GARDEN GROVE police monitored a 59-year-old sex offender recently released from a state mental hospital who has checked into a local motel (Shutterstock).

UPDATE: Cary Jay Smith is no longer a resident of Garden Grove, according to an update posted Tuesday afternoon on social media.

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Garden Grove police are warning the public that a man described as a “dangerous sex offender” has checked into a motel in the city.

Cary Jay Smith, 59, has been in state custody since 1999. He was released from a state mental hospital recently and returned to Orange County. According to police, Smith briefly lived in Orange and recently arrived at a Garden Grove location.

CARY JAY SMITH (GGPD photo).

“Upon learning of his arrival, we immediately set up a surveillance detail and have consistently monitored Smith,” according to a statement issued Monday evening by the GGPD.

Smith pleaded guilty to a 1985 misdemeanor charge involving a child, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. More recently, the OCDA’s office filed 20 felony counts of a lewd and lascivious act with a minor in 2002, but the charges were dropped because of the statute of limitations.

Police caution against contacting, confronting or attempting to apprehend Smith, who is not wanted for any crime. He is not on probation and is not required to register as a sex offender.