KittyMom
04-17-2008, 08:33 AM
http://savannahnow.com/node/481941
MICHAEL ATKINS | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 11:30 pm
The young girl sexually assaulted by Stephen Alexander Bell had no idea he was out on probation until she ran into him at a Tybee Island store a few months ago.
Now, with a hunt for Bell under way after he cut off a monitoring bracelet, his victim's house is dead-bolted and under heavy police guard.
"She's a nervous wreck - we weren't aware that he was even out of jail, much less back on Tybee," her legal guardian said Wednesday. "I want him caught. I want him in jail the rest of his life.
"He will do this to somebody else's child."
The Savannah Morning News is not naming the legal guardian so as to protect the victim's identity.
At least three agencies - the Chatham County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Tybee Island Police Department - have been searching for Bell, 40, since his tracking device was discovered at T.S. Chu's department store last weekend.
Bell was equipped with the bracelet on April 2 after the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board designated him as a "sexually dangerous predator."
He is one of just two registered offenders - out of more than 400 - classified as such in Chatham County. The other, officials said, is already in jail.
"It's not taken lightly," Faye Chastang, executive director of the review board, said of the classification.
In 2004, Bell was sentenced to 15 years in prison for two counts of child molestation, according to Chatham County Superior Court records.
He was released on probation last May, Georgia Department of Corrections records show.
When that happens "there is a letter sent to the victim's family stating the offender is on probation," said Ahmed Holt, manager of the corrections department's sex offender registration unit. "It has to be sent, and it was sent."
Nevertheless, Bell's victim, now 17, didn't get the message.
"I wasn't notified when he was released," said the guardian. "We went into a store and he was standing at the counter. She got so upset. We just left."
The Savannah Probation Office referred inquiries to the state corrections department.
Bell's prison sentence stems from an incident in February 2003 during which he took off his clothes and removed his victim's underwear, according to Tybee Island police reports.
He had been familiar to the family for a long time, the guardian said Wednesday.
"He's not the kind of person that's going to snatch a child off the street," she said. "He's just not that type. He's sneaky."
Bell was the first sex offender in the county to be supervised with new GPS monitors, Holt said, citing a 2006 state registry law requiring dangerous predators to wear the ankle straps for the rest of their lives. Before then, all three sex-offender classifications were monitored equally, he said.
The board charged with classifying offenders, however, is encumbered by a massive backlog and meets just once a month.
"We probably didn't get (Bell's) name until late 2007," Chastang said.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a dangerous predator is "at risk of perpetrating any future dangerous sexual offense."
That's all the more reason Chatham County authorities want to reel Bell in fast.
"We will not rest until we get this guy," said investigator Warren Blanton of the Sex Offender Registration and Tracking team. "He's public enemy No. 1 right now."
One more reason why these predators shouldn't be allowed out of prison.
MICHAEL ATKINS | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 11:30 pm
The young girl sexually assaulted by Stephen Alexander Bell had no idea he was out on probation until she ran into him at a Tybee Island store a few months ago.
Now, with a hunt for Bell under way after he cut off a monitoring bracelet, his victim's house is dead-bolted and under heavy police guard.
"She's a nervous wreck - we weren't aware that he was even out of jail, much less back on Tybee," her legal guardian said Wednesday. "I want him caught. I want him in jail the rest of his life.
"He will do this to somebody else's child."
The Savannah Morning News is not naming the legal guardian so as to protect the victim's identity.
At least three agencies - the Chatham County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Tybee Island Police Department - have been searching for Bell, 40, since his tracking device was discovered at T.S. Chu's department store last weekend.
Bell was equipped with the bracelet on April 2 after the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board designated him as a "sexually dangerous predator."
He is one of just two registered offenders - out of more than 400 - classified as such in Chatham County. The other, officials said, is already in jail.
"It's not taken lightly," Faye Chastang, executive director of the review board, said of the classification.
In 2004, Bell was sentenced to 15 years in prison for two counts of child molestation, according to Chatham County Superior Court records.
He was released on probation last May, Georgia Department of Corrections records show.
When that happens "there is a letter sent to the victim's family stating the offender is on probation," said Ahmed Holt, manager of the corrections department's sex offender registration unit. "It has to be sent, and it was sent."
Nevertheless, Bell's victim, now 17, didn't get the message.
"I wasn't notified when he was released," said the guardian. "We went into a store and he was standing at the counter. She got so upset. We just left."
The Savannah Probation Office referred inquiries to the state corrections department.
Bell's prison sentence stems from an incident in February 2003 during which he took off his clothes and removed his victim's underwear, according to Tybee Island police reports.
He had been familiar to the family for a long time, the guardian said Wednesday.
"He's not the kind of person that's going to snatch a child off the street," she said. "He's just not that type. He's sneaky."
Bell was the first sex offender in the county to be supervised with new GPS monitors, Holt said, citing a 2006 state registry law requiring dangerous predators to wear the ankle straps for the rest of their lives. Before then, all three sex-offender classifications were monitored equally, he said.
The board charged with classifying offenders, however, is encumbered by a massive backlog and meets just once a month.
"We probably didn't get (Bell's) name until late 2007," Chastang said.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a dangerous predator is "at risk of perpetrating any future dangerous sexual offense."
That's all the more reason Chatham County authorities want to reel Bell in fast.
"We will not rest until we get this guy," said investigator Warren Blanton of the Sex Offender Registration and Tracking team. "He's public enemy No. 1 right now."
One more reason why these predators shouldn't be allowed out of prison.