On December 5, 2014, Hollister Police Detective Chris Wells located a missing Hollister sex registrant after arresting two other local men Wednesday for not registering. On Thursday, Hollister Police Detectives were unable to locate Martin Fernandez Guardado, 50, at his old address in Hollister. He had also failed to register around his birthday or advise he was moving as required by law. His picture and name was part of a press release asking the public for assistance in locating his whereabouts. 

The Police Department received several calls from people with information on Guardado’s location. While working on those leads Friday, Detective Chris Wells received a call from Guardado who advised he was out of the state. Apparently, the news of the press released reached him via a friend or relative. 

Detective Wells was able to confirm /Friday that Guardado is now registered with a police department in that state. A report of his failure to follow his registration requirements will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for possible charges.

The Hollister Police Department said it would like to thank all those people who called with information. 

On Wednesday, Wells and Officer Bo Leland conducted compliance checks on local sex registrants. Two were arrested. Sex offenders are required to register within five days of their birthdays, within five days of moving from one home to another and those who are transient are required to register every 30 days. Officers were able to track down one sex offender that was out of compliance at the San Benito County Homeless Shelter. Troy Lemings, 44, was arrested without incident. 

Isaias Sernas Jr., 38, was arrested at a home in the 1200 block of Monica Ct. for also being in violation of his requirement to register his address. Sernas was staying with relatives on Monica Court after falsely reporting he lived on the 800 block of Hillcrest Road. 

Both Sernas and Lemings were transported to the San Benito County Jail and they were booked for violation of their registration requirements. 

For the initial press release, which includes mugshots of the sex registrants, click here.