CA- Judge vows arrest for leaks, threats in molester Lamb housing placement

The public and all of criminal justice advocated for civil commitment schemes, well here is a graduate of the program and he deserves an opportunity to prove himself. He will be monitored during such proving period. SO to those who asked for civil commitment you have to accept all of its provisions, release is one of them.

2-27-2009 California:

Will house child molester without public comment

Threatening arrest for anyone who violates harassment laws or a gag order in the case, an angry judge said Thursday he will place sexually violent predator James Lamb into housing in Monterey County without a public comment period, possibly next month.

Judge Richard Curtis said statutory requirements for public notification had long ago been met by the publicity in the case. He said authorities are looking at a new property for the repeat child molester and may be approved when he next hears the case March 17.

Curtis said he was "quite disturbed" at the threatening and harassing phone calls that prompted a couple to withdraw their offer of a Prunedale property for Lamb's placement earlier this month.

He said he is convinced that someone involved in the case violated the gag order, which he renewed Thursday. Curtis did not say why he believed there had been a violation, but promised if he determines who it was or learns of a future violation by any public employee, official or witness in the case, he will find them in contempt of court.

He appeared to extend the threat to the public, pointing out that it is against the law to threaten or harass someone. He said the owners of the Avery Lane property in Prunedale received 30 to 40 phone calls in a "very short period of time," some of them threatening.

"This is the second time landowners have been intimidated, threatened or harassed by members of the public," Curtis said, referring to an earlier offer in Bradley that was withdrawn. "It's totally inappropriate and I'm upset by that."

The judge said the public is aware that he is required by law to place Lamb in Monterey County, his official county of residence. The next time an appropriate property is identified, he said, there would be no 30-day public comment period.

1,500 residences reviewed

Curtis and the Department of Mental Health have been looking for housing for Lamb since July 2007, when the judge ordered him into the conditional release phase of the state's Sexually Violent Predator Program.

More than 1,500 residences have been reviewed, most rejected by landlords or because they didn't meet restrictions in Jessica's Law, which prohibits offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

Lamb, 51, a former Spreckels resident, was committed to the program in 1998 after being convicted of molesting three children.

According to testimony by therapists who treated him at Atascadero State Hospital, he has admitted more than 70 molestations involving dozens of children.

Since his admission to the program in 1998, he has completed the four phases of inpatient treatment and been voluntarily castrated at his own expense. In the conditional release program, he would continue to receive treatment and live under strict rules that include round-the-clock monitoring by a GPS ankle bracelet and a prohibition against driving for at least one year.

Community outrage

Both efforts to place Lamb in the community have been met with outrage by neighboring residents, as well as public officials. Supervisor Lou Calcagno this month said Lamb was not welcome anywhere in his district and could face vigilantism if he were seen there. Sheriff Mike Kanalakis has said he does not approve of Lamb's placement anywhere in the county.

Curtis did not name names on Thursday, but warned if any public official, including members of the Board of Supervisors or the sheriff's department, made out-of-court comments about the case, he would find them in contempt.

Senators against release

Central Coast legislators this month offered little guidance to Curtis. State Senators Jeff Denham and Abel Maldonado said they would prefer Lamb be permanently incarcerated.

"It is unfortunate that these animals ever get out of prison," Denham said. "If I had my way, they would never get out."

Both said they had tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation that would keep predators behind bars or release them to isolated facilities where they could be monitored. Maldonado congratulated Prunedale residents for blocking Lamb's placement there.

"I'm not encouraging anyone to break the law, but I am encouraging them to be vocal, use my office, use their political representatives office to put pressure to keep that person from getting out," he said. "I don't want James Lamb in my neighborhood and I don't want him in any neighborhood."

Homelessness most risky

Assembly members Anna Caballero and Bill Monning said Curtis and the community are faced with the difficult challenge of protecting the community and Lamb's rights at the same time.

Monning said local leaders and their constituents should seize the opportunity to develop acceptable housing options, such as an isolated re-entry facility where sex offenders could be monitored. The worst option, he said, is for the court to be forced to release Lamb as a transient.

"If we don't know where these people are paroled to, we create a greater risk for our communities," he said.

Caballero agreed.

"Voters have stated very clearly where they don't want sex offenders to live, but not where they do think they should live, once they are released from prison," she said. "Until we come to a collective, statewide agreement on where these offenders can live, the predictable outcome is homelessness — the most risky location of all." ..News Source.. by Virginia Hennessey