Police are searching for a 69-year-old registered sex offender who removed his GPS ankle monitor and vanished from a San Diego neighborhood early Friday.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said Merle Wakefield’s device entered “tamper mode” at about 3:30 a.m. while he was working in Rancho Bernardo. Liberty Healthcare, the state contractor supervising him under California’s Conditional Release Program, responded to the scene and found the monitor removed and Wakefield gone. It alerted the sheriff’s office and the San Diego Police Department. The search was still active Sunday.

Wakefield is wanted for violating the terms of his conditional release. He was convicted in 1980 and 1991 of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and rape by force, according to the sheriff’s office. He has been on conditional release since November 2024. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 230 pounds and has brown eyes.

Officials said the public should not approach him but should call 911 with any information. County Supervisor Jim Desmond criticized the state for saying nothing publicly about the disappearance.

Why it matters: Wakefield is designated a sexually violent predator, and his disappearance has renewed scrutiny of California’s supervised-release monitoring program.