Officials take steps to prevent offender mistake

In December of 2008, Eugene Wgeishofski did what he was required to do by state law in registering as a predatory offender in Crow Wing County.

As an offender moving into Ironton, when Wgeishofski registered with the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department the information should have been sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, his Level 3 offender status - the level of predatory offender most likely to reoffend - assigned and a community notification held in January.

However, that didn't happen.

It wasn't until September when the sheriff's department made contact with Wgeishofski and the notification process properly started. When the community meeting was finally held Oct. 14, those in attendance let the sheriff's department know of their displeasure.

It was a mistake, Sheriff's Capt. Neal Gaalswyk said, and one the department intends to never let happen again.

Gaalswyk said what happened with Wgeishofski's information in December is a bit of a mystery. They know a deputy signed off on his notification in December. That paperwork should have been filed with the records department and then sent to the BCA, but it wasn't. He said the paperwork has never been found and it wasn't known if it was filed in the wrong place or put into the wrong folder on someone's desk.

"We know it didn't get to the BCA and the responsibility to see to it that that happened rests with us," Gaalswyk said. "That is why we have such a level of concern about this. No. 1 because, obviously, we're concerned about the public safety aspect. We take this kind of stuff very, very seriously.

"And to recognize it happened within our office, part of taking responsibility is taking corrective steps to see that it doesn't happen again. That doesn't just mean saying, 'My fault,' or, 'I'm sorry.' It means what are you going to do to see that it doesn't happen again. That's how we're going to spend our energy to make sure this doesn't happen again. We believe we're at this point."

Making sure it doesn't happen again has meant adding several more steps to the process of registering a predatory offender.

In the past, when a predatory offender of any level came to the sheriff's department to register - provide name, address, work location and a photograph - the information was taken by a deputy and then turned over to the records department, where it was entered into the department's system.

Now when a predatory offender comes into the sheriff's department the case is immediately entered by radio dispatchers into the system. That way sheriff's officials can track who was involved in the case and where the case is at.

"That's where the checks and balances are now really well established," said Debi Backdahl, sheriff's chief deputy.

Backdahl also said that department-wide training has been implemented regarding how to deal with predatory offender information and it will be a continuing process.

Gaalswyk said no one was disciplined for the mistake. Efforts, he said, have been focused on fixing the system.

"The goal of discipline is to correct behavior and to ensure the same type of thing doesn't happen again. There's no reason to believe this was a result of willful dereliction of duty or willful malfeasance. If it did, we certainly would be looking at that," Gaalswyk said. "Somehow, this particular one didn't make it out of our office and that's what we're concerned about and that those steps are taken to correct it, tighten things up and give confidence to ourselves that this will never happen again and, more importantly, give confidence to that community that it will never happen again."

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.