No one attends offender mtg.

Published 9:59 am Wednesday, October 30, 2013

No community members came to the notification meeting Tuesday night about a high-risk sex offender planning to move to Albert Lea in November.

Lorenzo Martin Torres, 24, a Level 3 offender and Albert Lea native, is expected to be released from prison in Rush City on Nov. 6 to move to the 2100 block of East Main Street.

Lorenzo Torres

Lorenzo Torres

Albert Lea Police Chief Dwaine Winkels said he hopes people do not become complacent and that parents will educate themselves and their children not only about Torres but about all sexual predators.

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Winkels was joined by two police detectives, an officer, two representatives from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and a crime victims advocate who were ready to meet with the public.

Police detective Frank Kohl said Torres will be living at the same place as Level 3 offender Tai Lars Stadheim, who moved to town when he was released from prison in April 2010. Stadheim has a history of sexual contact with juvenile female victims, including fondling, and was known to his victims.

A notification fact sheet states Torres has a history of sexual contact with female victims ages 12 to 15. He was known to his victims.

Kohl said Torres had at least three victims, but there were likely others who were never charged or who never came forward to authorities.

Freeborn County District Court documents state Torres was serving time in prison for one count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 13-year-old girl and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 12-year-old girl. Both instances reportedly took place at hotels in Albert Lea in 2010, and Torres was already on probation at the time the incidents occurred.

He is classified as a Level 3 offender because he has the highest likelihood of reoffending.

Michele Murphy, community notification coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said Torres will be released on intensive supervised release and will be required to wear a GPS device. This type of supervised release is the highest that can be assigned in Minnesota.

He will be required to meet with a DOC agent in person four times a week and can have no direct or indirect contact with minors. He is not allowed to own any kind of device that has access to the Internet.

His move brings the total number of Level 3 offenders living in Albert Lea to three.

The third Level 3 offender is Paul Arthur Berg, who lives in the vicinity of Capri Avenue and Gene Street.

According to police, Berg has a history of sexual contact with girls ages 4 to 5, including fondling. He was known to his victims.

He also has a history of sexual conduct with girls ages 9 to 15, including soliciting victims for sex and indecent exposure in public. He was not known to those victims.