CrimeWatch

OAKLAND (CBS 5) ― A parolee with an "extensive criminal history" who killed four Oakland police officers had been linked by DNA evidence the day before the shootings to the rape of a 12-year-old girl, according to Oakland Police.

The girl was raped on Feb. 5 in the 2800 block of 73rd Avenue, just blocks away from where the officers' shootings occured Saturday, Sgt. Kevin Wiley said.

Police believe Lovelle Mixon grabbed the girl off the street at 7:30 a.m., threatened her with a gun and then put a bag over her head. She was sexually assaulted after being dragged into a secluded area between homes, police said.

Residents in the area said kids routinely walk to school along that stretch of 73rd Ave., making the girl an easy target for someone like Mixon.

Officers took DNA samples from the girl at the time of the attack and six weeks later, the state DNA lab came back with a "hit" on Mixon, said Wiley.

But police could not have immediately issued an arrest warrant for Mixon because investigators first needed to gather another sample of his DNA for comparison purposes, said Wiley, who oversees the police sex crimes unit.

Mixon had been the primary suspect in the rape of the girl and was being investigated to see if there were any connections to other rapes, police said. Investigators told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday that Mixon may have committed as many as five other rapes in the area.

Mixon also was a suspect in a murder last year but was never charged, according to state prison officials.

Investigators said they got the DNA information about the 12-year-old's rape on Friday, the day before Mixon opened fire on the officers following a routine traffic stop.
 
Motorcycle patrolmen Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, was killed at the scene and Officer John Hege, 41, was declared brain dead. Mixon later fatally shot two SWAT officers, Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, before he was gunned down.

Officer Hege was taken off life support Monday night and his organs were harvested for donation.

Funerals for the four slain officers were set to be held Friday at Oracle Arena. The Oakland Police department indicated that the services would be open to the public and people were urged to show up early for the 11 a.m. event.

How Mixon got the guns used in the shootings of the officers, including an assault weapon, had not been disclosed. Officials at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said convicted felons commonly get firearms through burglaries and from straw buyers who purchase them at retail stores or gun shows.

On Monday, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would examine how Mixon was monitored following his release from prison in November on a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon.

Mixon was one of 164 Oakland parolees in mid-March who had outstanding arrest warrants for parole violations, state prison records show.

Problems involving parolees from California's overcrowded prison system have long beset state officials who must monitor them, as well as local officials who try to keep streets safe and federal authorities who enforce firearms and other laws.

But Brown said it was clear that parolees like Mixon must be tracked and restricted more aggressively.

"Mixon was certainly a character that needed more supervision," said Brown, a former mayor of Oakland. "In Oakland, the highway patrol has an office there, sheriff and police. And all those agencies should have a list of the more dangerous, threatening parolees so they can keep a watch on them."

Mixon's family members said he was upset that he was unable to find work, felt his parole officer was not helping him and feared he would be arrested for a parole violation.

Mixon was wanted for missing an appointment with his parole supervisor, state Department of Corrections spokesman Gordon Hinkle said. Parole violators typically face five to nine months in prison.

The parole agent for Mixon made three attempts to meet with him in late February before a no-bail parole revocation warrant was issued for Mixon's arrest, Hinkle said.

The parole agent first tried to visit Mixon on Feb. 18, but he wasn't around. The agent tried to visit again on Feb. 24 and told Mixon's mother that he was looking for Mixon, according to Hinkle.

The agent made one more attempt on Feb. 26 but Mixon still could not be located, Hinkle said. Then on Feb. 27, the arrest warrant was issued.

The city of Oakland, population 400,000, had more than 1,900 total parolees at the time of Mixon's gunbattle with police, including nearly 300 who had been returned to custody or whose parole was about to be revoked.
 
State prison officials said Mixon's parole officer was responsible for 70 of those parolees.

A caseload of that size is nearly unmanageable, and also not unusual, said Lance Corcoran, spokesman for California's prison guard union, which includes parole officers.

Too many parolees prevents officers from effectively monitoring or guiding them back into society, Corcoran said.

"There is no control," he said. "It's simply supervision, and supervision at distance."

But Hinkle maintained that "due diligence was made" to try to make sure that Mixon lived up to the terms of his parole. His failure to meet with his parole agent was "a clear violation of his parole and unfortunately, there was a catastrophic result," Hinkle added.

Mixon was convicted of assault with a firearm in San Francisco in 2002 and was sentenced to six years in state prison.

Hinkle said Mixon was paroled on Oct. 6, 2007, after serving about five years but was returned to prison on Feb. 26, 2008, for violating his parole.

Mixon was paroled a second time on Nov. 1, 2008, he said.

Mixon was a suspect in a murder case in Alameda County in late 2007 but police didn't have enough evidence to charge him in the case, according to Hinkle.

However, in investigating the murder case authorities determined that Mixon had violated his parole by possessing drug paraphernalia and engaging in identity theft, forgery, fraud and attempted grand theft, Hinkle said.

Hinkle said people such as Mixon who are paroled from state prison are clearly told that they must meet regularly with their parole agents.

"They understand that," Hinkle said, noting that Mixon was a "high control" parolee who would have been expected to meet with his parole agent at least a few times a month, at the discretion of his agent.

Alameda County Superior Court records indicate that Mixon was arrested in Oakland on Oct. 18, 2000, and charged with felony possession of cocaine base for sale and felony possession of marijuana for sale.

However, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office allowed him to plead no contest to one misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana and he was sentenced to three years' probation, including 30 days in the county jail.

Mixon applied to participate in a work furlough program but the Alameda County Sheriff's Office rejected him, saying in a Jan. 29, 2001, letter in his court file that he didn't return an employment agreement and his "past case of violence could pose a threat to the program, staff and community."

(Editor's note: Funds have been established in support of the families of the fallen officers and individual checks may be mailed to the Oakland Police Officers Association, attention Rennee Hassna, 555 Fifth St., Oakland, Ca, 94607. Checks can be made out to the following: Dunakin Children's Family Trust; Romans Children's Family Trust; and Sakai Family Trust.

Wire transfers may be made to directly to Merrill Lynch accounts: Dunakin Children's Family Trust, account No. 204-04065; Romans Children's Family Trust, account No. 204-04066; and Sakai Family Trust, account No. 204-04064.)

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)