(Of the 666 sex offenders registered in North Dakota and on the streets, 85 live in Bismarck and 16 live in Mandan. Probation officers supervise some, but not all, sex offenders. The Tribune spent a day with Terry Grumbo, who monitors 37 Bismarck-Mandan sex offenders who are on probation. He monitors sex offenders of all risk levels, not just high risk. The names of the sex offenders were changed to protect their identity, at the request of the Division of Field Services, which handles parole and probation.)

1 p.m.

Terry Grumbo decided to wear a blue polo shirt, crisp khaki pants and a .40-caliber Glock to work on Tuesday.

Grumbo is a probation officer who monitors sex offenders. Of the 85 registered sex offenders living in Bismarck-Mandan, 37 are on probation and under his thumb.

Today, he plans to visit a few of them. Some are expecting him, others aren't. "James" definitely wasn't.

James is a high-risk sex offender who has been convicted of statutory rape and child abuse. He also has anger problems and assaults on his record.

Grumbo plans to visit James's girlfriend today while James is at work. Hard rock music hammers the hallway of the dingy basement apartment as Grumbo pounds on the door. A tall, fit, sun-bleached blond man opens the door. Across the chest of his athletic jersey it says "HARD KNOCKS" rather than the name of an alma mater.

It's James.

He allows Grumbo inside, where a baby swing is parked in the corner, a half-empty baby bottle lays on the coffee table and a row of frilly dolls lines the floor.

Grumbo quickly notices a half-empty Vodka bottle and glass of Mountain Dew on the coffee table.

James knows he's in trouble. He admits he's been drinking, which is a probation violation. He explains that he's just been laid off, owes his landlord $65 and fears he's going to lose his fiancee and their baby. His voice quivers as he tries to explain the desperation he's feeling.

He says he has nothing to live for and was just trying to "cut loose." It was either that, or "put a bullet through my head," he says. He says he'd probably end up breaking into vehicles to live in if he loses his apartment.

But Grumbo won't hear it. None of those things excuse the fact that James is violating the conditions of his probation.

"You could have called me," Grumbo says. James says he didn't know that was an option.

Grumbo tells James he'll be back later to talk about it and leaves the apartment. As soon as he gets to his car, he calls several other probation officers to assist him in arresting James. Grumbo doesn't want to take any chances because he knows James' history. He's seen James get worked up and doesn't want to see it today.

He's not a counselor, a loan officer or a shoulder to cry on. He's a probation officer, and his primary concern now is ensuring that James doesn't flee the building while he waits for backup. Two other probation officers arrive. As the officers cross the street in their plainclothes, they look like choir boys on a mission. Passers-by scarcely notice them jaywalking and cutting across yards.

James is still in the apartment, and the officers do a Breathalyzer and cuff him without any problems.

All the way to the Burleigh County jail, and as he's being booked, James repeatedly apologizes to Grumbo, saying he's sorry he let him down.

"You didn't do anything to me," Grumbo replies more than once.

At one point during the booking process, James bends over, offering to let Grumbo kick his behind.

"Just when I thought Christmas couldn't get any worse," James says.

Later, a judge sets his bond at $10,000, which means for $1,000 he could get a bondsman to bail him out. But Grumbo doubts he has the money.

James will probably lose his modest apartment - which is right next door to a child care center. The judge who put James on probation didn't include any conditions that prohibit him from living anywhere he wants.

3 p.m.

Grumbo's next sex offender, "Rick," is expecting him.

Rick is working at a company that produces artificial trees and flowers, and Grumbo stops in for a quick chat and a drug test. Rick is in his 20s, but with a red knit cap and oversized red sports jersey, he could pass for a teenager.

His eyes convey pure innocence and his demeanor is earnest, but Rick is on probation for having oral sex with a teenage girl, and forcing another teen to have sex with him multiple times.

Rick tells Grumbo that he was recently promoted to supervisor, and he's looking forward to moving into his own place soon.

He says he's finally speaking to his ex-wife again and has joint custody of their children. He appears to be getting his life back on track, but Grumbo maintains a healthy skepticism about virtually everything his sex offenders tell him.

Grumbo tells Rick that with all the attention on the Dru Sjodin case, he should be more careful about where he goes and what he does. People may assume a sex offender in a crowded mall is out "cruising" rather than Christmas shopping.

"Just use your head," Grumbo says as Rick nods his head in agreement. Rick says most of the people around him know about his past, and although he's heard lots of talk about the abduction of Sjodin, he hasn't had any problems. He says he doesn't care what people think anyway.

5:30 p.m.

"Teresa" knew her husband was sexually abusing her 3-year-old daughter and did nothing.

For that, she was charged with child abuse-neglect and is now on probation, under Grumbo's supervision. He primarily monitors sex offenders, but also has a few other cases to help the other probation officers, whose caseloads are larger than his.

Tonight he has a scheduled visit with Teresa, during which he'll do a drug test and see how things are going.

Her two children are at her mother's house, and she's planning to go Christmas shopping after the meeting. Every corner of the Mandan mobile home is filled with something, particularly photos of her children. In one photo, she is pictured with her husband.

She may not be the world's best housekeeper, but there's evidence of good parenting: a half-finished puzzle on the table and a finished one hanging on the wall.

A beautiful, blond little girl - the victim - beams out from an 8x10 photo in the center of the living room. Teresa says the kids are doing well, although she wishes that rather than pay the state $35 per month to be on probation, she could use the money to enroll her daughter in Taekwondo. She wonders if she could get off probation earlier, but Grumbo is doubtful.

He asks if she's been getting out, and she says no. Doesn't want to. She'd rather be with the kids.

He asks how the divorce process is going. She's been putting it off for various reasons.

When Grumbo first met the woman, she was still corresponding with her husband, who's in prison. He asked her why she would want to write letters to a man who did such things to her child. He believes her low self-esteem has contributed to her problems, but slowly she seems to be pulling away from the husband.

When her husband gets out of prison, Grumbo will be his probation officer, too.

6:30 p.m.

Grumbo has an appointment with a Mandan man who's on probation for having sexual relations with two teenage girls.

The man has never missed an appointment, but it's clear as Grumbo pulls up to the mobile home that "Mike" isn't home. His pickup isn't in the driveway and the home is dark. Grumbo takes a flashlight with him as he walks up to the home to make sure. Nobody answers the door, so he leaves his card in the door with a message to call him.

Grumbo drives to a nearby convenience store for a soda, and returns to check again. Still no sign of Mike. He waits down the street for a while, makes one more pass through the mobile home court, and moves on to his next appointment. A pattern of missed appointments would be cause for concern, but Mike is likely just working late tonight.

7 p.m.

Grumbo pulls into a motel, where "Randy" and his fiancee are expecting him.

The cramped, smoky motel room has been their home for the past three years. There's a bedroom with a stovetop and microwave and a bathroom. All the stuff you'd pack into a house, or even an apartment, is crammed into one room.

Randy sits in a lounge chair and his fiancee sits on the bed. Most of the time, they smoke and watch crime shows or movies. Randy's fiancee says the hotel used to be party central, with people partying and making noise all hours of the night. But a new manager has cracked down on that, she says, and the nights are better now.

Randy takes the drug test and gives Grumbo a quick rundown on how things are going with his daughter, his victim. They aren't allowed to communicate with each other without Grumbo's consent.

Randy is a smiley, upbeat, affable guy. He's likeable. He wishes Grumbo a "Merry Christmas" before they part.

Randy's fiancee says they live in the run-down "studio apartment" because the $400 monthly rent includes utilities, cable TV and garbage. Everything but the phone. But Grumbo says Randy has told him it's just easier than trying to find a place that will allow a sex offender.

Off the clock

As a citizen and the father of two young boys, Grumbo says that if it were up to him, all sex offenders would be locked up rather than on the streets. But that's not the way the system works. And that's why society needs people like him.

He says that when he looks at the list of area registered sex offenders, he's amazed at the number of names on it.

"There's a lot of them, and it makes you shudder," he says.

He's been a probation officer for about six years, but he's been exclusively supervising the sex offenders for a year. So far, he's learned a lot about sex offenders, but perhaps most importantly, he's learned that "They don't look any different than you and I do."

"They don't wear a sign around their neck, and they don't have a 'sex offender' tattoo on their body," he says.

And even though the public sees sex offenders as "the boogieman," most people wouldn't be able to pick sex offenders out of a crowd. The "dirty old man" stereotype doesn't work, and that's what's so disturbing.

Almost all of them look like your average Joe. Some of them look a bit like trouble, but tattoos and disheveled hair certainly aren't a prerequisite.

They can be quite charismatic, likeable, intelligent and capable. Some come off as kindly gentlemen.

It would be nice if sex offenders had some kind of sign around their necks, but they don't. And that's why Grumbo does what he does - to try to keep them in line, hold them accountable and keep tabs on their lives. To let them know somebody's watching.

"I just want to be able to protect the public," he says.

Of course, it's impossible to watch them all of the time. It's impossible to know whether they're living by their probation conditions 24 hours a day. And Grumbo only monitors the sex offenders who've been placed on probation by a judge.

The rest are on their own.

(Reach Deena Winter at 250-8251 or deena.winter@bismarcktribune.com.)