Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of sexually violent predator Merle Wakefield, who disappeared a week ago from his job at an Amazon processing facility in Rancho Bernardo.
A felony warrant has also been issued for Wakefield’s arrest for failure to register as a sex offender. Sheriff’s investigators say Wakefield cut off his ankle monitor before his disappearance.
Law enforcement sources close to the case tell NBC 7 that Wakefield left his job at the Amazon facility on Via Esprillo at 3:30 a.m. last Friday.
A county BOLO alert released four hours after Wakefield disappeared indicated that he left in a white Toyota Camry. The Sheriff’s Department has since said it cannot verify that information and has reported no other means by which Wakefield may have left the area.
The Sheriff’s Department’s San Diego Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force is leading the investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service and San Diego Fugitive Task Force are also searching for Wakefield.
Wakefield was convicted of lewd acts on a child in 1981 and rape in 1990. After serving several years in prison and in a state mental hospital, Wakefield was given transient conditional release.
His disappearance has renewed concerns among some Rancho Bernardo residents, including Eric Glitzl.
“I was afraid for my daughter reading about who is and what he did. I was like, oh my god, how am I going to protect my daughter?” Glitzl said.
Five years ago, Glitzl joined neighbors who opposed sexually violent predator Douglas Badger, 78, living in their Rancho Bernardo neighborhood. Badger is a convicted child molester and kidnapper and is identified as a sexual sadist.
“All of us were just kind of rocked back on our heels,” Glitzl said.
Wakefield’s disappearance has rekindled those concerns for Glitzl.
“You can’t trust them to police themselves, to take care of themselves. It makes no sense to me,” Glitzl said.
As the search entered its second week, Glitzl also questioned where Wakefield could have gone.
“I don’t understand how far he could have gotten,” Glitzl said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.
