Caledonia Argus

Sex offender returned to prison

Posted: 1/6/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

A Risk Level 3 sex offender who spent some time in Caledonia in December has been returned to prison.

James Ellis Warbington, 32, had his supervised release privileges revoked by a hearing officer on December 30.

He has been returned to the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, and could stay there through the expiration of his sentence, which is December, 2006.
Warbington could be re-released if he completes sex offender treatment program there and he meets other good behavior criteria, according to Jeff Peterson, Executive Officer of Hearings and Release for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

A revocation hearing for Warbington was held on December 30 at the Winona County Courthouse. The hearing officer determined that Warbington had multiple violations of his supervised release. Peterson summed them up as follows:

ï Warbington failed sexual offender treatment in the community.
ï He failed to participate in chemical dependency evaluation.
ï He used a motor vehicle without his supervising agentís permission.
ï He had general violations of failure to follow agentís instructions.
ï He failed to maintain regular contact with his agent.
ï He used cocaine.

According to the DOC, Warbington has a history of forced sexual contact with adult females, including rape. He used deception and physical force to gain compliance, and was known to his victims.

Warbington was living in Winona, but had requested permission to move to the Caledonia area. The DOC was reviewing that request.

An employee at Merchant's Bank in Caledonia alerted authorities to Warbingtonís presence after he tried to open an account there on December 12. Police officers found out that Warbington had been staying with a woman in an apartment building in Caledonia for about eight days.

The police department called the Minnesota Department of Corrections in Winona and talked to Warbingtonís parole officer. She determined that Warbington had violated the conditions of his release, so she had a warrant issued for his arrest. La Crescent police picked him up on December 15, two hours after the arrest warrant was issued, while he was driving his car. He also had an expired drivers license.
A Risk Level 3 sex offender is considered to have the highest risk of reoffense. Community notification meetings must be held before they are allowed to move into a community. Caledonia has never had a Level 3 offender before, according to police chief Duane St. Mary.

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