Sex offender captured after standoff

This from Whittier Daily News crime guru Ruby Gonzales:

WHITTIER -- A wanted parolee and alleged sex offender who holed up in a hotel across from the sheriff's training academy surrendered to deputies after a two-hour standoff Wednesday.

Arthur Van Meter, 38, was taken into custody by officials with the California Department of Corrections.

Sheriff's Capt. Patrick Maxwell said Van Meter gave up after talking to sheriff's negotiators. No weapons were found in the room, he added. No one was injured during the incident.

Gale Frazier, supervisor at Pasadena Parole Unit I, said Van Meter was on parole for domestic violence and is a sex offender. She said Van Meter had a GPS device attached to him.

However, a search of the Megan's Law database didn't turn up an Arthur Van Meter.
She said Van Meter was supposed to report to parole on May 5 but didn't show up so a no-bail warrant was issued for him on May 6.

"He failed to report. Two agents went to his last residence, found the GPS device. And he had disappeared," Frazier said.

Parole agents tracked Van Meter to the Days Inn at 14330 Telegraph Road. Maxwell said when Van Meter refused to come out, parole called in help from the sheriff's Norwalk Station at about 11 a.m.

You can read the entire story in tomorrow's newspaper.