Hundreds of alleged criminals missing in Chicago from ankle monitor program
Chicago is confronting growing scrutiny over its electronic monitoring system after 246 people enrolled in Cook County’s pretrial ankle-monitor program reportedly went missing. The individuals include defendants facing charges such as murder, sexual assault and aggravated battery. Former police chief Tom Weitzel says the situation exposes serious weaknesses in the program’s security and oversight. Mike Tobin reports.
In San Diego, authorities were still searching Sunday for a convicted child sex offender who disappeared after his GPS ankle monitor issued a tampering alert at a worksite. Supervisors arrived shortly afterward but found the man and the device missing.
Merle Wakefield, 69, was working in Rancho Bernardo when the monitor entered “Tamper Mode” at approximately 3:30 a.m. Friday, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
Liberty Healthcare, the state-contracted company responsible for overseeing Wakefield, went to the site after receiving the alert. Staff discovered that the GPS device had been removed and Wakefield had left. The company then contacted the sheriff’s office and San Diego police.
Merle Wakefield’s latest mugshot. Authorities are seeking him after he disappeared in San Diego County. (San Diego County Sheriff’s Office)
The sheriff’s office said Sunday that it understood the public’s concern and that investigators continued working to locate Wakefield.
“We have been working diligently to locate him,” the agency said, urging anyone with information or a possible sighting to contact authorities.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said Sunday that more than 48 hours had passed since Wakefield removed his GPS monitor and walked away. In a Facebook post, Desmond described him as a convicted child molester and violent rapist and criticized the state for not issuing a public warning about the disappearance.
Wakefield is wanted for allegedly violating the conditions of his release, the sheriff’s office said. Agency records show that he was convicted in 1980 and 1991 of lewd or lascivious acts involving a child under 14 and forcible rape. He had been living under conditional release since November 2024.
Merle Wakefield in a 2024 booking photo. He has been under conditional release since November 2024. (San Diego County Sheriff’s Office)
Desmond said Wakefield had already disappeared by the time Liberty Healthcare personnel reached the location in response to the GPS alert.
“That’s how easy it was,” Desmond wrote in a previous post. He said the state placed Wakefield in the community in November 2024 with assurances that he would be monitored and supervised, yet he was now missing and wanted less than two years later.
Officials had voiced concerns about Wakefield’s release before it took place. In October 2024, a San Diego judge approved a transient release instead of assigning him to a specific residence, Fox 5/KUSI reported at the time. It marked the third proposed placement for Wakefield in San Diego County.
One earlier plan called for him to live at a home in Poway near a school and park, a proposal that triggered protests from residents. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus objected, warning that a release without a permanent address would make it more difficult for the public to know where Wakefield was living.
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Merle Wakefield appears in a 2021 mugshot. He is wanted for allegedly violating his conditional-release requirements. (San Diego County District Attorney’s Office)
Vaus described the transient placement as “a shell game that puts a community at risk” in comments to Fox 5/KUSI.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office likewise opposed releasing Wakefield without a fixed residence, citing the difficulty of maintaining effective supervision. Spokesperson Tanya Sierra said the Department of State Hospitals and Liberty Healthcare should secure appropriate housing where people on conditional release could be monitored closely.
California Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones, R-San Diego, is pictured. (Reuters/Reuters Photos)
State Sen. Brian Jones also questioned where Wakefield would ultimately live. He told Fox 5/KUSI that the arrangement could leave Wakefield on the streets or in a hotel paid for by taxpayers.
“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, the outlet reported. The audit found that about 36% of participants had violated the terms of their release. Jones 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. That report was published before the hearing to finalize his release.
Desmond renewed his objection after Wakefield disappeared.
“I’ve fought these placements from day one,” he wrote. “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.”
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.
News Media reached out to Senator Jones’ office and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office for comment.