The News Room [News Archive]

Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-213-5162
Release Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2003

Operating on a tip from a concerned parent, Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies today arrested a 28 year old convicted sex offender who had violated his parole and may have had sex with another minor, according to Sheriff Warren C. Evans.

Evans said officers from his Internet Crimes Unit arrested Michael David Garrison, 28, of Detroit for violating the terms of his parole. Garrison was convicted in 1994 for 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and served seven years in prison before being released on parole in 2001.

Evans said the father of a 14-year old girl contacted the Sheriff's Internet Unit after discovering an entry in his daughter's diary that indicated she was having a sexual relationship with an adult male. Some additional snooping by the girl's mother yielded an Internet screen name for her daughter's boyfriend. Subsequent investigation by Sheriff's Deputies confirmed his identity as Garrison and also revealed his criminal history.

“This is just a beautiful example of responsible parenting, which is far more effective that what any law enforcement agency can provide,” Evans said. “Parents need to remember that they are their children’s first line of defense against sexual predators and we are their last, not the other way around.”

To lure Garrison into an arrest, deputy Bill Liczbinski, while posing as a 30-year old woman, began chatting socially with Garrison and eventually was able to arrange a lunch meeting at 1:00 p.m. today. Officers arrested Garrison, who had claimed in his chats with Liczbinski to be a member of the notorious Latin Counts gang, quietly outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Hamtramck.

Garrison will be charged with parole violation, but could face addition criminal sexual conduct charges.

“Our investigation into this matter will continue,” Evans said. “We will be executing search warrants on homes in Detroit and Flint that are linked to Mr. Garrison to search his computer. We also will be interviewing the 14-year old girl to see if she will confirm that she had sex with Garrison. If that is the case, then he certainly will face additional charges.”

This is the second time in two days that Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested convicted sexual offender who had violated the terms of their sentence. Last night, deputies arrested Matthew Mankoff of Ypsilanti after he had solicited sex online from an officer he thought was a 14-year old girl. At the time, Mankoff was on probation for a similar conviction from four years earlier in which he had solicited the same sheriff’s deputy. Evans said these recent arrests highlight a disturbing fact.

“Sexual offenders rarely change their behavior because the causes of that behavior tend to run very deep. If they are eventually released back into the community, they may or may not repeat, but that urge is likely to remain.”

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