Agency concedes inadequate supervision of convicts

Division Chief Carlos Concha said his department could not have prevented the murders, but acknowledges the agency could have kept a better eye on at least two of the accused killers.

The division has started a new monitoring process to make sure officers oversee offenders correctly. Other officials say workers simply have too many people to supervise and not enough officers to do the job.

"Our mission isn't to prevent future crime," Concha told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "The mission is to provide public safety to the best of our ability."

The four men charged in the Washoe and Lyon county homicides - two probationers and two parolees - were under the supervision of the Reno office.

Concha conceded that, in two of the cases, officers failed to make the minimum required number of visits to the offenders' homes.

A legislative audit released in October concluded that the Parole and Probation Division's more than 11,000 cases were inadequately supervised.

The audit says some offenders had no supervision at all and a sample showed that the division made only 60 percent of its required contacts with convicts. The audit was a regularly scheduled review by the state agency.

The problems have caught the attention of Gov. Kenny Guinn.

"We're aware of the audit, and that department is high on the priority list for the governor's fundamental review of state agencies," Guinn spokesman Jack Finn said.

The accused killers Concha said were not adequately supervised are John Stinchfield Jr. and Michael McNeil.

Stinchfield's probation officer saw him in his home once during his 11 months on probation for a fraud conviction, state records reveal. Classified as a medium risk, Stinchfield was supposed to be visited at least once every 90 days and to make monthly appearances at the Reno office.

Stinchfield, 25, is charged with two counts of murder in Lyon County. He is accused of shooting two friends after a drunken argument during an August fishing trip to Lahontan Reservoir.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for McNeil, charged with killing a male friend of his ex-girlfriend and then shooting her in January. McNeil, 23, was paroled in June 1998 after serving more than two years for armed robbery. Despite his classification as a maximum risk - requiring an officer to visit his home monthly - McNeil was seen at home once during his seven months on parole, according to supervision records.

In a third case, parolee William Bushyhead was arrested in Wadsworth in June, hours after he allegedly stabbed to death the man sleeping next to his ex-girlfriend and two days after he walked away from the Reno residential treatment program where he had spent three months.

Concha said Bushyhead would have been a maximum supervision case, but since he was paroled directly into a program at the Salvation Army, he was classified a medium risk.

Supervision records show Bushyhead's parole and probation officer visited the program a few weeks after he entered it and received regular updates from Salvation Army counselors and Bushyhead about his progress.

In the fourth case, Jonathan Charles Lloyd wasn't under the supervision of Concha's department long enough for them to know anything about the man or his case, Concha said.

The 28-year-old Reno man was ordered to three years in a drug diversion program through Parole and Probation on June 22 for possession of a controlled substance.

Lloyd checked in with his probation officer June 24 and again five days later. On July 7, police arrested him on suspicion of killing a 20-year-old co-worker. He is charged with kidnapping, raping and strangling Jenette Testa, then burning her body and throwing it in a trash bin.

"This case just shows the only way a crime can be prevented is if he's locked up," Concha said. "And even then, he can kill someone in prison."

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