The statewide manhunt for a Gilbert man accused of molesting a 13-year-old neighbor girl continued Wednesday after he violated terms of his electronic monitoring, officials said.
"I haven’t slept all night," the victim’s mother said Wednesday. The Tribune is not identifying her.
Maricopa County Superior Court staff members obtained an emergency arrest warrant 6 p.m. Tuesday for Holcomb Leland Gunn after he failed to comply with his most recent check-in with the court, spokeswoman J.W. Brown said.
Brown could not be specific on just how Gunn failed to check in.
She said in general that a defendant on monitoring devices needs to be within a certain range of a transmitter when he is contacted at various times by the monitors.
In Gunn’s case, "He wasn’t where he needed to be when a check was made," Brown said.
Gunn is accused of fondling the girl under the pretense of a breast exam. He told the girl she had breast cancer, according to police reports.
Gunn has been arrested three times in different states for sexually oriented crimes, a Gilbert officer wrote in court paperwork.
Gunn is on Utah’s sex offender registry for a 1991 felony aggravated sexual assault. Gunn also failed to register in Arizona as a sex offender.
When arrested Sept. 25, Gunn had been fired from his job and had a large amount of cash on him, suggesting he may try to flee, records indicated.
On Friday, Gunn was able to post $16,200 bail and was ordered on electric monitoring. Brown said Gunn had apparently been complying until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Arizona Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, who lives near the victim and has been in contact with authorities close to the case, criticized the electronic monitoring system as an ineffective way to keep tabs on defendants such as Gunn.
"This guy knows the system as good as or better than the police," he said.
