Officials conduct sweep of homes of sexual predators

Peering into the Pringles potato chip can on top of the counter proved there was no spot too small to investigate.

Digging into the freezer, any sign of cold contraband, from a frosty beer to a chilly weapon, was fair game for officers.

”We can do this at any time we choose,” said Farah Peters, a supervisor for the Florida Department of Corrections in Collier County, as she pulled on her gloves to prepare for the next search. ”At night, at 2 a.m, at 6 a.m., whenever we want. And they know that.”

From the Tiki Motel on U.S. 41 East to the Sapphire Lakes development nestled in East Naples and around the rest of Southwest Florida, more than 300 sex offenders and predators heard a knock at the door or the ring of a doorbell in the middle of the night.

Dozens of Collier County’s sex offenders had a surprise visit from state probation officers and sheriff’s deputies during a sweep staged Friday night and early Saturday.

Around Southwest Florida, officers drove around both Collier and Lee counties making stops to see if the sex offenders were playing by the rules of their probation.

The idea was to make sure curfews were kept, pornography was nowhere to be found and no weapons were being hidden by offenders on probation for sex crimes.

In Collier County, no arrests were made during the sweep. But probation officials say they found two curfew violators during the operation in Collier.

Isaac Battles, 47, of 165 Delbrook Way, Marco Island, broke his curfew, authorities said. And a second man, whose name wasn’t immediately available, also had broken his curfew, probation officials say.

Law enforcement officers said they will look for Battles and the other man and arrest them as soon as they are found.

The unannounced, warrantless searches didn’t seem to be a surprise to some of the men.

In Collier County, there are 226 sex offenders and eight sexual predators, Collier sheriff’s Lt. Tom Smith said.

Twenty of them weren’t where they told authorities they’d be so warrants have been issued.

Sheriff’s deputies visit the sex offenders quarterly and visit the predators monthly to check that they’re living where they say they are and abiding by the terms of their probation. They’re only required to check on the offenders once each year and the predators four times a year.

”That’s more than we have to,”’ Smith said.

When they are released from prison, their probation terms allow law enforcement to check in on them unannounced.

The Sheriff’s Office has an investigator who is assigned to do the checking and tracking. When they see investigator George Lahm at the door, they know the routine.

”We have a good grasp on them,” Smith said.

He said curfew-breakers and beer in the possession of offenders who aren’t allowed to have alcohol are the most common problems.

The visits are no-nonsense, with minimal conversation as the probation officers and deputies do their checks.

At the Tiki Motel at 2643 U.S. 41 East, Daniel Morgan, 45, a sexual predator who served prison time for raping his young stepdaughter, was at home as he should be. A woman had once reported seeing him out after his assigned curfew, so his probation had been violated.

Morgan then voluntarily signed up for the GPS bracelet, which monitors his whereabouts. He’ll wear it for two years.

A new Florida law which came into being after the murder of Jessica Lunsford in Citrus County earlier this year will require all sex offenders to be on GPS devices.

Several offenders on the list of visits were GPS-clad. They wear a bracelet, which is hooked up to a monitor, which has to accompany them everywhere, from work to the grocery store.

Probation officers monitor their whereabouts via phone and computer so they can make sure the offenders aren’t somewhere their probation forbids them to be, Smith said.

They can even send text messages to the transmitter boxes, warning them that their batteries are low.

Smith said law officers like the GPS system about to come into place.

”They’ll have to come in and present themselves on their birthday and then six months from then,” he said.

While probation officers searched behind boxes, pitchers, party mix bags and cracker boxes, Morgan stood by, watching. They came away with nothing. The officers also came up empty when they searched his van. And that’s exactly what they’re hoping to find.

A short time later, officers stopped at 2147 Washington Ave. in East Naples.

Inside, 67-year-old Samuel Russo was about to watch ”The Caine Mutiny” on Turner Classic Movies when officers interrupted. As he looked on, officers searched the house and dug through the freezer in the living room, moving aside the meat and pizzas, to look for any sort of contraband, from weapons to porn.

In 2002, the then-Collier County school bus driver admitted to giving a pornographic movie to an elementary school student on his bus, while insisting it was ”out of my character.” He was ordered to serve a one-year sentence on two felony charges: giving obscene material to a minor and soliciting sexual activity from a child.

Because of Russo’s advanced age, prosecutors chose not to seek prison for him. His jail sentence was to be followed by four years of probation as a sex offender.

State Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who accompanied Department of Corrections officers on the overnight sweep, took a look around Russo’s home.

And although he donned gloves and picked through belongings, he could only point out questionable items to the officers. He was also introduced as a politician, so the offenders wouldn’t confuse him for a police officer.

Saunders said he was glad to see how professionally the officers work.

”It’s a very difficult job they have,” he said.

Saunders, an attorney who is running for Florida Attorney General, sponsored the original 1996 version of the Jimmy Ryce Act. It called for sex offenders to report their whereabouts to authorities when they are released from prison, allowing neighbors to know where the offenders were living by looking online. After some revisions, the Jimmy Ryce Act went into effect in 1999.

Inside Russo’s home, Saunders said he was disturbed when he noticed paperwork indicating that Russo was receiving state retirement benefits even though he’d been fired from his job as a bus driver.

”If someone is fired, I don’t know that they’d keep their benefits,” he said.

Not all of the offenders living here committed their crimes in Collier County.

For example, William Frederick Owens, 35, and Peter Messires, 55, who live together at 292 Belina Drive. No. 7, in Sapphire Lakes in East Naples, committed their crimes in Palm Beach County. Their crimes included using the Internet to solicit a child for sex, investigators say.

Unless it’s specified in the terms of their probation, there’s nothing that says the offenders can’t associate with each other.

Their home, elaborately decorated with a Greek Orthodox motif, and with crucifixes throughout, came under the microscope late Friday. Messires is also known as Father Damian.

Kitchen cabinets were opened and bedrooms were rifled. Pots and pans were moved aside as the two men watched while their belongings were searched and returned. Once again, officers left pleased that nothing was found.

At Paul Pasko’s home at 909 Augusta Blvd., the search was on just after midnight Friday.

In 2003, he reached a plea agreement to serve nine months in jail and then five years of state probation.

Pasko pleaded no contest in Collier Circuit Court to 77 felony counts of possession of photos depicting sexual conduct by a child.

Collier deputies had discovered the images, downloaded from the Internet, on Pasko’s computer. The photos were of nude girls younger than 18 and some as young as age 6. They were playing flutes, showering or holding flowers. None were local children.

Deputies had been alerted Pasko was shooting photos of young cheerleaders at local youth football games and had tried to buy copies of photos of kids from a professional photography company. He told investigators that he had fantasies about kids, mostly cheerleaders.

With Lahm at the door first, Pasko recognized him and moved aside for the officers to step inside.

Lahm said the offenders know each other from their sex offender counseling sessions and most likely keep in touch. He said they may even call each other when they get visits to alert each other that officers could be on the way.

”It’s so random, though,” he said. ”One of them got a call while we were there. Most likely, it was the neighbors, wondering what was going on.”