Community notification meeting provides information, addresses questions
A community notification meeting concerning the relocation of a Level 3 Predatory Offender in the city, held Monday evening, June 23, in the Mountain Lake Community Center. Community notification is the statutory responsibility of the Mt. Lake Police Department, and law enforcement authorities are required to notify all members of the community the offender is likely to encounter. The meeting was led by Sarah Hustad of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).
The focus of the meeting was on 44-year-old Lanny Green (a native of Mountain Lake), who has served his prison sentence in state prison, was released in December 2013, and had resided in a rural Mountain Lake residence since that time until moving into the city. (The Cottonwood County Sheriff’s office held a community notification at that time.) Green has no outstanding warrants. He also has a history of sexual contact with females ages 3-16. He was convicted on first degree and second degree predatory
About 25 community members were at the meeting, including Green’s parents. Also attending the meeting were members of Green’s team of four DOC Intensive Supervision Agents, Mountain Lake Police Chief Doug Bristol and Mountain Lake Police Officer Nick Naxay, Cottonwood County Sheriff Jason Purrington and Cottonwood County Attorney Nick Anderson.
There are three levels assigned to predatory offenders. A Level 1 offender posts the lowest public risk, a Level 2 offender has a moderate public risk and a Level 3 offender is one with the highest public risk. As a Level 3 offender, Green is registered as a predatory offender for life. Information about Level 3 offenders is posted on the DOC’s website (www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/level3.asp).
Hustad, along with Michele Wilson, area Intensive Supervision Agent, noted the additional restrictions on Green. These special conditions include that he have no direct or indirect contact with minors, he may be in no place that is heave with minors, remain in a sex offender treatment program, have no internet access, possess no pornography, does not use alcohol and/or drugs, required to polygraph, keep a mandatory 40 hours per week of constructive activity (work, education, training and treatment) – and turn in a weekly schedule for the week ahead.
Hustad stressed that, “We have zero tolerance on drug and/or alcohol use; there is frequent random testing. The responsibility is on him (Green) to know and abide by the special conditions. He must be aware of where he is at and what he is doing. And he knows his conditions.”
Wilson added that, “We (team members) see him several times a week. It is a 24/7 intense surveillance. He does not know when we are coming be it any time of the day or night as these visits are unannounced; or where we will appear, whether at his residence or at his work. Offenders face return to prison for violation of Intensive Supervised Release (ISR) program rules.
“He has progressed through the supervision level, as he has complied by his release restrictions.” Three years from initial risk level assignment, an offender can request that the End-of-Confinement Review Committee (which is at each Minnesota state prison or treatment center and determines risk levels) consider a level reassessment.
There are nine predatory offenders now living in Mountain Lake; Green is the first Level 3 offender. Across Minnesota, there are 338 Level 3 offenders living in Minnesota communities as of June 16, 2014.
Additionally, Hustad gave those attending the meeting information on protection from and prevention of predatory offenders, including resource websites, highlighting Stop it Now! MN (www.stopitnow.org/mn).