A convicted sex offender plans to make downtown Fargo his home, and police want the public to know about his past.
Helmuth Morgan Wegner, who uses the nickname "Skip," notified the Fargo Police Department he will move to 508½ Broadway.
Wegner, 48, is considered a high risk to re-offend. He could not be reached late Monday for comment.
Police plan to release details today about Wegner during a 7 p.m. town meeting at the Fargo Civic Center.
"We feel an obligation to notify the public whenever a high-risk offender comes to town," Lt. Tod Dahle said. "He registered on Friday and we wanted to do a prompt notification.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We want them to be aware this person is here. We're always concerned about a person's potential to re-offend."
However, Dahle said convicted sex offenders like Wegner also have the right to feel safe in the community.
"We're encouraging the public not to harass this person," he said. "They have the same rights as anyone else."
Wegner is designated a Level Three offender, the most serious category used to assess an offender's likelihood to commit another crime, after tests and a risk assessment by the North Dakota Attorney General's Office.
Wegner is required to register as a sex offender for life.
By law, the department must hold notification meetings for Level Three sex offenders.
Wegner has been convicted of at least three sex crimes, including contact with an 8-year-old Grand Forks girl in 1983. The girl contracted gonorrhea, a venereal disease, from the contact, according to the North Dakota Attorney General's Office's Web site.
He also has been convicted for:
ADVERTISEMENT
E Tying a woman to a bedpost and raping her at his Fargo apartment in 1986.
E Forcing his girlfriend's sister to have oral sex while in Traverse County, Minn., in 1994.
Police records indicate Wegner may also have several other criminal convictions. He is coming to Fargo after serving time at the North Dakota State Penitentiary in Bismarck for a probation violation last year, Dahle said.
While in prison, Wegner wrote a letter asking the Attorney General's Office for a lower risk classification.
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Byers wrote a response denying the request.
"You refused to participate in the intensive sex offender program following the education class" at the prison, Byers wrote. "Finally, your recent convictions seem to demonstrate that you have not abandoned the pattern of drinking and substance abuse that seems to precipitate much of your criminal conduct."
The town meeting marks the second in Fargo this year and third since 2000 for Level Three offenders.
Jesse Kluck, 21, moved into 319 Broadway last spring.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 1995, 14-year-old Kluck was adjudicated in juvenile court for having sexual contact with two girls under 13. He spent nearly five years in custody of the North Dakota Department of Juvenile Services.
Joseph Duncan, 810½ 7th St. N., moved to Fargo from Washington in July 2000 after serving 20 years in prison. At age 16, Duncan raped a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint, according to court documents.
Police have not reported problems with Kluck or Duncan.
As of Oct. 1, there were 947 sex offenders registered in North Dakota.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Steven P. Wagner at (701) 241-5542
