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The Lake County Sheriff's Office partnered with the California Northern District of the United States Marshal’s Service, California State Parole agents and Clearlake Police officers to carry out the two-day effort to check compliance on convicted sex offenders around the county, according to Sheriff Frank Rivero.
“This is more about compliance than arresting people,” Rivero said, noting he was “very satisfied” with how the operation worked out.
Sheriff's Capt. James Bauman said that the operation, conducted Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15 – which included the work of the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force, Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit detectives, Patrol Division deputies and narcotics detection K-9 teams – involved 151 contacts with convicted sex offenders throughout the county by a total of seven, two-officer teams.
Bauman said 39 probation or parole searches were conducted and officials made seven arrests for parole violations, outstanding warrants or fresh criminal charges.
In addition, nine of the registrants they were searching for were discovered to be in facilities outside of Lake County and 15 contacts resulted in new cases requiring further investigation, which will likely result in arrest warrants, Bauman said.
He explained that the compliance checks entailed unannounced contacts at the homes of sex registrants to verify residency, detect and investigate any legal violations, and conduct searches of those on active probation or parole.
California has some of the nation's most stringent laws for monitoring and controlling registered sex offenders, Bauman said. Requirements include registering annually with local law enforcement jurisdictions where they reside within five days of their birthday, reporting any change in their place of residence within five days of moving to that residence and submitting DNA samples upon registration.
He said there are approximately 315 registered sex offenders currently residing in Lake County.
Bauman said the teams also checked for violations of probation or parole terms, such as possessing pornography or living within a prohibited distance of any school, park or day care facility.
“The ones that aren't in compliance, we're hauling off to jail to think about it,” Rivero said.
On Thursday, Clearlake residents Thomatra Eugene Lyons, 32, and Kelly Jonathan Mills, 24, were arrested for parole violations and booked into the Lake County Jail, Bauman said.
Those arrests were followed on Friday by several more, Bauman said.
Arrested that day in a Clearlake transient camp were Rickie Allen Wood, 57, who allegedly violated his parole and 40-year-old Jeffrey Thomas Zuidema, who was not a registered sex offender but was arrested on a local warrant, according to Bauman.
He said Jonathan Michael Baslee, 22, and Gordon Wilsey Dennler, 53, were contacted in their respective homes and arrested for parole violations.
While conducting a compliance check at another Clearlake location, narcotics detectives contacted 23-year-old Randolf Jay Reiger, who Bauman said was not a registered sex offender but was found to have an outstanding arrest warrant.
As Reiger was being searched, detectives recovered a baggie containing approximately one-half ounce of methamphetamine and narcotics paraphernalia. Bauman said Reiger was transported to the Lake County Jail and booked for possession of a controlled substance for sales, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Rivero told Lake County News the planning for the operation began in January.
He said the US Marshal for the Ninth Circuit came to Lake County to take part in the operation briefing.
Rivero himself took part in the operation, riding with a US deputy marshal through the Lower Lake, Hidden Valley and Middletown areas.
He said he visited 50 to 60 of the registrants during the compliance checks, noting their surprise to see the new sheriff show up.
“This team policing concept is a really good one,” he said, noting, “We're not going to leave any stone unturned.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Investigations Branch funded the branch, Bauman said.
Rivero expressed his deepest gratitude to Sheriff’s Sex Crimes Detective Mike Curran and the United States Marshal’s Service for coordinating the effort.
He also thanked the Sheriff’s Patrol Division, Major Crimes Detectives, Narcotics Task Force, Special Enforcement Detail, K-9 Narcotics Interdiction Units, Deputy U.S. Marshals, California State Parole agents and Clearlake Police officers for participating in the effort.
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