENS LOOPHOLE FOR SEX OFFENDERS
Parole agents warn that legal enforcement of Jessica's Law is jeopardized
SACRAMENTO - A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation memo issued yesterday directs parole agents to advise parolees who do not meet the new Jessica's Law residency requirement - which prohibits them from living within 2,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, etc. - "to immediately provide a compliant residence or [give them the option to] declare themselves transient" - otherwise, they'll be sent back to prison.
"As parole agents and correctional officers, we understand more than most how dangerous sex offenders can be when unsupervised," said Mike Jimenez, President of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. "But the state is now making it a policy to have sex offenders go undetected. It will be impossible for parole agents to enforce Jessica's Law in certain areas - and encouraging 'transient' living arrangements just allows sex offenders to avoid it altogether."
Penal Code Section 3003 states that all parolees are required to live in the county of their commitment. Yet at least one county, San Francisco, currently has NO available housing that meets the Jessica's Law criteria.
"So the state is requiring parolees to find eligible housing in San Francisco, knowing full-well that there isn't any," said Jimenez. "Then they issue a memo that appears to direct sworn peace officers to advise sex offenders that the only way to avoid returning to prison for violating Jessica's Law's residency requirements is by declaring themselves homeless."
"When I approve a law named in memory of my daughter, I have only one goal - to protect other children and families from enduring the nightmare Jessie and our family has endured," said Mark Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford. "The purpose of Jessie's Law is to keep sex offenders in prison longer and to carefully watch and monitor those offenders we are forced to have in our communities. Allowing sex offenders to fly under the radar by claiming they are homeless in no way meets that purpose. It is unconscionable that Jessica's Law would be interpreted in any way other than the people of California intended."
"The state's actions are shameful, and dangerous," said Jimenez. "I know they want to reduce overcrowding - so do we. But risking public safety is definitely NOT the way to do it."
November 2, 2006
Summary: Placement of High-Risk Sex Offender Paroles Investigation
This report summarizes the results of an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General into actions taken by two state parole administrators in response to the enactment of Assembly Bill 113, which imposed new restrictions on parolees designated as high-risk sex offenders. To comply with state confidentiality laws governing personnel matters, this public report does not identify parties by name. A full confidential report of the investigation has been provided to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and other administration officials for appropriate action. The investigation was conducted under the authority of Penal Code section 6126, which assigns the Office of the Inspector General responsibility for oversight of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and its subordinate entities.
