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California Sexually Violent Predator Missing After GPS Monitor Tampered
Merle Wakefield, 69, removed his GPS monitor at a San Diego worksite and fled, prompting a manhunt and renewed criticism of California's conditional release program for sexually violent predators.
A convicted child sex offender and violent rapist is missing in San Diego County after he removed his GPS monitor at a worksite and disappeared, authorities said. Merle Wakefield, 69, was working in Rancho Bernardo when his monitoring device alerted to a tamper mode at about 3:30 a.m. Friday, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
Liberty Healthcare, the state contractor supervising Wakefield, responded to the location and found the device removed and Wakefield gone. The company notified the sheriff's office and San Diego police. By Sunday, more than 48 hours after the alert, Wakefield remained at large and was wanted for violating the terms of his conditional release.
The sheriff's office said it shared the community's concerns over Wakefield's disappearance and was actively searching for him. «We have been working diligently to locate him,» the agency said, asking the public to report any sightings or information that could help find him.
Wakefield was convicted in 1980 and 1991 of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and rape by force, according to the sheriff's office. He had been on conditional release since November 2024, when a San Diego judge granted him a transient release rather than placing him in a designated home. It was the third attempt to place him in San Diego County.
Local officials had warned about the risks of releasing Wakefield without a fixed address. An earlier proposal would have placed him in a Poway home near a school and park, prompting residents to rally against it. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus opposed that location and argued that allowing Wakefield to live without a fixed address would make it harder for the public to know where he was.
«It's a shell game that puts a community at risk,» Vaus told Fox 5/KUSI about the transient release. The San Diego County District Attorney's Office also opposed releasing Wakefield without a fixed residence, citing concerns about limited monitoring and supervision. Spokesperson Tanya Sierra said the Department of State Hospitals and Liberty Healthcare needed to find suitable housing where people granted conditional release could be closely monitored.
State Sen. Brian Jones raised his own concerns about where Wakefield would stay. He told Fox 5/KUSI that Wakefield might end up on the streets or in a hotel at taxpayer expense. «Supposedly, he's going to have a tracking device,» Jones said at the time. Jones had also called for an audit of California's sexually violent predator program, which found that about 36% of participants had violated the terms of their release. He criticized the program's cost and argued that the state should keep sexually violent predators in hospitals rather than place them in communities.
The California Department of State Hospitals pushed back on criticism of the release process, telling Fox 5/KUSI that the court ultimately decides whether someone designated a sexually violent predator can be conditionally released. The department said its supervision program used GPS monitoring, unannounced home visits and surveillance, and that breaking the rules could send someone back to a state hospital. The outlet also reported that Wakefield's court order called for 24-hour in-person supervision wherever he stayed.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond renewed his objection after Wakefield disappeared. «I've fought these placements from day one,» he wrote Sunday on Facebook. «These people do not belong back out in the community. They belong in a state hospital or in jail. As long as Sacramento's law keeps putting them in our neighborhoods, families are going to keep paying the price.» Desmond called Wakefield «a convicted child molester and violent rapist» and accused the state of saying nothing publicly about his disappearance.
Wakefield is 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighs 230 pounds and has brown eyes, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities warned anyone who sees him not to approach or contact him and to call 911 or local law enforcement.
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