A 69-year-old man designated a sexually violent predator cut his GPS tracker and vanished from a Rancho Bernardo warehouse Saturday, Sept. 26.

Merle Wakefield's monitoring device alerted to "tamper mode" at about 3:30 a.m. while he was at work, sheriff's Lt. Aloha Peters told the San Diego Union-Tribune. By the time Liberty Health Care personnel arrived, the device had been removed and Wakefield was gone, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office said.

He has not been found.

The Sheriff's Office, which polices Encinitas under contract, is asking residents countywide to watch for Wakefield and call 911 if they spot him. Deputies warned the public not to approach him.

Wakefield is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 230 pounds, with brown eyes. He is wanted for violating the terms of his conditional release.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Wakefield was convicted of lewd acts with a minor under 14 in 1981 and rape by force in 1990. After his release from prison in 1998, he was formally designated a sexually violent predator and committed to the Department of State Hospitals for treatment. He was conditionally released from Coalinga State Hospital in November 2024 and had been living most recently in Campo, according to Peters.

Wakefield had been supervised around the clock by Liberty Health Care, a private company contracted by the state of California to run the Conditional Release Program. A security employee was assigned to accompany him at all times, CBS 8 reported.

It is the first time a sexually violent predator in San Diego County has absconded from the program, the Union-Tribune reported.

Liberty Health Care notified both the Sheriff's Office and the San Diego Police Department after discovering Wakefield was missing. The Department of State Hospitals said privacy laws prevent it from commenting on current or former patients, the Union-Tribune reported.

San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, whose District 5 covers much of North County, said on X on Sunday, Sept. 27 that Wakefield was still missing: "It's been more than 48 hours since Merle Wakefield took off his GPS monitor and walked away. He's still out there."

Anyone who sees Wakefield should call 911 or contact their local law enforcement agency.