Former attorney arrested for parole violation
Roseville, Calif.- On November 17, Roseville Police arrested Jonathan Regent Tyrell, 42, of Auburn for violation of parole. He is currently in the custody of the California Department of Corrections awaiting a parole violation hearing.
Tyrell was previously convicted of misdemeanor child molestation, forgery, possession of methamphetamine, and battery causing serious bodily injury, all related to Roseville Police investigations conducted in 2005. Tyrell represented himself as a scientific researcher and recruited teenagers and young adults for a bizarre study. He paid his “research subjects,” which included teenagers as young as 15, to immerse themselves in a bathtub and hold their breath, while he photographed and videotaped them. His conviction for misdemeanor child molestation was related to his recruitment and videotaping of minors for his “research”. Tyrell is a former attorney who was disbarred in 2007 due to his criminal convictions.
Roseville detectives learned that Tyrell recently cultivated a friendship with a 19-year-old male, and tried to recruit him to participate in research involving “underwater apnea testing.” Detectives contacted Tyrell and arrested him for parole violation.
Roseville detectives are concerned that Tyrell is exhibiting the same pattern of behavior that led to his previous arrests, and may have contacted other young people, including minors, in order to recruit them for “underwater research”. Anyone who has has such contact with Tyrell or has any information that could assist in this investigation is asked to call the Roseville Police Investigation Unit at 916-774-5070.
