LAKE COUNTY — On Friday the Lake County Sheriff”s Office concluded a countywide two-day sex registrant compliance and warrant operation in cooperation with the California Northern District of the United States Marshal”s Service, California State Parole and the Clearlake Police Department.
The operation was further supported by members of the Sheriff”s Narcotics Task Force, Sheriff”s Major Crimes Unit detectives, Patrol Division Deputies and Narcotics Detection K-9 teams.
All 50 states and territories in the United States have adopted laws requiring those convicted of certain sex crimes and crimes against children to register as sex offenders. California is among those States with the most stringent laws for monitoring and controlling registered sex offenders.
Convicted sex offenders in California are subject to a multitude of requirements pursuant to State law. Those 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. The purpose and intent of such laws are to effectively monitor registrants and detect any subsequent violations of law. There are approximately 315 registered sex offenders currently residing in Lake County.
Objectives of the two-day operation in Lake County included compliance checks on registered sex offenders, probation and parole searches on sex registrants and the apprehension of specific fugitive sex offense violators. A total of seven two-officer teams were deployed on both Thursday and Friday to accomplish those objectives.
Compliance checks conducted during the operation entailed unannounced contacts at the homes of sex registrants to verify residency, detect and investigate any violations of law and conduct searches of those on active probation or parole. 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.
During the two-day operational period a total of 151 contacts were made with convicted sex offenders throughout the county. Of those contacts, a total of 39 probation or parole searches were conducted and seven arrests were made for parole violations, outstanding warrants, or fresh criminal charges. Nine of the registrants sought for compliance checks were found to be in custody in other jails or prison facilities outside of Lake County. Fifteen contacts resulted in new cases requiring further investigation, which will likely result in arrest warrants.
On Thursday Thomatra Eugene Lyons, 32, was contacted at his home in Clearlake and arrested for violating his parole. Kelly Jonathan Mills, 24, was contacted at his home in Clearlake and was also arrested for violating his parole. Both men were transported to the Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked.
On Friday Rickie Allen Wood, 57, was contacted in a transient camp in Clearlake and arrested for violating his parole. Jeffrey Thomas Zuidema, 40, was contacted in the same transient camp. Zuidema was not a registered sex offender but he was arrested on a local warrant. Jonathan Michael Baslee, 22, was contacted at his home in Clearlake and was arrested for violating his parole. Gordon Wilsey Dennler, 53, was contacted at his home and arrested for violating his parole. All four men were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility for booking.
During a compliance check at another Clearlake location, narcotics detectives contacted Randolf Jay Reiger, 23. Reiger was not a registered sex offender but when detectives detained him they found he had an outstanding arrest warrant. During a search of his person incident to the arrest detectives recovered a baggie containing approximately one-half ounce of methamphetamine and narcotics paraphernalia. Reiger was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked for possession of a controlled substance for sales, possession of narcotics paraphernalia and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
The Lake County Sheriff”s Office was very pleased with the coordination and outcome of the two-day operation, which was funded in part by the Lake County Sheriff”s Office and in part by the Sex Offender Investigations Branch of the U.S. Marshal”s Service.
Sheriff 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 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 this multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional effort.
