Sex Offender Lost in Paperwork
Inconsistent record-keeping may have made it possible for the suspect in a weekend sexual assault to live unnoticed in Bonita Springs for years despite being a registered sex offender from another state.
Edward Ziesmer, 61, was arrested Saturday afternoon after sheriff's officials say he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a young girl under the age of 12 — off the street and took her into nearby woods. Deputies found the pair in the woods, shortly after they say Ziesmer sexually assaulted her.
Records show this is his second arrest on charges of sexual battery on a child. While living in Baraboo, Wis., in November 1988, Ziesmer was arrested for sexual assault of a child. According to the Circuit Clerk of Sauk County, Wis., he forced a 7-year-old girl to touch and rub his genitals on several occasions. Ziesmer was convicted of the crime in 1989 and spent five years in prison before being released as a sexual offender in 1994.
According to records from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Ziesmer was required to register as a sex offender for life, but Wisconsin DOC records list him as not compliant with all the restrictions that were part of his release. Department of Corrections officials could not be reached for comment Monday on specifically why he was considered not compliant.
Ziesmer has lived in Bonita Springs, Florida since at least 2003, said LCSO spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi. He was unemployed, according to sheriff's reports. Though he was required to do so by law, Ziesmer had not registered as a sex offender in Florida. He appears to have slipped though the system, said Detective Lorrie Reaves, of the Sheriff Office's sexual predator and offender unit. Florida statutes require sex offenders to register if they will be visiting, living or going to school in a city for more than four days,
Different states have different laws and procedures when it comes to tracking sex offenders. If a state or arresting agency does not place an offender on a national watch list, the offender may not be immediately detected when contact is made by police. "Some states are not up to date, and some states are not as stringent as Florida," Reaves said. "It's very possible to get through." Reaves said she is unsure if police had made contact with Ziesmer since he moved to Florida.
Since January 2002, Lee County deputies have been called 88 times to the complex where Ziesmer lived. LiMarzi said she is unsure if any of those visits were for Ziesmer. Though the trailer where he lived is just yards from the Living Waters Academy day care, teachers there have never had any problems with Ziesmer, said Karyn Williams, assistant director of the center. The 100 or so children at the center range from 3 months to 4 years old. They are under constant surveillance by teachers, Williams said. There is only one door leading to the day care, and the playground, which borders both Iowa Street and Bonita Beach Road, is protected by a wrought-iron fence.
Williams said she can recall only one instance where children were harassed. (ONLY one??? You stupid idiot!) About three weeks ago a man stood near the shed on the corner Living Waters Academy's property line and attempted to speak to children on the other side of the fence. The kids were immediately taken inside, she added. Even after news of Saturday's attack was made public, no parents expressed concern about children's safety at the day care center, Williams said. (Who are these parents!!! I'd be pretty damn concerned!)
Saturday's abduction and assault was the second in nine days along Bonita Beach Road. On Jan. 19, a woman on her morning jog on Bonita Beach Road, near Imperial Shores Boulevard, was abducted and raped in a nearby car. East Naples resident Jeremy Hall Ware, 30, was arrested and charged with that rape just days later.
No comments:
Post a Comment