Schroeder: Regarding fugitive chase

By Mike Schroeder

I am writing to you as a parent and a homeowner who resides on West Oster Drive in Maricopa.  I am writing in response to what seems to be a lack of action and communication, which could have resulted in a terrible ending on Friday, May 6^th. 

Friday, I was home, but catching up on sleep after working a late night shift. All the windows were closed, and I must be a deep sleeper. My wife was in the East Valley, running errands to assist family after a death earlier in the week. We are lucky enough to have her work in Maricopa, and she would normally have been in town during the day. It was not until she made it home that she noticed sheriff vehicles on our street. She later found out what happened when walking our dog and talking to a few neighbors.

An alleged sex offender was in my neighborhood, hopping fences and going into various backyards, while trying to escape from the search efforts of the U.S. Marshall's Office, Pinal County Sheriff, and Maricopa Police Department. This 31-year-old male, who eluded capture for hours, had a warrant for counts of molestation of a child, luring a minor for sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. A helicopter was deployed to assist in the search, and it took hours to capture him. 

During this Friday activity, the nearby school was NOT placed on lockdown. Parents were not informed using an available communication system which was used to inform parents about the Override Election. A note has never gone home to explain what happened and why a lockdown was not set into motion. I found out later that the site administrator took precautions, locked the doors and passed word around to the staff about a potential problem. I have heard that the neighborhood was on lockdown though.  A neighbor trying to leave to run errands was stopped before leaving our street.

This past Monday, my wife placed a call to the Maricopa Police Department’s Public Information Office, to inquire what procedures were taken to ensure the students’ safety, and to ask why they were allowed to walk home from school. It is now Thursday, and she has not received a return call from the sergeant. I question a passage in one of the media sources which gave great detail about the alleged charges of the sex offender which indicated that a school official stated that the situation did not force the district to place any of its schools on lockdown. I don’t have answers to these questions until the MPD PIO responds to the phone message. 

Was the school district notified of the assailant’s charges?  If THREE agencies and one helicopter could not find the criminal, were the school children safe, and later safe to walk home to the street this was all happening on?  I urge you to “google” 43000 W. Oster Drive, the street this all happened on, and see how close this is to the elementary school. I have read in a forum that the assailant was not armed with a weapon, but he may have not needed one to do what he is accused of, and the police did have weapons. What if they had to use them in such close proximity of the school?

I will let you know when we get the answers, even if we don’t agree with them. But, for now, we await a return phone call.

(This message was also sent to Maricopa Police Department's Public Information Officer, Pinal County Sheriff's Public Information Office, and the U.S. Marshall's Office.)