Three of the in the course of Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office have been identified.
According to Sgt. Jose Cardoza of the Sheriff’s Office, they are:
- James Fincher, 35, listed as a transient in Santa Clara County
- Ryan Zamora, 44, listed as a transient in Santa Clara County
- Robert Nelson, 50, listed as a transient in Santa Clara County
The names of the two others arrestees cannot be released because they are listed as “no posts” under Megan’s Law, Cardoza said. The nature of their crimes is likely less egregious than the three whose names were released, he said.
“They were probably for smaller misdemeanor things like indecent exposure that don’t meet the requirements to be on Megan’s Law, but they still have to register as sex offenders,” Cardoza explained.
The offenders were arrested in the course of the Sheriff's Office Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) task force physically contacting South County's known 290 PC registrants.
Registrants were contacted in an attempt to gather information regarding the disappearance of Sierra LaMar, 15, of Moran Hill.
Nelson and Zamora, Cardoza said, remain in custody. The other three offenders have been released.
Cardoza said he did not know if the two men were unable to post bail or whether they were being detained for other reasons.
According to Zamora's profile on the Megan's Law website, he has been in violation of registration requirements since May 5, 2011.
Nelson, according to his profile on the site, has been in violation of registration requirements since April 2.
Cardoza also said authorities are looking into a few other sex offenders who stuck out in the course of their contacts.
“We only have five that were out of [registration] compliance,” he said. “The others may or not be in violation of their registrations, it might be other things, so we are looking into that.”
Cardoza said he did not have any information on whether any of the arrestees intentionally failed to register, although he said that transients must register more frequently than those with permanent addresses.
Registered sex offenders are required to update their information annually within five working days of their birthday. Transients are required to update their information every 30 days and sexually violent predators are required to do so every 90 days.
According to the Megan’s Law website, there are 90 registered sex offenders in Gilroy, 14 in San Martin and 53 in Morgan Hill.
Cardoza said that the discrepancy between the Megan’s Law numbers and the Sheriff Office’s count of 267 registrants stems from the fact that not every sex offender has to have their information made public in accordance with Megan’s Law.
“Megan’s Law is a court requirement,” he explained. “It is a court order that happens post-conviction. There are different requirements for Megan’s Law.”
According to Nicholas Pacilio, a spokesman for the California Attorney General’s Office, convictions for particular kinds of crimes, such as rape, require that the offender register as a sex offender.
A condition of registration for these crimes, he said, is that their information becomes public on the Megan’s Law website. Only certain crimes carry this provision.
“If you look at the crimes, it’s pretty clear which ones require public posting and which ones don’t,” he said.
For the entire list of offenses that require sex offenders’ information to become public, check out the Attorney General’s website.
Cardoza, in explaining how the law works, gave the example of the two unnamed sex offenders recently arrested by the SAFE squad as examples of registered sex offenders whose information is not made public.
“Here you have five people that were arrested for not complying with 290 PC registration requirements, and two out of those five are not listed in Megan’s Law because they didn’t meet the requirements to get on there,” he said. “They have to register as sex offenders with law enforcement but not with Megan’s Law.”
For previous coverage of the Sierra LaMar case, refer to the Sierra LaMar Disappearance: Comprehensive Updates and Information page.
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