Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 14/98) - The police have issued a warning about a convicted sex-offender in the city.

RCMP said Roland Albert Codzi (left) has completed a full sentence of almost three-and-a-half years in a federal institution for sexual offenses. Three of the man's four sex-convictions involve children.

Information provided by doctors suggest that Codzi is likely to re-offend.

While the RCMP confirm that the incidents took places in the NWT, they would not say where.

According to RCMP Staff Sergeant Dave Grundy, Codzi has been in the city about one week.

In a special press release sent out Wednesday morning, RCMP said: "The recommendation to the commanding officer of the RCMP G Division to make a public disclosure came after it was decided by members of the RCMP, federal Solicitor's General's branch, corrections NWT, and federal parole services that it would be in the public interest to ensure that the community was aware of Codzi's presence in the area."

Under federal law, the local RCMP commanding officer can only make such disclosures when the public interest in doing so clearly outweighs the invasion of privacy such a decision leads to.

"Yes, we have lots of (convicted) sex offenders in Yellowknife," Grundy said when asked why the RCMP don't publicly warn residents about every sex offender who is released. "But, their assessments don't indicate they're at a high risk to re-offend."

According to the medical experts Codzi dealt with while behind bars and whose information was used by the RCMP in making their decision, there is a chance he will re-offend.

Police also said that Codzi has no outstanding charges and his release is not bound by any conditions.