Psychologist Told Officials Rodriguez Was Likely to Re-Offend
A risk assessment done four months prior to Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.'s release from prison warned that the severity of his assaults on women appeared to be increasing.
Dwight Close, the Minnesota Department of Corrections psychologist who assessed Rodriguez, added that Rodriguez's "victim pool" of women apparently chosen at random "suggests a need for broader notification of the public" than permitted by state guidelines.
Close cited other concerns to consider in calculating the risk of allowing Rodriguez back into the community, including the fact that he already had re-offended after receiving treatment as a sex offender.
Rodriguez, 50, has been charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Dru Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student missing since November 22.
The risk-assessment report was dated January 10 for a committee that later conducted an end-of-confinement review, required before Rodriguez's release from prison on May 1. That review, done at least 90 days before a prisoner's release, determines how much notification needs to be provided to people where the released prisoner intends to live.
Rodriguez was designated a Level 3 offender, based on that review. The Level 3 category is reserved for those who show the highest likelihood to commit more sex crimes.
It is a separate procedure from the civil commitment hearing, which is required to be held at least a year before release. Those hearings are used to determine whether a sex offender should be held indefinitely for treatment at a secure hospital.
Corrections officials held a civil commitment hearing more than a year before Rodriguez's release but decided against indefinite treatment at the conclusion of his criminal sentence, in part because of his age. He is 50.
In his assessment, Close noted that: "Rodriguez's willingness to use force may be escalating in severity," and he cited four "special concerns" that should be considered in his case:
Rodriguez had re-offended despite having participated in inpatient sex offender treatment for about five years.
Two of his three assaults involved the use of a weapon.
Because his victims had been "adult females (who were) unknown to him and who appear to have been randomly selected," there was "a need for broader notification of the public than that permitted by the risk level associated with the offender's score" on the assessment.
Rodriguez was "unlikely to have a stable, well-supervised living arrangement in a location which minimizes his access to potential victims."
Although he told one official interviewer before his prison release that he would like to return to Mexico to pursue a trade in printing, according to the risk assessment report, Rodriguez moved back to Crookston, where he was living with his mother when he was arrested.
Close's report was released this week by Polk County District Court along with other documents that had been filed by authorities seeking search warrants last month for Rodriguez's car and home in Crookston.
As his 23-year prison confinement was about to end, Rodriguez was given a score of 13 on a risk-to-reoffend assessment by the Department of Corrections, the report shows.
A sexual offender who scores 8 or higher is designated Level 3