Police Search for Missing NYC Woman Last Seen With Sex Offender
Laura Garza, 25, was last seen with Michael Mele, police said.
Dec. 8, 2008— -- Police continue to search today for a missing New York City woman who was seen last week leaving a Manhattan club with a convicted sex offender.
Police searched the Wallkill, N.Y., condo of sex offender Michael Mele, 23, this weekend for clues in the disappearance of Laura Garza.
The 25-year-old aspiring dancer, who had recently moved to New York from Texas, was seen leaving the Marquee nightclub, a Manhattan hot spot, late Wednesday with Mele and was later spotted in upstate New York, police said.
Mele was being held in the Rockland County jail on a probation violation, said Rockland County Sheriff James Kralik.
Mele, who has not been charged in connection with Garza's disappearance, was convicted and sentenced to probation earlier this year on a forcible touching charge for inappropriately touching several women, in some cases attempting to masturbate on them, at the Palidades Center mall in Clarkstown, police said.
"He's a crazy sucker, this guy," said Clarkstown Police Sgt. Bernard Cummings. "His behavior was escalating. In all my years, seeing this kind of behavior is a little off the radar here."
The New York State Police, which is leading the investigation into Garza's disappearance, said they want to speak with any woman who may have come into contact with Mele in the last year.
"Mele has a history of being sexually aggressive towards women and confronting women in secluded areas to perform lewd acts," the state police said in a statement.
Mele has been charged with a probation violation for reportedly drinking alcohol, failing to report to his probation officer and failing to attend a sex-offender treatment program, Kralik said.
Mele, the son of a retired deputy chief of the Metropolitan Transit Authority police, has not spoken to police on his lawyer's advice, according to the statement. His attorney declined to comment and his probation officer did not immediately return a call for comment.
Garza came to New York five months ago from McAllen, Texas, a city of about 130,000 people not far from the Mexico border.
