Sex offender escaped facility after putting his GPS device on a dummy in his bed: Charges
MN sex offender arrested after escape
A registered sex offender was arrested after an escape in southern Minnesota. It's the second time in two weeks that there's been an escape.
ST. PETER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A sex offender who escaped a treatment center in St. Peter, Minnesota, and then was arrested in Missouri has been charged via warrant. Court documents say Steven Edwards, 53, put a GPS tracker on a dummy in his bed, and then he bought a vehicle in Albert Lea and drove to Missouri.
Edwards has been charged via warrant with two counts of escaping from custody, which are both felonies.
Sex offender escaped treatment program, was arrested in Missouri
What the charges say:
Edwards escaped the Minnesota Sex Offender Treatment Program (MSOP) facility in St. Peter, and was reported missing to police on May 17, court documents say.
Edwards' roommate approached MSOP staff around 7 p.m. on May 27, stating Edwards was lying in his bed and not moving for "quite some time," the criminal complaint states. Staff checked on Edwards and discovered there was a dummy in his bed, with a GPS ankle monitor had been placed on the dummy.
Staff reviewed surveillance footage and learned Edwards left the MSOP facility without permission the day before, at about 6:53 p.m. on May 16, charges state.
Later on the evening of May 17, authorities learned Edwards called his son at about 10 p.m. on May 16. Using that information, authorities determined Edwards called from a phone number associated with a man who had been at an area laundry mat the evening of May 16, charges said.
The man told authorities Edwards entered the laundry mat and claimed he'd been kicked out of his home and needed help getting to Albert Lea, charges said. The man agreed to drive him to Albert Lea, however he said that on their way they decided to drive to a casino in Iowa instead. After the casino, they drove back to Albert Lea, where the man rented Edwards a hotel room. The man then drove back to St. Peter.
Police learned Edwards purchased a vehicle in Albert Lea, charges said. That vehicle was then seen in Missouri on May 18. Edwards' mom lives in Webb City, Missouri, so police went there to check on her status.
Local police found the vehicle outside Edwards' mom's house. They found Edwards at the home and arrested him, charges said.
Edwards was committed to the MSOP on Oct. 27, 2011.
Previous sex offender escape
Dig deeper:
Police arrested another sex offender who escaped the same facility earlier this month.
Beau-Jacob Edward Zimmer, 45, escaped from the facility overnight and was found later that morning.
Minnesota Sex Offender Program
The backstory:
MSOP provides court-ordered treatment for people with sexual offenses. Following their prison term, individuals deemed in civil court to either be a "sexual dangerous person" or have a "sexual psychopathic personality" may be committed for an "unspecified period of time" for treatment, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services’s website.
MSOP has locations in Moose Lake and in St. Peter. People typically begin treatment at the Moose Lake facility then transfer to St. Peter to work toward being released and completing their treatment.
As of April 28, the MSOP houses 752 people in its facilities. Another 66 provisionally discharged people are living in Minnesota communities under supervision, and fewer than 10 people with provisional discharges are awaiting community placement, according to the DHS website.