Chief: Suspects Wore GPS Devices During Killings

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Two parolees raped and killed at least four women while wearing GPS trackers, and there may be more victims, a California police chief alleged Monday.

How is it that 2 sex offenders on parole with GPS monitoring are able to murder 4 women? Aren't the parole officers supposed to be monitoring the GPS trackers?

Franc Cano and Steven Dean Gordon, both registered sex offenders, were both wearing ankle bracelets when the women were assaulted and killed last fall, Anaheim police Chief Raul Quezada said at a news conference.
Authorities at the news conference did not explain how Cano and Gordon allegedly managed to carry out the killings while under supervision, but Quezada said data from the GPS devices "was one of the investigative tools we used to put the case together."

"These individuals were not on our radar whatsoever," Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas he said. "Our three missing in Santa Ana just completely went off the grid and we were trying to follow up as much as we could." Santa Ana police searched a canyon, examined the women's cellphone records, alerted hospitals, put the word out on social media and even checked motels they were known to frequent but without success in finding them.

The men also checked in with Anaheim police every 30 days, as required, and provided updated photos, fingerprints and addresses, Dunn said.
In fact, both men checked in earlier this month, Dunn said. Cano was wearing a state-issued ankle bracelet and Gordon was wearing a federal GPS device, he said.

full article

What is the point of using these GPS bracelets is they aren't going to track them? It's terribly sad that four women, possibly more, lost their lives. This could have been avoided.

I found an article about the Orange County probation department monitoring sex offenders during their down time. It's also stated that there are 10 technicians, working around the clock, getting to know the parolees patterns.

It's a slower morning at the Orange County Probation Department, so he's performing random spot checks. This morning, he decides to start with felony sex offenders.
Ramirez is checking to see where Orange County's convicted child molesters or child pornographers are on this fine spring day. The rest of us want to know where they are not: Near any of our children.
This is the county's GPS Monitoring Center, tracking adults and juveniles on court-ordered probation supervision. It's one of five in the nation and the only one in California run in-house by a government agency.

Ramirez is one of 10 technicians who spend their days and nights in shifts studying tracks transmitted by GPS devices. That's one red dot tracking movements minute by minute.
"You get to know their patterns, just by looking at the tracks," he says. He can check current locations or review where someone has been.

OC tracks sex offenders...
So what where these 10 technicians doing when the 2 sex offenders were out killing innocent women. Didn't they notice the 2 men were around each other, that's a parole violation in itself. If they are looking for patterns they sure missed this one. The OC police department should be held accountable for this miss.
So sad.

Jeez, I don’t really believe in State sponsored execution, mostly due to the fact that it can be abused and all that, but animals like these make it difficult to argue against the death penalty. It just seems beneficial for everybody if these sorts were put down. But alas, everyone deserves a second chance or whatever, but some are too far beyond repair.

Perhaps we could hold defense lawyers culpable to some degree? Perhaps a bit far, they are loathsome though, arguing to have monsters like these released into an unwitting community so that they can score a pay day.

These guys should never have been paroled.

reply to post by BlindBastards


The laws regarding sex offenders are in desperate needs of revision. The OC police department should be held accountable as well. What were the people supposedly monitoring the GPS trackers for patterns doing when they missed this. I would have thought the 2 trackers being in close proximity would have set off red flags. Parolees aren't supposed to be associating with other parolees.

What is the point of using these GPS bracelets if they aren't going to track them? It's terribly sad that four women, possibly more, lost their lives. This could have been avoided.

Agreed.

So these two were sex "offenders" and now they are killers too? They got let out and figured they could go on a rampage and get away with it this time because this time they would leave no witnesses.

Is that why they call prison a "Gladiator Academy"?

So they have the equipment to track them, but what is the use of that if thy don't have the plan in place to coordinate that with police activities? RIP to those women. I wonder if any of them left children behind? As for the killer rapists, there is nothing I can say without seriously violating the T&Cs.

reply to post by BlindBastards


The lawyer can't be held responsible, it's their job. Certainly not someone I'd have any respect for, though. Its the US "justice" system that is the problem. Which part of it does work?

I want to know how those things even got parole. That shouldn't have happened in the first place. I would say put them down, but I think a life sentence would be a better option for them. I hope they get passed around like cheap liquor.

reply to post by aboutface


It's literally mind boggling. These poor women could possibly still have their lives if the police department did it's job. Sad

On top of it these 2 guys weren't "on the radar." Wouldn't sex offenders be the first people the police would look at in a sexually violent crime.

reply to post by kx12x


Crimes like the ones they were paroled for, should be life sentences and never be paroled! You are right, those things shouldn't have been released.

Cano and Gordon were ordered to register as sex offenders after being convicted in separate cases of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14.

link

I wonder if the victims hadn't been allegedly associated with prostitution, would the police have been more invested in finding their killer?

These "men" are sick people that need to be put away, for ever.

Don't give them the death penalty. Lock them up in solitary confinement for life.

RIP to the women who lost their lives and blessings to their family and friends.

reply to post by kx12x


This problem is not just in the US. It was a massive issue here in Australia when a young lady named Jill Meagher was raped and murdered by a “man” out on parole who had a very lengthy rap sheet. He got 35 odd years in prison, but as a result they have made it harder to get parole. This has made him one of the most despised men in the prison system because of it, not because of what he did to Jill. The last I remember reading of him he pretty much lives in solitary confinement for his own protection, whilst being on suicide watch. Some life he’s chosen for himself in the pursuit of cheap thrills while ruining families...

I just feel that no one in the decision making process has an accountability. Don’t usually don’t even face the sack or anything. Just carry on as usually. If the people on the parole board, and less so the lawyers, were made criminally liable (or something similar; fines/loss of job/demotion not necessarily jail time) for any further crimes parolees committed then I thoroughly believe that these people will take much greater care in who they grant parole to.

At the moment they act with utter indemnity, much the way all the corrupt, scumbag politicians do. Indemnity for these sorts of decisions only serve one party at the detriment to the general public. But then you’re faced with the prospect of no one, particularly those genuinely deserving of a second chance, getting parole. It’s a fine balance, but one that must be struck as it’s costing innocent people their lives at the expense of the freedom of sex fiends and the like. I don’t think that there’s any perfect solution to this, but there has to be a better one then there is currently.

Those making the decisions need to start taking responsibility for their actions, that’d be a good start.

This probably happened because the Feebies wouldn't talk to the locals and/or the locals wanted no contact so neither side had any idea what was actually happening. Both agencies were "just doing our job on limited resources" while people die.
Even had they been talking and comparing notes, the SWAT teams were probably tied up with busting an organic farmer or the local farmers' co-op.
There is a place for people who do these horrific crimes and I'm confident there is a place for those who set them loose in society. May the Creator have mercy on them, I'm not so inclined.

The alleged serial killers, Franc Cano and Steven Gordon, have highlighted to limits of GPS trackers. The two men had previously removed their GPS devices and headed to Las Vegas. The two were eventually captured.

Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas speaks at a news conference, Monday, April 14, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif., to publicly discuss the deaths of four women allegedly raped and killed by two parolees wearing GPS trackers. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Leonard Ortiz)(Credit: AP)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Franc Cano and Steven Dean Gordon proved not once, but allegedly twice, that GPS trackers — the electronic leashes worn by 100,000 freed criminals in the U.S. — aren’t foolproof.
Two years ago, the pair of registered sex offenders cut the monitors from their ankles, hopped a Greyhound bus from California and holed up in a Las Vegas casino hotel until they were captured two weeks later.

I am having a hard time understanding how police missed these two parolees hanging out together. Obviously there are limits to the GPS trackers, but shouldn't some kind of alarm went off altering police that the two men were in close proximity. If they had previously removed their devices why didn't parole officers or police check to see if the same situation might happen again.

GPS monitors are supposed to deter criminals by keeping them away from forbidden area such as schools and playgrounds and from anyone who has a protective order.
They are also supposed to be an investigative tool for law enforcement to track down convicts.

I agree with the mother of one of the victims, more could have been done. The system failed these women and their families.

But the mother of one slain woman is questioning whether it was a failure of technology or of the system. “If they were monitored correctly, then maybe none of this would have happened,” said Jodi Michelle Pier-Estepp.

full article

In the OP I posted an article about the OC police and their 10 dedicated technicians watching GPS devices for patterns, here it again in case anyone missed it. OC Tracks Sex Offenders by GPS

I wonder if these women had not been prostitutes, would the police have been more invested in finding their killers? May they rest in peace and their families find resolution.

The GPS units are probably not monitored by a real human 24/7 staring at a computer. The unit probably has a pre-determined electronic "fence" that the parolee isn't supposed to leave. I would wager to guess it's more of a way to make sure they don't flee to Mexico or something than to know the exact location at all times.

Some people on probation have their ankle monitors set to allow them to travel ONLY to and from work, during certain hours. If you're out and about outside of those pre-approved windows, they'll come and arrest you.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


There was an article from 2012 in the OC Register:

When it comes to hustling to protect public safety, the GPS Program is, literally, all about "making tracks."
Ramirez is one of 10 technicians who spend their days and nights in shifts studying tracks transmitted by GPS devices. That's one red dot tracking movements minute by minute.
"You get to know their patterns, just by looking at the tracks," he says. He can check current locations or review where someone has been.

full article
These men were on parole in Orange County, same county as that article.
Maybe things have changed since then, or the article was exaggerated to make the public feel safe.
It's just crazy that 2 sex offenders who had removed their GPS devices and skipped town to Las Vegas, were able to associate together again after their release from prison.
Sad story, I just feel as if more could have been done to either prevent this from happening or stop it sooner.