Merle Wakefield, a sexually violent predator who vanished from a Rancho Bernardo workplace, remains at large more than a week later.
Wakefield, 69, cut off his GPS ankle monitor at an Amazon processing facility on Sept. 25. No arrest has been made, and the countywide alert covers all San Diego County communities, including La Jolla.
San Diego County Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to Wakefield's capture, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office announced Friday, Oct. 2. A felony warrant was issued the same day charging Wakefield with failure to register as a sex offender.
The Sheriff's Office's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force is leading the investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service and the San Diego Fugitive Task Force are also searching for Wakefield, NBC 7 reported.
Wakefield was working at the Amazon facility in the 16000 block of Via Esprillo when his GPS device triggered a tamper alert at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, according to a Sheriff's Office update. Liberty Healthcare, the private company contracted by the state to supervise Wakefield under California's Conditional Release Program, responded to the scene and found his GPS device and cell phone.
Wakefield was gone.
He had been under 24-hour supervision by a Liberty Healthcare security employee at the time, Times of San Diego reported.
A county be-on-the-lookout alert released hours after the disappearance indicated Wakefield left in a white Toyota Camry, but the Sheriff's Office has said it cannot verify that detail, NBC 7 reported.
Wakefield was convicted of lewd acts with a child under 14 in 1980 and rape by force in 1991, according to the Sheriff's Office. He was designated a sexually violent predator and has been on conditional release from Coalinga State Hospital since November 2024. He has a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender.
Before his release, residents of Mt. Helix opposed his planned placement in their community. He was instead housed as a transient in Jacumba Hot Springs under the Conditional Release Program, Times of San Diego reported.
Eric Glitzl, a Rancho Bernardo resident, told NBC 7 he feared for his family after learning about Wakefield's background. "You can't trust them to police themselves, to take care of themselves," Glitzl said. "It makes no sense to me."
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Sept. 1, introduced by Supervisor Jim Desmond and seconded by Supervisor Joel Anderson, opposing the placement of sexually violent predators in local communities. That vote came weeks before Wakefield's disappearance.
Wakefield is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 230 pounds, bald, with brown eyes.
Anyone with information on Wakefield's whereabouts can call the SAFE Task Force at (858) 868-3200 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477. Tips can also be submitted at sdcrimestoppers.org.
