The sheriff’s office has arrested Jonathan J. Fidone, the convicted molester recently released from prison after an appeals court ruling, for failing to register as a sex offender.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office arrested Fidone today for failing to register as a sex offender. Fidone, age 23 at the time of his sentencing in 2012 for molesting a 19-month-old child, had been out of prison since late January after receiving a plea deal from the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office.
That happened after the Sixth District Court of Appeal ruled that Fidone’s locally appointed defense attorney, Arthur Cantu, had been deficient for providing an “incriminating” investigator’s report to the prosecution prior to the jury trial.
Following that ruling, D.A. Candice Hooper’s office made a plea deal with Fidone that resulted in lesser charges of felony child abuse, a requirement he register as a sex offender, and his release from custody.
Fidone was found guilty in the spring of 2012 of molesting the young child in July 2010 and sentenced to a term of 23 years to life in prison. He served seven years at Kern County State Prison before his release this year.
On Wednesday after the sheriff’s office picked up Fidone, Capt. Eric Taylor confirmed he had been released from custody. Jail personnel said Fidone paid his bail of $10,000 on the failure to register charge.
“For us,,” Taylor explained on the arrest, “our detective was just doing an audit of the state system and saw we had a couple guys out of compliance.”
Taylor said there weren’t fresh charges on Fidone other than the failure to register.
“Pretty much for us, our main goal is to get him back into compliance,” Taylor said.
The sheriff’s office also arrested Gaetano Addamo today for failing to register as a sex offender.
Look back for more on this story.
