On Oct. 18 the San Benito County Probation Department planned, coordinated and led a pre-Halloween sex offender compliance operation in San Benito County resulting in the arrest of Samuel Downs for failure to register as a sex offender and failure to report to the Probation Department.  

Local, regional, state and federal law enforcement agencies including the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, the Hollister Police Department, California Department of Corrections Adult Parole Operations, the United States Marshals Service and the Santa Clara County SAFE Task Force, participated in the operation.

According to a news release by the San Benito County Probation Department, "there were also nine additional sex offenders identified as possibly being out of compliance and investigations on these individuals are in progress. Investigations are also in progress for three offenders whose addresses could not be verified during the operation." 

The release also stated that 101 sex offenders were confirmed to be properly registered and in compliance with the terms of their probation. 

“We have excellent regional collaboration to keep our community safe.” said R. Ted Baraan, Chief Probation Officer. “With all of these agencies working together, we conducted checks of sex offenders on probation, on parole, or having a registration requirement.”  

For more information about sex offenders living in the community visit: meganslaw.ca.gov 

Anyone with information about sex offenders that may be in violation of their conditions of supervision is asked to call 831-636- 4100.