Convicted sex offender could be removed from highest supervision and go undetected

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman who says she was a victim of a notorious child sex offender is fighting to keep him from being removed from the state's highest supervision program.

Rhonda Kuykendall was notified by letter Monday that Mark Philip Turner, 72, is eligible for removal from the Super-Intensive Supervision Program, or SISP.

Turner has been convicted of four child sex crimes in three states. In Texas, he has been out on parole since 2015 and living in a halfway house in El Paso under SISP, the state's highest level of supervision. As part of the program, he is required to wear a real-time GPS monitor at all times. If he is removed from the program, Kuykendall fears he may come after her.

"If they take him off SISP, I have no protection. I don't know where he is," said Kuykendall. "He's very scary and, at this point, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what he's going to do."

Kuykendall says Turner sexually abused her and her sister when they were just girls. He never stood trial for what they accused him of because the statute of limitations ran out. He is a registered sex offender and has a history of intimidation. In 2006, he sent an email to Kuykendall's website threatening "to severely punish those involved." That communication got his parole revoked. He was imprisoned almost 10 more years until his release in 2015.

Raymonda Estrada, with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, tells Eyewitness News, "Offenders are annually evaluated for possible removal from the SISP program--however, the decision is discretionary. Registered victim(s) are notified prior to withdrawal for any input they may wish to share."

Kuykendall has asked friends and family to write letters begging the parole board to keep Turner in the SISP program. She is just angry "he" is an annual thing.

"Every year he would come up for parole. Every year I'd have to fight that. Now, it's SISP. It's ridiculous what victims have to go through."