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REGION: EPD was watching more than Gardner

  • March 26, 2010 1:21 pm
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Accused murderer John Albert Gardner III is the most infamousregistered sex offender to inhabit Escondido in recent memory.

But he was only one of nearly 200 sex offenders Escondido policetracked, and continue to track, in the inland North Countycommunity.

Under state law, local law enforcement agencies must record thehome and work addresses and vehicle information for all sexoffenders living in their jurisdictions. Sex offenders must notifypolice when that information changes, and officers must recordit.

Aside from that, there’s little police are required to do tomonitor the offenders —- unless the agency decides to seek themout during compliance checks.

That’s exactly what Escondido police have done since formingtheir sex offender monitoring team in 2002.

“It’s just been a priority for our agency,” Escondido police Lt.Craig Carter said last week. “It’s a high priority for the chief(Jim Maher) and for the department. And I think the communitydemands that.”

Gardner, who lived in Escondido during much of 2008 and 2009, ischarged with the rape and murder of Poway teen Chelsea King. Healso is a suspect in the death of Escondido teen Amber Dubois, whovanished in February 2009 while walking to school less than twomiles from where Gardner lived at the time.

Gardner, 30, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to Chelsea’srape and murder and to assault with intent to commit rape on afemale jogger in December. He remains in custody without bail.

Carter, an Escondido police spokesman, said his agency’sofficers met with Gardner eight times during the two years he livedin the city, as part of its sex offender-tracking program. He wouldnot elaborate on those meetings or whether Gardner was interviewedspecifically related to Amber’s disappearance, citing a recentcourt-imposed gag order.

Police Chief Maher, along with other local leaders, is expectedto speak further about sex offender monitoring during a forum on Megan’s Law at 7 p.m. Tuesday at theCalifornia Center for the Arts, Escondido.

How EPD’s program works

The Escondido Police Department’s monitoring team is comprisedof two lieutenants, two sergeants, eight officers and fourdetectives, all of whom have duties aside from the team. The unitalso includes an administrative coordinator whose sole job is tomanage local sex offender files.

The team checks, in person, whether the offenders truly live attheir registered home, work at the job they’ve listed and drivetheir specified vehicle.

Sex offenders range from rapists to child molesters to thoseconvicted of indecent exposure. The identities and addresses oflower-level sex offenders, such as exposers, are sometimes shieldedfrom the public by law. As such, the number of convicted sexoffenders in a given city is often greater than that shown on theMegan’s Law Web site, meganslaw.ca.gov.

Escondido police declined to say how often or when compliancechecks are made. they don’t want sex offenders to know when they’recoming, they explained.

The checks are triggered in several ways: they could be part ofa sweep of all offenders in the city. Or they might be the resultof a tip received about a specific offender being out ofcompliance. Thirdly, they could be a preventive step police takenear holidays such as Halloween to ensure registrants are notdecorating their homes, thus enticing children to visit.

Most sex offenders are cooperative during visits, Escondidopolice Lt. Bob Benton said. He noted that many will submitvoluntarily to police entering their homes and will readily provideinformation to verify their registration.

Police take steps to conduct quick and discreet visits, Bentonsaid.

“Their big thing is they don’t want all the community to know…. they don’t like all the marked cars out in front of theirplace,” he said.

Escondido police say the program will never guarantee completesafety in the community. But it does help, they said.

“I would not want this article to give anyone the false sensethat this is going to be the thing that solves the (sex offender)problems,” Carter said. “The fact that we check on them does notguarantee that they’re not going to go out and reoffend.”

This past week, Carter said the department could account for thewhereabouts of 98 percent of the city’s sex offenders. The other 2percent, police said, had warrants issued for their arrest.

Typically, the city has a high compliance rate amongregistrants, police said.

“A very proactive and logical approach”

Lindon Lewis, an Escondido-based state parole supervisor, saidEscondido police have worked diligently to track the city’s sexoffenders. Over the past three weeks, since Gardner was arrested,they’ve asked Lewis and others what more they can do, the paroleofficial said.

“Escondido has taken a very proactive and logical approach tothis,” Lewis said, noting Chief Maher sat down with him on a recentnight to go over all additional sex offender-monitoring options. “Icouldn’t ask for more from the department.”

Carter and Benton, the police spokesmen, plus Escondido policeSgt. John Russo, part of the monitoring team, said the departmentwill continue to aggressively track sex offenders. they said policeare always evaluating the program and seeking state grants tobolster their resources.

“I think we’d always like to see it improve,” Carter said.”Obviously, we’re all thinking how we could have done anythingdifferent. I think that’s going to be common for any agency.”

Call staff writer Chris Nichols at 760-740-5426.

REGION: EPD was watching more than Gardner