People v. Dark CA2/1

BACKGROUND

A. DARK’S FAILINGS WITH REGARD TO HIS SEX OFFENDER OBLIGATIONS

In 1993, when Dark was 32 years old, a jury convicted him of forcibly raping a 15-year-old girl while he was armed with a weapon. As a result of this conviction, California law required Dark to register with local law enforcement, providing, among other things, an accurate local address; in addition, Dark was required to update his address annually and, if he moved to a new local address, to update that information within five business days of changing his address. From approximately August 2006 to June 2011, Dark lived in apartment number 1 in an apartment building on East Avenue Q-3, in the City of Palmdale (the apartment number 1 address). Karen Drager, who did not know or recognize Dark, testified at trial that she had been living at the apartment number 1 address since February 2013. On November 9, 2012, and again on November 8, 2013, Dark signed an annual sex offender registration form with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in Palmdale. The four-page form is divided into two parts, each consisting of two pages. The first part provides substantive information about the registering sex…