More than 140 law-enforcement officers from 18 local, state and federal agencies convened this week to conduct compliance and enforcement checks of Yolo County’s sex registrants, District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced Thursday.

Officers participating in Operation Vigilance made contact with or investigated the location of 311 of Yolo County’s 370 known sexual offenders in an effort to increase registrant accountability and overall community safety before the end of the traditional school year. Most of these offenders were convicted of rape, child molestation and possession of child pornography.

This two-day operation netted nine arrests of known sex offenders — one from Davis, two from Woodland and six from West Sacramento — for violating the terms of their supervised release from custody. Their violations varied but were commonly related to possessing pornographic material, possessing photos of children (similar in age to prior victims) or possessing drugs or alcohol.

Those arrested were being supervised by state parole or the newly created Post-Release Community Supervision. PRCS is a product of prison realignment created by Assembly Bill 109 and is administered at the county level by probation departments.

Yolo County has 103 sex offender registrants on supervised release — 63 on state parole, 33 on county probation and seven on PRCS.

Arrestees were identified as:

* George Gonzales, 49, of Davis: Parole violation for possessing non-pornographic photos of children similar age to prior victim. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Sexual abuse of a child under 14 years old in 2005.

* Erol Burkhart, 42, of Woodland: Parole violation for living in an unauthorized location, possession of alcohol and possession of pornographic material. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Indecent exposure, convicted in 2003.

* Marty Martinez, 43, of Woodland: PRCS violation for living in an unauthorized location and for possession of pornographic material. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Rape by force, convicted in 1985

* Luis Gomes, 45, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for possession of Internet access. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Sexual abuse of a child 14 or 15 years old when the offender is 10 or more years older, convicted in 2010.

* Trevor Paulus, 38, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for possession of alcohol. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Sexual abuse of a child 14 or 15 years old when the offender is 10 or more years older and sexual battery, both convictions in 2008.

* Salvatore Mayjoffo, 65, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for possession of marijuana. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Continuous sexual abuse of a child, convicted in 2002.

* Andrew Poore, 32, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for possession of pornography. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 years old, convicted in 2004.

* Charles Costa, 62, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for possession of alcohol. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Annoying or molesting children under the age of 18 years old, convicted in 1983.

* Joseph Gomez, 49, of West Sacramento: Parole violation for residing at an unregistered address. Original offense requiring sex offender registration: Rape by force, convicted in 1997.

Investigations into possible violations related to an additional 18 known sex offender registrants have begun as a result of this law enforcement operation, Reisig said.

In addition to making home visits and face-to-face contact with registered sex offenders, Operation Vigilance participants also targeted those offenders on probation and parole in a unique way by conducting searches using specialized computer software that simplifies the analysis of computers, smart phones and other digital storage devices.

A total of 119 such devices were searched, and 26 items were seized during the operation.

Computer forensic specialists from the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Sacramento Valley High-Tech Task Force worked together to conduct these specialized searches.

The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office Child Sexual Predator Unit coordinated Operation Vigilance. This unit provides high-tech forensic services to all Yolo County law enforcement agencies. This unit was previously funded by a federal grant, but is now funded by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.

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Law enforcement officials from local, state and federal agencies have spent the past two days making compliance and enforcement checks of Yolo County’s sexual registrants. Nine people, including one man from Davis, were arrested. Courtesy photo

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