8-29-2009 California:
EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. -- A crowd has gathered Thursday night outside an East Palo Alto residence where a man considered a sexually violent predator by the state will live under supervised release, police said.
City officials have notified residents that Donald Robinson, 57, who was sent to prison more than two decades ago from Santa Clara County for committing multiple sexual assaults against women, is moving into a home at 903 Beech St.
Resident Mel Harris said Robinson moved in today and that a crowd of dozens, including many students, has gathered outside the home tonight.
Police acknowledged they are aware of some activity at the address but said no units have been sent there. They did not confirm that Robinson has moved in.
Robinson was convicted of multiple felonies between 1970 and 1984, including at least two rapes against adult women, East Palo Alto police said.
Robinson was eligible for parole in 1997 but was kept in custody an extra 12 years under California's sexually violent predator program, which was signed into law Jan. 1 that same year.
On Aug. 20, the court ordered him to be moved out of a state mental hospital and continue his treatment while confined to a home in East Palo Alto.
He will be under 24-hour surveillance by employees of Liberty Healthcare, the company hired to oversee his release. He will be confined to the house and will wear a GPS tracking device and an alcohol monitor.
The restrictions, however, which are meant to eventually taper off depending on Robinson's behavior, did little to ease the fears of dozens of community members who attended a meeting at East Palo Alto City Hall on Tuesday night.
Police Chief Ron Davis said at the meeting police will focus on keeping East Palo Alto residents safe from Robinson and vice versa.
He said police will work with local groups to notify community members of Robinson's presence, and that additional meetings will be scheduled. A flyer was available in English at tonight's meeting; additional flyers will be printed in Spanish, Davis said.
"The first step is today," he said. ..Source.. by KTVU.com
August 29, 2009
CA- Protesters Meet Arrival Of Convicted Sex Offender In East Palo Alto
June 10, 2008
CA- Gag order in molester case
6-10-2008 California:
Judge says he won't release Lamb as transient
A judge Monday sternly chastised South County residents who "have been intimidating or possibly threatening" a neighbor who withdrew his offer to rent his Bradley home to sexually violent predator James Lamb.
Judge Richard Curtis then slapped a gag order on the case, prohibiting any court officer, public employee or state contractor from discussing the search for Lamb's future residence.
Curtis said he'd never before issued such a "protective order" but decided it was necessary because the extent of publicity could affect Lamb's due-process rights.
In addition, he said he would keep tabs on the renewed efforts to find housing for Lamb via closed-door conference calls with attorneys, and set an Aug. 7 court hearing for a public status hearing.
The state Department of Mental Health has inquired about more than 1,000 houses since Curtis ordered Lamb conditionally released from the Sexually Violent Predator Program on July 4, 2007. Lamb, who has admitted molesting more than 50 children, has been in lockdown and receiving therapy in the program since 1998.
The former Spreckels resident has completed all of the in-house phases of the program and been voluntarily castrated in his effort to be freed. Under the conditional release program, he will receive continued outpatient therapy, must live under strict conditions and be monitored by a global-positioning device for at least a year.
State law requires Lamb be placed in Monterey County because it is the location of his last offense. After considerable review, Curtis and the state had settled on a mobile home overlooking Lake San Antonio owned by Joseph Smith, a retired Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputy.
Smith's offer to rent the home for $3,500 a month was withdrawn after strenuous objections by local residents.
A "very disappointed" Curtis said he had planned to prohibit Lamb from turning right from the property onto Jolon Road or venturing into the local communities. Unfortunately, he said, "that was taken care of by the acts of one or two people in South County."
He warned those in attendance that other counties facing similar situations had been forced to release sexually violent predators as transients.
"I want to make it clear, that is not going to happen in Monterey County," he said. And because state law prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park, he said, any suitable residence will be in a "semi-rural or rural area."
Apparently referring to a Herald report that it would cost about $35,000 a month to house and protect Lamb and the community he lives in, Curtis said he'd rather spend the money "feeding hungry children or sending children to college ... but the law requires me to follow the law."
Fewer residents than usual attended Monday's hearing and one said the District Attorney's Office asked that they not to show up in force. Some went away asking how they were supposed to know if the next recommended house was in their area if no one was allowed to talk about it.
Paula Roth, one of the residents who has fought the placement, said she sees the situation as a "societal issue."
"People have said, 'We know where you don't want him, but where should he go?'" she said. "I have no answer to that."
"The judge can say what he wants about South County residents," Roth said, "but it could be anyone threatening Mr. Smith." ..News Source.. by Virginia Hennessey
