Police Warn Texarkana Residents About Level 4 Sex Offender [PHOTO]

Texarkana, Ark., Police are informing all residents that a Level 4 Sex Offender has moved  into Texarkana, Ark. Ronald Eitel, 55, currently resides at 303 East 23^rd St. Eitel was charged in 1982 with 12 counts of rape and convicted of four counts.

Upon conviction, Eitel received two, 20 year sentences and two, 60 year sentences that were run consecutively, which meant he was to spend the better part of his life in prison, that was until his sentences were recently overturned and he was released from the  Texas Department of Corrections.

Eitel was assessed and assigned the designated risk as Level 4, which is defined as a sexually violent predator with a very high risk to reoffend by the State of Arkansas.

According to Arkansas Code Annotated 12-12-901 et. seq, known as the Arkansas Sex and Child Offender Registration Act;

A Level 4 offender is; individuals with impaired judgment or control who have sexual or violent compulsions that they lack the ability to control. This may be due to pedophilia or other disorders of sexual attraction, mental illness or personality disorder that distorts thinking or otherwise interferes with behavioral control.

In order to determine an offender’s risk of “re-offense”, the law enforcement guidelines include a risk assessment scale that reviews the seriousness of the offender’s crime, his offense history, and other personal and social characteristics of the offender. Point values are assigned to the factors and total points accumulated on the scale determine the offender’s risk level. The assessment process is not intended to determine the actual probability of any one offender committing another crime, but to provide the basis for a rational method of notification to the public.

Law enforcement will assess the offender and will notify the schools in their area of an offender who is Level II, Level III, or Level IV and is likely to prey on school-age children. Law enforcement maintains the discretion to determine who in the community will be notified. For example, if the offender is Level II whose targets are elementary-school-aged children; law enforcement may only notify the elementary schools in the area and not the secondary schools.

TAPD Chief Bob Harrison states, “In the interest of Public Safety, not only the residents in the neighborhood need to know who their new neighbor is, but all citizens living in Texarkana need to be aware. We are attempting to be proactive in alerting our citizens because of his sex offender classification. In my opinion, Arkansas Probation and Parole should have told Texas to keep this one."

Eitel is not wanted by law enforcement at this time and the notification is not intended to increase fear, only to inform the public, according to police.

A Houston Chron article from 2011 states that Eitel pleaded guilty to rape charges back in the mid 80s only because he thought he could get probation and get out of jail where he had been for five months. DNA evidence was not collected for rape cases in the early 80s. And according to the article, semen found in five of the 12 victims had a different blood type, and another was inconclusive. In the remaining six cases, police collected no medical evidence from the victims.

After sending the 2011 Houston Chron article to the Texarkana, Ark., Police, for comment, they replied, "All statements pertaining to this (are) stated in the press release you have been sent."