Authorities in San Diego County are searching for Merle Wakefield, a 69-year-old designated sexually violent predator who disappeared after his GPS monitor went into “tamper mode,” Times of San Diego reports.
The device sent the alert at 3:30 a.m. Friday while Wakefield was at work in Rancho Bernardo.
He was supervised by Liberty Health Care under the state’s Conditional Release Program, and he was gone when staff arrived.
Wakefield was convicted of lewd acts with a minor under 14 in 1981 and of rape by force, violence, or fear in 1990, according to the report.
He was designated a sexually violent predator after his 1998 release, was conditionally released from Coalinga State Hospital, and had been on conditional release since November 2024.
He is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 230 pounds, with brown eyes.
The sheriff’s office urged anyone who sees him not to approach him and to contact local law enforcement or call 911.
County Supervisor Jim Desmond criticized the state on social media. “A convicted child molester and violent rapist is loose in San Diego County this weekend, and the state that put him here has said nothing,” he wrote.
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