Sex offender arrested after escaping St. Peter treatment center

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) - Police say a man who escaped from a Minnesota sex offender treatment facility was arrested and is in custody as of noon on Sunday after evading authorities since Friday night.

This is the second time a sex offender escaped from the St. Peter treatment facility this month. 

READ MORE: Potentially armed sex offender who escaped from St. Peter facility back in custody

Escaped sex offender

What we know:

The escaped offender, Steven Loren Edwards, 53, is now in custody, according to an announcement made by the St. Peter Police Department around noon on Sunday. 

Edwards reportedly obtained a 2004 Dodge Stratus and was in the city of Albert Lea on Saturday, according to a social media post from the St. Peter Police Department. 

Police say he was found and arrested in Missouri. 

St. Peter police say they were informed of the escapee at about 5:20 pm on Saturday, May 17. Edwards was reportedly last seen at the Saint Peter Regional Treatment Center Campus just before 7 p.m. on Friday, May 16.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) says Edwards removed his ankle monitoring device and fled the campus. 

Edwards didn't escape Minnesota Sex Offender Program's (MSOP) secure facility in St. Peter, DHS said. Edwards fled from the Community Preparation Services (CPS), which is an unlocked, and less restrictive treatment setting on the MSOP campus. 

DHS says clients in CPS have "varying levels of liberty to move about the campus unescorted." CPS is for clients in the later stages of treatment and have "progressed enough that they can safely continue treatment outside of the secure setting." 

Only a court can have a client moved from secured facilities to CPS. 

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.