John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight
SIOUX FALLS — The South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles will hold a refresher training for its members on sex offender supervision in the coming months in light of an investigation into a parolee by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Some board members said the situation is a signal that the state’s supervisory system for high-risk offenders is working, but others wanted more information to give them confidence when making release decisions.
Federal agents allegedly found multiple cell phones in the Sioux Falls home of 53-year-old convicted sex offender Toby Wade Ferguson in late September, Board Chairman Myron Rau told his fellow parole board members Thursday morning.
Ferguson is on parole with a condition that requires him to get permission before obtaining internet-connectable devices.
He is currently in custody in Sioux Falls and awaits a parole revocation hearing before the board. There are no federal charges currently pending against him in the U.S. District Court of South Dakota.
“The fact that Homeland Security is involved, that’s not good for Toby,” Rau said.
Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment on the situation.
Ferguson was convicted in 1993 on first-degree rape and sexual contact charges in a case involving eight underage male victims, according to the South Dakota Sex Offender Registry. He served 21 years of his 180-year sentence before his release by the parole board in 2014.
Just one current member of that 2014 board remains: Ken Albers, who was one of two members to vote against Ferguson’s release.
The board spent part of its Thursday meeting talking about how parolees like Ferguson are supervised. He was classified a “high-risk” offender, which typically calls for additional supervision based on an offender’s individual risk factors.
Besides the requirement to seek parole officer approval of electronic devices with internet access, Ferguson was required to undergo more frequent polygraph testing than most paroled sex offenders, was ordered to visit the parole board periodically for interviews, and had to submit to more frequent searches of his residence. He also wore a GPS ankle monitor for four years.
Parole Board Vice Chairwoman Kirsten Aasen said the discovery of the devices alone constitutes a serious parole violation, based on his history and the strict conditions under which he was released.
“The mere fact that he had them in his residence is enough,” Aasen said.
Aasen also said the discovery shows that the Department of Corrections’ Sex Offender Management Program works.
Rau agreed, noting that Ferguson was in state custody for the alleged parole violation within hours of the federal agency’s search.
Albers and Board Member Peter Lieberman, however, both wanted more information on the supervision program. Albers said it’s not clear to him that Ferguson’s behavior would’ve been discovered without the federal investigation.
Lieberman said it’s important for board members to understand the supervision program’s guidelines and guardrails when making decisions that could affect public safety. When a sex offender’s victims are children, Lieberman asked, “Do they receive an extra layer of supervision?”
The answer is yes, he was told, but what those layers of supervision look like differ from person to person. Kayla Tinker, a parole services supervisor, told board members that supervision for paroled sex offenders is typically more strict than for others.
With higher-risk offenders, she said, the terms of their release are tailored based on their participation in sex offender coursework in prison, psychiatric evaluations and individual risk factors. All paroled sex offenders are subject to quarterly searches of their residences – sometimes with a warning, sometimes without, she said – and higher-risk offenders are subjected to random monthly searches.
Release and supervision plans could also involve placement in transitional housing. Sex offenders on or off parole are also required by law to submit their address to a public registry and to notify authorities within three days if they move. They cannot live within 500 feet of “community safe zones,” which include schools, parks and public pools.
Parole board members agreed to bring in program managers in either November or December to give newer board members more thorough information about the Department of Corrections’ Sex Offender Management Program, and to let all the board members ask questions about it.