Man Who Outraced Cops One Of 20 At-Large Sex Offender Parolees

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You may have read about the sex offender wanted on a parole violation who played Dukes of Hazzard with the cops this week. A parole agent spotted Matthew Thrasher in his gold Toyota Corolla (hardly the General Lee) around the Great Highway and Lincoln Way on Tuesday afternoon, news accounts reported. The parole agent called police for backup, but when the officers intervened, Thrasher took off, leading the officers on a high-speed chase through the Sunset district, around Lake Merced, and 60 mph down Sloat Boulevard.

With a name like Thrasher, you don't go down easy.

But San Francisco parole supervisor Armel Farnsworth told us that Thrasher is just one of 20 sex offenders paroled to San Francisco currently at large. (Another 70 are under supervision in the city, he says.)

Since December, Thrasher has failed to register with the police as a sex offender, as is required monthly of transients. (And nearly all sex offenders paroled to San Francisco are transients since Jessica's Law bans them from living within 200 feet of a school or park -- which is just about everywhere in San Francisco.) Thrasher was convicted of forced oral copulation with a victim under 14.

He let his GPS device -- also required by Jessica's Law in order to keep track of sex offenders -- died in late November, Farnsworth said. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and the parole officer who spotted Thrasher on Tuesday was part of the Fugitive Apprehension Team assigned to find him.

Police inspectors have contacted Thrasher by phone trying to arrange his surrender to no avail, said Inspector John Conefrey of the SFPD sex offender unit. "So obviously he's not in the mood to surrender," he added. As of Friday afternoon, Thrasher was still at large and news reports indicate he may be armed.