Parole absconders have until the end of March to take advantage of a one-time amnesty offer from the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.
Those who don’t start reporting to their officers by then will be tracked down by the agency’s new special-response team, which focuses solely on finding absconders.
“This is a one-shot deal,” deputy director Dina Tyler said Friday. “We’re not playing. This team is out there, and they’re looking. They are going to find you.”
Agency officials say the new, statewide team, which debuted in January, already has whittled down its most-wanted list by 200, leaving the current number of absconders at 2,000.
The special-response team has 21 members across the state. It works closely with local law enforcement officials, Arkansas State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service to find and jail absconders.
Thus far, the team has focused on absconders deemed to be most dangerous to the public, especially those who have been charged with new crimes while on parole. After March 31, however, the officers will widen their search efforts to include those who have simply failed to report.
Parolees often stop reporting to their officers because they don’t have transportation or the money to pay their fines and fees. Until March 31, however, absconders will be able to re-establish contact with their officers without fear of being jailed or punished.
If money is the problem, officers will work out a payment plan for those who have fallen behind.
Parolees who have picked up new felony charges aren’t eligible.
“If they’re willing to come in and do the right thing, we’re willing to work with them,” said Sheila Sharp, director of the Department of Community Correction. “For those who want to do right and better themselves, we believe in second chances.”
Sharp said she’s pleased with the special-response team’s results. Of the 200 parolees who have been taken into custody since January, 92 were considered to be the biggest threat to public safety.
The agency decided to create the team after Tony Perry, who was charged with rape, was mistakenly released from the Pulaski County jail last August.
Perry was paroled in September 2011 after he served less than a year of two concurrent seven-year sentences for felony theft by receiving. It wasn’t his first prison stint. In 1991, he was convicted in the rape of a 9-year-old. Perry was placed on parole in July 1997. He’s been in and out prison ever since.
In June, Perry was charged in the rape of a 14-year-old girl in North Little Rock. After his arrest, Perry was supposed to remain at the Pulaski County jail until a parole-revocation hearing could be held.
The state Parole Board signed off on a warrant Aug. 2. But the warrant didn’t appear in the state’s criminal database until Aug. 12.
On Aug. 7, Perry was released from the Pulaski County jail after posting a $40,000 bond. He remained free for nearly a week before a task force composed of federal, state and local authorities tracked him down.
“That one I lost sleep over,” Sharp recalled. That’s when she decided to create a special-response team within the agency to find and arrest parolees on the lam.
Tyler cited several recent arrests throughout the state in which the team managed to locate and - with the help of other law enforcement officers - arrest absconders.
In one case, the team discovered that parolee Walter Robertson - wanted on evading supervision and new felony charges - was receiving federal benefits at an address in Fort Smith. Officers went to a fourplex and knocked on a second-floor door.
That’s when Robertson leaped out of the window. He was arrested upon landing.
Latore Gossett, a parole absconder out of Jonesboro, was wanted on an attempted-murder charge in connection with a shooting at the Chat N Chew in Camden. Once the team learned that Gossett was in Hot Springs, officers watched the home where he was thought to be staying. Officers arrested Gossett after he walked out of the residence and got into a car with a man and a woman.
Probationer-turned-absconder Kentrell Harris was convicted on drug charges in April 2012. Harris was still on probation when he garnered new charges for aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated robbery.
When the special-response team arrived at an apartment in West Memphis, officers found Harris asleep on the couch.
“It was the perfect pickup. No scuffle, no fight, nobody hurt,” Tyler said, adding that the team relies on stealth in most cases to avoid the potential for violence.
So far, 137 absconders have started reporting again since the agency offered amnesty in February. They are back under supervision and finishing their sentences.
Many absconders don’t realize that when they stop reporting, the clock stops until they’re back under supervision. “Some people think you can just hide out until your sentence is gone,” Tyler said. “No. That is TV. That is not the real world. You have to pay the price. You have to do the time.”
Sharp added, “It’s important for all of those on parole to realize that parole is a privilege. If they don’t conform to the conditions of parole, then they’re likely going back to prison.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/15/2014