Good old gumshoe work goes into finding Colorado’s sex offenders before they strike again, from knocking on doors to searching computer records for new addresses.
Agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and officers throughout the state attempted to round up the state’s 40 most-wanted sexual offenders Tuesday.
The sweep, called Project SOAR, or Sexual Offender Area Roundup, continues today.
Most of the sexual offenders are people who have decided not to register with authorities as required by law. Some of them are the newly accused who haven’t shown up in court to face a judge.
CBI Agent Marc Micciche said offenders are known to move often, and they don’t leave a forwarding address.
Officers track down people using employment records and go to homes where family members and friends live.
Samuel Collazo, 41, is wanted for failing to register as a sexual offender. Micciche tried to track him down at an Aurora apartment complex where Collazo’s driver’s license said he lived.
The landlord said Collazo was not on the lease, and no one answered the door when Micciche knocked.
“He might have crashed here for a couple of days,” Micciche said. “He might have friends here.”
Although there are disappointments, nabbing just one offender satisfies the teams.
Eleven people were arrested during Tuesday’s operation. One of them was Marquese Edwards, 27, who was wanted for not registering and violating his parole. He was found in Denver.
Edwards’ extensive criminal history includes first-degree sexual assault using force and violence, said Steve Johnson, CBI agent in charge.
In Pueblo, agents arrested Ronald Ranson, 41, who is accused of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.
Ranson did not appear in court and has not been convicted of that crime, Johnson said.
The CBI learned that 12 sexual offenders who have not shown up in court have left Colorado.
Agents are following up with the states they went to so officers outside Colorado can track them down.
“We found out one guy is now dead,” Johnson said. “He just passed away. It was unrelated to his crime.”
Colorado has 457 wanted sexual offenders who haven’t registered or who haven’t shown up in court.
“Obviously we’d love to have all 457,” Johnson said. “It’s very hard to get people together to do this, but we wanted to try and take a run at all these warrants.”
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
