TASK FORCE ARRESTS SEX OFFENDER AGAIN

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, July 10, 2007: A convicted sex offender who failed to register has been arrested again by police. Michael Alan Leffew, 58, was arrested Monday after the Riverside County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team tracked him down and arrested him at a group home located at 24691 Highway 74 in Perris. He was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center and is being held on $1 million bail.

"Protecting the kids in our community from the sexual predators who prey on them is a top public safety priority," said District Attorney Rod Pacheco. "The SAFE Team is making sure these sex offenders stay off our streets," he said.

Leffew is facing two counts of failing to register as a convicted sex offender. The charges also include a special allegation for two prior convictions in Orange County making him eligible for sentencing under California's Three Strikes Law.

Leffew was convicted in 1981 for child molestation in Orange County. Under California law, a convicted sex offender must register with local law enforcement within five days. He later moved to Riverside County and was prosecuted in 2003 for failing to register as a sex offender here. After the jury convicted him, a Riverside Superior Court judge granted a defense attorney's motion to dismiss Leffew's prior strikes convictions. Instead of a 25 years-to-life sentence, he was sentenced to four years in state prison and released in January, 2006.

Leffew is scheduled to appear for arraignment on July 11 at 1:30 p.m. in Department 42 of the Riverside Superior Court. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.