A Level 3 sex offender missing since he left a Minneapolis halfway house almost two weeks ago was arrested Sunday morning after breaking into a school, police said.

Clarence Robinson was booked into Hennepin County jail on suspicion of burglary, possession of burglary tools, failing to register as a sex offender and on a warrant from the Minnesota Department of Corrections for that accused him of walking away from the halfway house, according to jail records.

Police arrested him shortly before 3 a.m. after receiving a call about a possible break-in at Anwatin Middle School in the 200 block of Upton Avenue S. in Minneapolis.

A police report said Robinson was seen leaving the school with a bag of food and a bike, which police believe was taken from the school yard.

The report said he was found carrying a pry bar and a long screwdriver, which police speculated he used to break a window to get into the school.

John Schadle, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said Robinson cut a GPS monitoring device he was wearing and left the halfway house Nov. 1.

In a news release issued Nov. 8, the Corrections Department said Robinson had been in prison until last month for sexually assaulting a Hennepin County woman whose home he had broken into in 1997.

Schadle said Robinson was released because he had served two-thirds of his sentence, as required by law.

Intensive supervision

Apart from wearing the GPS monitor, Robinson also had to check in frequently with the Department of Corrections. Schadle said there were other restrictions placed on him because of his background.

"He was under intensive supervision," Schadle said.

Robinson, listed as age 38 or 39 by different agencies, was released from Stillwater state prison Oct. 27. He had been considered a fugitive since walking away from the halfway house.

Schadle said each year about 200 Level 3 sex offenders walk away, but that anywhere from 95 to 97 percent are caught within 72 hours.

That is why, he said, public notices do not always go out about an escape.

Robinson is also known as Clarence Lee Jones, James Edward Robinson and Maurice Robinson, the Department of Corrections said.

Level 3 sex offenders are classified as the most dangerous and the ones considered most likely to attack again.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495