A Level 4 sex offender made a second appearance before Judge Gordon Webb last week in Marion County Circuit Court advising his continued desire to represent himself in a case where he is charged with failing to register a change of address with law enforcement.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy stopped at 703 Woodland Avenue in Bull Shoals to perform a home visit with 74-year-old Gary Klotz on May 17.
When the deputy knocked on the door of the residence, a man answered, saying he was there working on the bathroom. He told the officer Klotz had been staying with his girlfriend in Lakeview about a couple of weeks while the man was working on the bathroom. He said there was no running water at the residence while the work was being performed.
On May 29, the deputy returned to the Bull Shoals residence and found the same man still working at the address Klotz registered with the sheriff’s office. The man advised he should complete his work in two days. He said Klotz should return from his girlfriend’s Lakeview residence on June 1.
The deputy noted records did not reflect any contact from the Level 4 sex offender advising of a change in his address, leading to a felony charge of failure to register as a sex offender or report an address change.
A Level 4 sex offender, as noted on the Marion County Sheriff’s website, is a sexually dangerous person. These are individuals with impaired judgement or control who have sexual or violent compulsions that they lack the ability to control.
This may be due to pedophilia or other disorder of sexual attraction, mental illness or personality disorder that distorts thinking, interferes with behavioral control, and predisposes the person to acts of predatory sexual violence.
In June 2018, Milwaukee television station WITI reported Klotz had been released and officials were listing him as homeless in a bulletin notifying the public of his status.
Police in Wisconsin said Klotz was convicted in 1994 of inappropriately touching four pre-teen female acquaintances. The report also noted he forced an 11-year-old relative to undress in front of him over 100 times over the course of 18 months.
The same tv station aired a story in 2015 reporting Klotz had been arrested after allegedly exposing himself and committing lewd actions while living in an RV at a park and ride lot utilized by those dropping off vehicles before boarding a bus on their way to work.
Klotz is set to reappear in circuit court Aug. 14, the final date he can accept or reject a plea offer before his case goes to a jury trial in September.
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