Residents learn details of level 3 sex offender who has moved to Perham

A Tuesday night meeting gave residents information about a level 3 sex offender relocating to Perham.

Under Minnesota statute 244.052, Chad Allan Mikiska is required to register any place of work, vehicles that he owns or operates for any reason, and must share with police where he spends the majority of his time, said Brad VanderVegt, Community Notification Coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Now, VanderVegt said, Mikiska has relocated to Perham as homeless, meaning that he has no primary address. He is required by law to register with police, and must check in with the Perham Police Department on a weekly basis.

Like all registered offenders he is required to be photographed by police annually or when he makes a significant change to his appearance, VanderVegt said.

Mikiska's history was detailed Tuesday at the meeting in the old high school auditorium:

• In 2004 Mikiska was 18 when he exploited a relationship he had with a 13-year-old girl. This was his first and only predatory offense. Mikiska has served the full of his sentence for his offense and is currently registered as an offered due to violations of registration.
• In 2011 and 2014 Mikiska failed to register as an offender; failure to register automatically counted as felonies.
• Mikiska has served his time for both of these felonies and is required to register as an offender until 2040, VanderVegt said.

The public meeting was prompted by the fact that Mikiska is currently a risk level 3 offender. Level 3 means Mikiska is at the highest risk to reoffend.
Risk levels are dynamic -- if his risk level goes down while he is required to register a public meeting will not be necessary if he relocates, VanderVegt said.

The reason for the Perham meeting is not to create fear, but to raise awareness by informing people so that they can make better decisions about their own personal safety, Perham Police Chief Jason Hoaby said.

Mikiska is 36 years old, is 5 foot 7, weighs 229 pounds, with blue eyes. If he had hair it would be brown and is staying in the vacinity of Pinewood Lane.

People should be aware of Mikiska’s presence in the community and inform Perham police if he or anyone else is acting suspiciously. An example of suspicious behavior is when someone starts hanging around common gathering places of children or youth without reason and is acting oddly, VanderVegt said. People should be aware that the police can only make an arrest when there is legal cause to do so, however, alerting them to odd or suspicious behavior of any person makes the community a safer place.

• Someplace Safe Perham: someplacesafe.info
• Stop it Now! stopitnow.org
• Jacob Wetterling Resource Center: jwrc.org
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: missingkids.org
• Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault: mncasa.org