Registered violent sex offender in Carlsbad

CARLSBAD — Mark William Pliska, a 58-year-old convicted sex offender listed his RV in south Carlsbad as his residence May 2. 

Pliska, who is no stranger to San Diego County, must personally check in with authorities every 30 days.

Pliska has lived in different cities in the county since before his release from Atascadero State Hospital in May 2006.

Authorities released a community notice to inform Carlsbad residents of his transient status in the city.

“We didn’t flier the neighborhood because he is mobile in an RV,” said Lt. Kelly Cain, of the Carlsbad Police Station.

Cain also said in a release that Pliska is not currently wanted by police and that the offender is in compliance with probation requirements.

In 1983 in Mendocino County, Pliska was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a male child younger than 14.

The Union-Tribune reported in March 17, 2007, that Pliska was in his early 20s when he molested two boys, ages 12 and 13.

Then in 1998, in Monterey County, he exposed himself to another male child and went back to prison.

In 2001 he violated his probation, according to 10 News, and was committed to Atascadero state mental hospital for four years.

He was released in 2006 and registered to live in downtown San Diego, according to the San Diego Police Department’s March 16, 2007, Community Notification of a High Risk Sex Offender.

Last May, Vista residents were concerned because a married couple allowed Pliska to reside in their neighborhood home.

Then, months later, Pliska was arrested for registering as a transient in Vista and San Marcos, but found actually living in a motel in Escondido, also according to 10 News.

A fellow church member of Pliska’s showed up at his sentencing, and supported Pliska and said the offender had been trying to live a productive, normal life.

Judge Runston Maino ordered Pliska to probation instead of jail time.

At the time of his 2006 release he was considered a high-risk sex offender due to his sexually violent predator status, which is still used to label his status today.

That is the worst category of sex offenders, and Cain said the information of Pliska’s relocation to Carlsbad is provided for citizen safety in accordance with Penal Code Section 290 and the San Diego County Sex Offender Management Committee, or SOMC, protocol.

According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s website, there are about 4,000 registrants in the county but those numbers change daily.

Of those numbers, there are currently only seven sexually violent predators registered as living in the county, and four of them, including Pliska, are former mentally disordered offenders who have been patients at a mental hospital for treatment.

The county statistics also show that about 10 percent of all registered sex offenders are registered as homeless.

But having a transient status is legal, and only means that sex offenders must report to authorities more frequently than those with a registered address.

“He has to physically come in every 30 days,” Cain said.

Lindon Lewis, parole administrator for the state’s region 4 GPS district, which includes San Diego County, said that there are 546 GPS-monitored sex offenders in the county as of May 7, 2012.

In North County, there are 150 registered sex offenders who are monitored by GPS.

Lewis said the sex offenders are monitored by agents who make unannounced parole searches, and check that the offender is in compliance with the personal terms of their parole.

“Each day the agents run the tracks for the previous 24 hours,” he said.

According to SAFE, Regional Office of the Department of Justice/Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force, an SVP (sexually violent predator) “is a sex offender who has been previously incarcerated, subsequently diagnosed with a mental disorder, and civilly committed to a mental hospital for treatment.

“Following a court ordered release of an SVP, community members may comment on the proposed address or may suggest an alternative location for placement within the County the SVP was ordered to be released.”