‘High-risk’ sex offender chases three women before rooftop standoff, Calif. cops say

Officers responding to reports of a man chasing a woman at a San Rafael, California, park Saturday morning soon heard from two other women he’d also chased, police wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Willie Jones, 39, whom police describe as a homeless “high-risk” registered sex offender, fled police up a ladder onto a rooftop, sparking a two-hour standoff until negotiators persuaded him to come down, police wrote.

He faces charges including stalking, resisting/fleeing from a peace officer, false identification to a peace officer, trespassing, violation of probation and being out of compliance with sex offender registration terms, police wrote.

The incidents began at 6:45 a.m. when police responded to reports of a suspicious man lurking around an apartment complex on Laurel Place, officers wrote.

Ten minutes later, a woman reported a man had followed her as she walked her dog in Boyd Park, then began chasing her as she left the park and pursued her for several blocks until she outran him, police wrote.

Officers found Jones and tried to detain him, but he escaped, police wrote. As they searched for him, a woman stopped them to report he’d also followed her.

Twenty minutes later, a third woman reported Jones had followed and chased her around a block to her workplace, where she locked the door, police wrote. He pounded on the door as she barricaded herself inside.

Officers found Jones outside the business and chased him to a nearby parking lot, where he climbed a ladder to the roof of another business, police wrote.

After two hours, crisis negotiators with the Marin County Sheriff’s Department persuaded Jones to come down from the roof and police arrested him, officers wrote.

Jones, who had been released from jail Aug. 9, was listed as a “high-risk” sex offender who was “out of compliance with his registration requirements,” police wrote.