Press Release (October 30, 2024)
YUMA, AZ - The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) is releasing the following information pursuant to A.R.S. 13-3825, the Community Notification on Sex Offenders Law. The offender in this publication is living within Yuma County.
It is the responsibility of the Chief Law Enforcement Office having jurisdiction where the offender resides to make notification to the community. Notification must be made when certain sex offenders are released from the Arizona State Prison, accepted under an interstate compact or released from the county jail back into the community.
Offenders are categorized into three levels: Level One (low risk to the community), Level Two (intermediate risk to the community), and Level Three (high risk to the community).
The individual who appears on this notification, Jess Ragsdale, 53, has been convicted of a sex offense that allows for community notification. Jess Ragsdale has advised the YCSO that he is residing at 13881 S. Avenue 7 E, Yuma, Arizona. He is described as 6 feet, 2 inches tall, 260 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He is not wanted by the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office at this time.
On July 22, 2015, Ragsdale plead guilty in the United States District Court of Arizona to one count of Possession of Child Pornography. He was sentenced to 84 months in the Bureau of Prisons with credit of 271 days served, followed by lifetime supervised probation. He is currently under the supervision of U.S. Probation of Arizona, Yuma Office.
Jess Ragsdale is considered a Level 3 sex offender with a high risk to reoffend.
This notification is not intended to increase fear; rather, it is our belief that an informed community is a safer community. The YCSO has no legal authority to direct where a sex offender may or may not live. Unless court ordered restrictions exist, this offender is constitutionally free to live wherever he/she chooses. Citizen abuses of this information to threaten, intimidate, or harass sex offenders will not be tolerated. Sex Offenders have always lived in our communities; but because of Megan’s law, law enforcement is now able to share this information with you.
The YCSO would like to remind the public of the registered sex offender and community notification program OffenderWatch. To register for free email alerts or search for sex offenders in your area, please visit the YCSO OffenderWatch page.
If you have information regarding current criminal activity on this or any other offender, please call the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office at (928) 783-4427.
Information Released By: Tania Pavlak, Public Affairs Specialist
