A Litchfield man who is a convicted sex offender will make his first appearance in Meeker County District Court Wednesday, March 26 after a Feb. 26 standoff with law enforcement.

Thomas Warren Pitts, 28, was charged Feb. 27 with second-degree assault and possession of a weapon, following a standoff with Meeker County Sheriff deputies at a rural Litchfield residence.

A Meeker County investigator and deputy executed a warrant for Pitts’ arrest Feb. 26 at 22255 640th Ave. He was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender in Minnesota.

After an unsuccessful search earlier in the afternoon, officers were called back around 3 p.m. by an individual — who had received a text message from Pitts — indicating Pitts was in the house, the criminal complaint stated.

The officers entered the house a second time to find Pitts sitting in a chair, pointing a shotgun at them. After some negotiation, Pitts surrendered without incident.

The failure-to-register warrant had been issued Feb. 11. Pitts was convicted in Wisconsin of second-degree sexual assault of a child in 1998 and later convicted with failure to register with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections last June.

Pitts’ presence in the area became known last December when a deputy pulled him over for a driving citation, according to a second criminal complaint. Pitts had no Minnesota driver’s license but corrections showed an address of 215th Avenue, Litchfield. He said he had recently moved to the 640th Avenue residence. Pitts was cited with failure to register in Minnesota, failure to notify the Wisconsin Department of Corrections of his address change and driving with a suspended license, according to the complaint. Sheriff investigator Mark Erickson said the department then began an investigation.

On Jan. 8, Pitts met with a sheriff’s investigator in an unrelated matter, and admitted he had been living in Minnesota for 10 months and acknowledged he was supposed to register but failed to do so, the complaint stated.

Meeker County Sheriff Mike Hirman said because Pitts is not registered in the state of Minnesota, he has not been classified on the state’s three levels of offenders, which dictate who must receive notification of Pitts’ address changes. That’s why no notice of his presence in Meeker County was released.

“He’s not classified, so we can’t put out a notification or a … (public) warning,” Hirman said.

Erickson said the Wisconsin Department of Corrections did not contact Meeker County of Pitts’ whereabouts since he had failed to report it to the department. Wisconsin’s sex offender registry Web site does not classify Pitts into a level of offender. Instead, he is called a lifetime registerer.

“Without him being classified as a public offender, we can’t release any public information because that would violate data privacy (laws),” Erickson said.

Pitts is currently in Meeker County Jail on $100,000 bail. His omnibus hearing is set for 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.