Monday, December 01, 2008

By JEFF JARDINE
jjardine@modbee.com

last updated: July 10, 2008 09:57:41 AM

Whenever there is a crime that generates headlines, instant assumptions are sure to follow.

Many readers, including some who posted comments on Modbee.com, were absolutely convinced that 27-year-old Sergio Casian Aguiar was on drugs when he beat his 2-year-old son to death before being shot and killed by a Modesto police officer west of Turlock last month.

Toxicology tests, however, found no drugs in his system. So much for that assumption.

Likewise, some folks have been quick to criticize the family of the 14-year-old Modesto girl taken from her home, stuffed into the trunk of a car and badly injured when her alleged kidnapper -- a registered sex offender -- crashed the vehicle during a police pursuit. This happened in a north Modesto neighborhood early Saturday morning.

Again, assumptions aren't always accurate. Only after the police used a Taser to control Jared Daniel Conway, 38, did the victim's parents learn that a man they had known for about a decade had done time in the California state prison system for rape and is listed on sex offender registries in California and Tennessee.

Conway is being held in lieu of $1.3 million bail at the Stanislaus County Jail on multiple kidnapping, assault and other charges.

John Fitzjarrell, speaking for the girl's family, said he, Conway and the girl's father had worked together as plumbers beginning in 1998 or 1999. Conway often visited their homes, and talked about the deaths of his brothers -- one murdered in 2001 and another killed in a motorcycle accident two years ago.

But, Fitzjarrell said, Conway never told them he had been convicted of rape in 1990, nor did he volunteer that he spent roughly four years in state prison or that he is a registered sex offender.

Conway kept in contact, Fitzjarrell said, when he lived briefly in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas before returning to Modesto in June.

"He told me he was staying at his mother's place (in Modesto)," Fitzjarrell said.

Instead, Conway asked the girl's father if he could stay with them for a few days or maybe a week until he found his own place, Fitzjarrell said.

It wasn't until the girl's father called in a frantic search to find his daughter about

3 a.m. July 5 that Fitzjarrell learned Conway had been staying with them for what had stretched into nearly a month.

"We were unaware of his past," Fitzjarrell said. "You know someone long enough and if they seem like a good person, they're a good person. You don't go checking Megan's law. He never gave any indication. We never knew he was capable of anything like that."

The Tennessee sex offender registry lists Conway's mother's Modesto address as his current residence. He lived there for about three years beginning in 2004. He also spent time in Arkansas before returning to California, Fitzjarrell said. When Conway re-registered in Modesto last month, he gave the police the family's address as his own. That's not what you might expect from a guy who, Fitzjarrell said, asked to stay a few days until he found another place.

The family, he said, was shocked to find their address as his on the Megan's law registry after his arrest.

"They had no idea," said Fitzjarrell, who also has a teenage daughter.

A relative who asked not to be identified said the girl's father is a hard-working truck driver who spends little, if any, time on the Internet. He's the type of person who goes out of his way to help others, and saw Conway as a friend in need of a place to stay, according to the relative. The mom, the relative said, is an excellent mother who stays home with the kids. She is computer savvy. But, like her husband, she had seen nothing in Conway's behavior to trigger any suspicions or compel her to check the Megan's law registry.

"It's just devastating to them," the relative said.

They've learned a hard lesson as parents: that anyone -- even someone you've known and liked for a decade -- can have a dark, dangerous side.

Registered sex offenders are obligated to re-register with local authorities annually, and must report their new address within five days when they move. But in most cases, they aren't obligated to tell anyone else about their pasts unless they're still on parole or probation.

Those convicted of crimes against children will have lifelong restrictions, such as never being allowed to supervise them, but those with crimes against adults may have no restrictions after their parole expires.

Sexual predators will go to great lengths to gain the trust of their next victim.

"It's always about access," said Annette Rees, a Stanislaus County prosecutor who handles such cases.

The girl is at the University of California at Davis Medical Center in Sacramento hospital, recovering from her injuries.

Friends and family members are staging a car wash Saturday and Sunday, from

10 a.m. until sundown, in the parking lot behind Ray's Carpets at the corner of McHenry and Kiernan in north Modesto. They hope to raise $3,000 that will enable them to move into another house -- one without the horrible memories and one, you hope, where a 14-year-old girl can feel safe again.

That's an assumption every child should be able to make.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.

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