4-8-2008 California:
Sheriff Mike Kanalakis cautioned that "vigilantism will absolutely not be tolerated" after an angry group of Lockwood residents appeared in a Salinas courtroom Monday to protest the contemplated placement of a high risk sex offender in their community.
Fifteen people showed up with petitions signed by more than 500 others who oppose "sexually violent predator" James Lamb's placement near their rural properties. The residents were not allowed to address the court Monday, but vowed to return in greater numbers April 17 when Judge Richard Curtis said he will hear their concerns.
Curtis said he had received a sealed report from the sheriff's office reviewing the appropriateness of two properties. Lamb's attorney said one of those properties had been nixed because it backed up to a greenbelt where children played.
Curtis said he was withholding judgment on the other until he could drive to South County and view it and the surrounding area himself. While the location was not released, the residents shared a letter from San Antonio Union School District Superintendent Linda Irving that indicated the site was near Lockwood.
Curtis said he was keeping the location secret for the time being for fear it would be burned down if the address was revealed.
Lamb, 50, is the first Monterey County man to be ordered released under supervision from the state's Sexually Violent Predator program. The former Spreckels resident, who has admitted molesting 50 children, has completed the four inpatient phases of the program and was voluntarily physically castrated.
On Monday, Curtis tried to assure the residents in the gallery that Lamb had undergone stringent treatment and would be "intensely supervised." In addition to 15 pages of restrictions, Lamb will wear a global positioning device that will be monitored by a state contractor 24 hours a day.
In his 18 years on the bench, Curtis said, Lamb's was his most difficult case. While he "is and always will be a pedophile," the judge said, tests showed physical and chemical castration had left Lamb with the testosterone level of a 6-year-old boy.
Curtis said Lamb was the only one of 11 sexually violent predators who'd come before him from the program who had done everything that was asked and more. All five of his doctors and the state director of the Department of Mental Health agreed that he was not a danger to the community if supervised.
"I am required to follow the law," said Curtis.
His assurances did little to assuage the Lockwood residents, who said there was no data showing the Sexually Violent Predator program was effective and that the only grocery store in Lockwood doubled as a school bus stop.
Residents and mothers Tricia Martinus and Paula Roth said it would be unfair to foist Lamb on Lockwood, which already has three registered sex offenders, a higher ratio than any other community in Monterey County.
They also complained that sheriff response times to their isolated community can be up to an hour. Roth said there have been times when deputies could not respond at all when she's called to complain about the presence of one of the community's sex registrants at the local market.
"If we said, 'It's OK, don't come, we just shot him,' then they would come," said Roth, her voice breaking.
Curtis and Kanalakis said that while they were focused on the community's safety, they were also charged with protecting Lamb.
"I'm not at all pleased by this entirely unpleasant situation," Kanalakis said. "But I will tell you, vigilantism will absolutely not be tolerated under any circumstance."
Martinus noted that Lamb has indicated he wants to go to Arizona and be with his mother and questioned why he's not allowed to go.
Ironically, Supervisor Simon Salinas, who represents Lockwood on the Board of Supervisors, wrote the state law that requires Lamb to be placed in the county of his most recent offense for at least one year before he is released from supervision. Salinas said Monday he wrote the law as an assemblyman after the state placed sexually violent predator Brian DeVries in a trailer in Soledad when Santa Clara County was unable to find housing for him in 2003. DeVries was allowed to go to Washington to live with his father a year later.
Salinas said he realized when he wrote the law it was only a matter of time before Monterey County would have to follow through. Now, he said, he wonders if a local ordinance is not needed to prevent South County from becoming a sex-offender dumping ground.
But the alternative to placing Lamb in a house, Salinas said, would be to eventually release him as a transient.
"Then who's safe?" he asked.
Lamb's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Deana Davis, said her client just "wants someplace where he can be protected and safe."
If Judge Curtis approves the proposed housing at the April 17 hearing, she said, the matter will be referred to the state Department of Mental Health, which then has 30 days to notify local law enforcement of the pending placement.
Once law enforcement is notified, she said, the location would become public. The case would then return to the court for final approval.
Kanalakis said he would await a court order on whether residents would be individually notified.
"We've never had this happen before," he said. "We're in uncharted waters." ..more.. by Virginia Hennessey can be reached at 753-6751 or vhennessey@montereyherald.com
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