A convicted sex offender was ordered held after she allegedly disappeared from a Newark group home where she was assigned.
Wanetta Bradford, 50, has been on special probation since a 2004 conviction in the sexual assault of a victim who was 13 to 15 years old. Details of the original 2003 incident out of Red Bank, Monmouth County, were not available.
Bradford, who is under Atlantic County oversight, was arrested last week, after she failed to appear to the Newark parole office despite an Oct. 13 call from her parole officer telling her she had to check in, according to the charges.
She was most recently released from prison Sept. 26, where she served more than four months for crimes that included violating the conditions of her lifetime supervision.
When an officer went to the group home to look for her, the home said she had not been there all week and that her belongings had been packed up.
Bradford was found in a hospital for mental help, where she had committed herself Oct. 17, her attorney told the judge.
But she should have informed her parole officer before making that move, Judge Dorothy Garrabrant said.
The judge also pointed to more than 20 prior indictable convictions in a criminal history that spans Bradford's entire adult life. Fifteen were violations of community supervision for life.
The public safety assessment used to help determine pretrial detention under bail reform recommended Bradford not be released. It scored her as a five out of six for failure to appear and a six out of six for likelihood to reoffend. She also had a flag for new violent criminal activity, although no violent crimes were mentioned.
Bradford will remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
