Gardner

A registered sex offender, absent from custody at a local residential correctional facility, supplied alcohol to a female minor at a residence in November last year and then fled the state, according to a report from the Marshalltown Police Department.

Capt. Brian Batterson said Georgia authorities returned Rodger Dawayne Gardner Jr., 34, to Iowa after he had served his sentence on offenses committed in that state. The local charges against Gardner said he supplied alcohol to a person under legal age, was voluntary absent from custody and committed a sex offender violation-second or subsequent offense, a Class D felony, according to criminal complaints, affidavits and a report from a Marshall County District Court magistrate.

Batterson said on Nov. 2 of last year, police responded to a report at a local residence of an individual supplying minors alcohol. Police did not find a suspect at the residence at that time.

A 16-year-old told police the defendant invited her to his apartment in the 400 block of West Church Street and provided alcohol to her, according to one criminal complaint. The teen told authorities she drank two shots of birthday cake vodka supplied by the defendant. A second complaint filed in district court by a probation officer said on Nov. 2, the defendant didn’t report back to a residential correctional facility and had tampered with a GPS bracelet.

At his initial appearance Tuesday, a magistrate ordered the defendant held on $7,000 cash only bond and also appointed him a public defender. The defendant’s preliminary hearing is Feb. 15.