Dobeski
UPDATE JULY 21 FROM LAPORTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE: “Today, we received information from the authorities of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office that Richard Dobeski has left the immediate area. A short time ago, Lake County confirmed that on today’s date at 0805 DOBESKI boarded a bus at 4th and Broadway in Gary. The bus he boarded was set to arrive in Marion County at 11:55. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the authorities in Marion County regarding Dobeski.
Police are warning people in the LaPorte County area about a man just released from prison, who was convicted in the past for killing two children and molesting several.
Richard Dobeski, 67, was released and dropped off at a bus station in either LaPorte or Michigan City on the night of July 16, Long Beach Chief Marshal Robert Sulkowski said in a press release.
Sulkowski said Dobeski was not scheduled to be released until Sept. 1, but for some reason was released early. Long Beach and LaPorte County police don’t know where he is and are trying to locate him.
Sulkowski said he “strongly believes that Dobeski will victimize again.”
In 2003 Dobeski was released from prison after serving a 40-year sentence for the 1964 strangling deaths of Shawn and Cary Johnston, who were 6 and 3, respectively. The murders occurred in the crawlspace of the home where the siblings lived in Long Beach. Dobeski was their next-door neighbor. At the time of the killings he already had a history of molesting children and was under psychological treatment.
Originally, Dobeski was given consecutive life sentences for the murders but his sentence was reduced to a 40-year term on appeal in the 1980s. After his release in 2003, under terms of the appeal agreement, he was not placed on parole so he had no restrictions while on release. He was living in Westville in 2007 when a 7-year-old boy accused Dobeski of fondling him, triggering an investigation that resulted in his conviction the next year. Evidence also turned up that Dobeski was trying to lure boys in Pulaski County.
In 2013 his release was delayed because of misconduct in prison. Also in 2013 in a LaPorte Circuit Court motion, he asked not to participate in an Indiana Department of Correction program aimed at keeping sex criminals from reoffending.
Dobeski is supposed to be wearing a satellite bracelet to monitor his whereabouts, is required to register with police as a convicted sex offender, and is required to be on parole. Police do not know if he is wearing the bracelet.