Posts Tagged ‘ Titusville ’

by Kevin Gillick

Runaway sex offender Timothy Angel (49), was arraigned in Titusville today after being caught hiding in El Salvador. Judge Jack Griesbaum ordered him held without bond on nine felony counts of failing to register with police.  Court records show he has not registered since 2006.

U.S. Marshalls apprehended Angel March 8th. He had been living  in Chalchuapa, a mountain village in central El Salvador.   Agents with the Sheriff’s Sex Offender Registration and Tracking Unit alerted the Marshall’s service in early March after receiving an anonymous tip concerning his location. Investigators believe Angel was living in Mexico prior to making his way south to El Salvador. Authorities have not determined the exact date when Angel fled the U.S.

Brevard Sheriffs issued a warrant for Angel’s arrest in 2009, when he failed to register his address as required of all convicted sex offenders in Florida.

The former construction worker has a history of noncompliance. He was sentenced to serve ten years in prison in 1994, for sexual assaults on a girl under the age of twelve. However, the court agreed to suspend the sentence and allowed Angel to serve ten years on probation. Two years later, he was back before the judge for violating the court’s restrictions and was sent to prison. He was released from custody in 2002 according to Department of Corrections records.

Judge Griesbaum scheduled a docket hearing for April 26th. Court monitors from Protect Our Children were on hand for today’s arraignment.

A sex offender is on the move and police are revising policies after an uproar at a Titusville condominium  complex. 

Residents at the Village Square Condominiums on Harrison Street,  called Protect Our Children February 8th, asking for information about Stephen Ervin: a registered sex offender living in the West Titusville community. 

That evening, a volunteer with the advocacy group appeared at the Village Square clubhouse  prior to the monthly meeting of the resident’s association.  Attendees were handed packets containing copies of Ervin’s criminal record, including details of two sexual assaults he committed against young girls.

A small group formed on the sidewalk, flipping wide-eyed through the papers.  Residents said Ervin (53) had been working as a handy-man, doing minor repairs and painting.  They said children live at the complex, which has more than one hundred units.

Ervin was released from prison in March 2010.  He was convicted of  raping a nine year-old girl in 1987 and assaulting a thirteen year-old in 1997.  Court records show he has been arrested five times for violating his probation. He served the balance of his most recent sentence in prison, and is not under supervision.

State law requires Ervin to register as a sex offender and abide by local laws restricting his residency.  Homeowners noted that a day-care facility was located on nearby Barna Avenue. 

Brevard County sex offender ordinances prohibit offenders from living within one-thousand feet of such a business.  An  investigator with Protect Our Children verified the comment, and found Kindercare, a commercial facility for children under twelve, appeared to be too close to Ervin’s residence, to comply with county law. Police were notified by telephone. 

Agents with the Sheriff’s Sex Offender Registration and Tracking unit used a computer mapping system to guage the distance between Ervin’s residence and Kindercare.  They said the distance was just over seven hundred feet…about three hundred feet short of being legal. 

The revelation caused a flurry of activity later that week between Brevard Sheriffs and the Titusville Police. Titusville has no ordinance of its own regarding sex offenders, relying on the Sheriff’s Office to cover most of the duties involving registration and tracking.  Officers in the North Brevard city verify the addresses listed by offenders when they register. They use a special “One-On-One” deployment, in which a single officer is assigned to each offender in the city. 

The Village Square affair exposed a deficiency in the system: ” One hour after we got a call from Lieutenant Todd Goodyear, we had a new policy.” said Titusville P.D. Assistant Chief, John Lau. “We realize that our people need to check the vicinity around the offender for places where children congregate.”

Goodyear heads up Sheriff Parker’s S.O.R.T. team – a group of sex crimes specialists assigned exclusively to policing sex criminals.  He worked with Titusville Police to close the gap in their monitoring procedures.

Brevard County law prohibits registered offenders from living within one thousand feet of schools, day-care facilities, parks and playgrounds.

Lau said the new policy will go in to effect immediately.   He said the  procedure requires officers to use mapping software as well as the city’s own business permit records, to assure compliance.  Police will also canvass the area around the offender’s home in order to check for child-oriented locations.

Ervin is relocating to an residence on Mt Vernon Drive, in Titusville. His registered address is due to change on February 17th.