LANCASTER – Reacting to the potential release of serial rapist Christopher Hubbart into the community of Lake Los Angeles, local residents are concerned the Antelope Valley has become a dumping ground for sex offenders.
According to numbers provided by the Megan’s Law database, approximately 673 registered sex offenders reside in the Antelope Valley. This number accounts for roughly 6 percent of the 11,520 total registered sex offenders residing in Los Angeles County, according to the database.
However, these statistics provided by the Megan’s Law website do not accurately reflect the total number of registered sex offenders in the Antelope Valley.
876 registered sex offenders in the AV
The actual number of registered sex offenders for the Antelope Valley is currently 876, according to officials from the Lancaster and Palmdale Sheriff’s stations. This number includes 539 for Lancaster’s jurisdiction, according to Law Enforcement Technician Melissa Dorsey of the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station, and 337 for Palmdale’s jurisdiction, according to Detective D. McCormick of the Palmdale Station.
The discrepancy in numbers between registered offenders made public by Megan’s Law and the comprehensive number provided by local Sheriff’s officials is because not all registered sex offenders are counted in the Megan’s Law database, according to California State Adult Parole Operations Supervisor Larry Dorsey.
“There are only certain penal code sections and certain convictions that require them to be made public under Megan’s Law,” said Larry Dorsey, who heads the GPS Unit of the Antelope Valley Parole Office in Lancaster. “For example, anyone with an indecent exposure, depending on the case, may not be on there.”
The Megan’s Law website discloses the home address and/ or the zip code of registered sex offenders residing in an area depending on the type of sex offense under Penal Code section 290. However, there is an undisclosed category of registered sex offenders not displayed on the Megan’s Law website, which includes offenders who “must still register as sex offenders with local law enforcement agencies, and are known to law enforcement,” according to a summary of Megan’s Law provided at http://meganslaw.ca.gov/registration/law.htm.
Melissa Dorsey said a lot of this depends on who the sex offender’s victim was and of what the offender was convicted.
“Not all penal code sections justify them being on the public side,” Melissa Dorsey said. “So the number the public would see is different from the number we see on the law enforcement side.”
Local sex offender parolees under constant supervision
Parole Operations Supervisor Larry Dorsey said his office currently monitors 130 of the Antelope Valley’s registered sex offenders. These registrants are parolees and are monitored daily through GPS – or Global Position Satellite monitoring.
“Our agents must see them twice a month at their residence, and they are tracked daily,” he said. “Every day [agents] have to monitor their tracks and see what they did the night before.”
Dorsey recommended that members of the public view an online documentary (see below) that demonstrates how the Parole Division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation tracks paroled sex offenders on a daily basis using GPS.
There are occasions when paroled sex offenders have escaped monitoring in the Antelope Valley. Though Dorsey did not have an exact count for the last year, he did say the number varies.
“We may get zero for the month, we may get one a month,” he said. “But I can tell you that our unit here in the Antelope Valley is aggressive when these individuals cut off their bracelet. We immediately place a warrant out for them, and we notify local law enforcement, and also put them on the front page of the paper, asking for the public’s help.”
Dorsey said monthly parole sweeps are another measure for ensuring parolees are in compliance with the conditions of their parole.
“Last week we had a parole sweep for all the sex offenders in the Antelope Valley, and we placed eight in custody,” he told the AV Times. “We are, here in the Antelope Valley, proactive when dealing with our offenders.”
In addition to the monthly sweeps, parolees are also required to undergo monthly drug testing at the Antelope Valley office.
“We test them for anything from using alcohol to controlled substances, but we are very proactive here in this office,” he said. “And if a parolee is found to be in violation of their parole, we will place them into custody.”
When asked if he thought the Antelope Valley was a dumping ground for sex offenders, Dorsey replied, “Absolutely not.”
Sex offenders signal alarm for Antelope Valley residents
Some local activists have a different opinion. They see an ongoing threat to their communities based on the perception that the Antelope Valley will continue to serve as a “dumping ground” for sex offenders.
“Look at our own statistics. We have 168 serial rapists in Lake LA alone,” said Lake Los Angeles resident Marci Navarrete, who compiled her numbers from the Megan’s Law website.
Navarrete is a vocal member of the Ladies of Lake LA, a local group that is leading an effort across the High Desert to stop the courts from releasing Christopher Hubbart, known as the Pillowcase Rapist, into their community.
The group has received unconditional support from public officials such as Assemblyman Steve Fox, State Senator Steve Knight, Palmdale Mayor Pro Tem Tom Lackey, and State Assembly candidate JD Kennedy, Navarrete said.
“It doesn’t seem legal to put someone in our county that doesn’t correspond to Los Angeles County since he last resided in San Bernardino and committed a crime in Santa Clara. He could wind up in Santa Clara, but they don’t want him there because it’s a high-income area,” Navarrete said. “They’re just trying to get this man in here through a loophole and dump him on LA County.”
Aside from their letter-signing campaign to petition the Santa Clara judge to reconsider Hubbart’s release into the community, the group’s latest campaign to raise awareness is the strategic placement of two electronic billboards on Sierra Highway between Avenues L and M, and alongside the 14 Freeway between Avenues H and I.
“To educate people on what’s going on,” Ladies of Lake LA member Debbie Hill said. “JD Kennedy was able to assist us with these, along with Lamar Outdoor Advertising, who is handling the billboards. Because they support our cause, they went ahead and gave us time on the Sierra Highway billboard.”
For information on upcoming events organized by the Ladies of Lake LA, visit their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/nopillowcaserapeist.
Breaking down the numbers
The Megan’s Law database at www.meganslaw.ca.gov lists a total of 11,520 registered sex offenders as residents for Los Angeles County. The following is a Megan’s Law tabulation of the 673 sex offenders registered in the Antelope Valley, arranged by zip code for various local areas. Note that these numbers differ from the total number of registered sex offenders (876) provided by the Lancaster and Palmdale Sheriff’s stations (as explained above).
Total for Lancaster area: 357
Lancaster/ 93534: 118
Lancaster (including 3 from Lake Los Angeles)/ 93535: 167
Lancaster (including 1 from Quartz Hill)/ 93536: 72Total for Palmdale area: 183
Palmdale/ 93550: 105
Palmdale/ 93551: 26
Palmdale/ 93552: 34
Palmdale (including 3 from Lake Los Angeles)/ 93591: 18Total for outlying areas: 58
Acton/ 93510: 11
Lake Elizabeth, Lake Hughes/ 93532: 4
Littlerock/ 93543: 29
Llano/ 93544: 10
Pearblossom/ 93553: 4Total for Santa Clarita area: 75
Santa Clarita (including Agua Dulce and Saugus)/ 91390: 6
Saugus/ 91350: 10
Newhall/ 91321: 23
Canyon Country/ 91351, 91387: 27
Valencia/ 91354, 91355: 9
The public may contact law enforcement agencies of the Antelope Valley with further questions regarding the status of sex offenders by calling the California State Parole Office in Lancaster at 661-729-0530, the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station at 661-948-8466, or the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station at 661-272-2400.
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soapbox journal says
When it comes to your personal safety and the safety of your children or grandchildren, do not trust anyone, not even family,for me it was the man who changed my diapers when I was baby, later in life he molested me, also a neighbor who was very close to my family who when I was 14 grabbed me around the chest area, I shoved backwards using the counter as leverage and knocked him on his butt. And other people wonder why I have trust issues.
vahall2012@gmail.com says
Soapbox, sorry to hear of your continued pain. However, I am willing to bet the man who molested you, etc., was not on any sex offender registry or list. I also bet you did not pursue this through the courts.
just another victim says
The parole officer that handles my ex husband became friends with him, forgot about his job and when I would call to get information he was nothing but a jerk to me. I had to deal with a registered sex offender ex husband who, to this day, feels untouchable because his parole officer ignores what he does. This sex offender moved two blocks away from me. Nothing gets done.
valleygirl says
Why are these animals being let out of prison? So they can harm or kill another woman or young girl? Really, Jerry Brown? Where is your moral compass?
just some info says
Jerry Brown is not letting them out the laws are. You cant keep someone if they serve all there time. Unless they commit a new one. And they will
valleygirl says
You provide statistics for areas as far south as Saugus, yet nothing for Rosamond, Quartz Hill?
brittany says
of you look there is quartz hill on there. Go by zip code.
William says
What is the mental picture you get of sex offenders?
Does it include priests, teachers, politicians, business owners, sheriff’s deputies, cable news show hosts, and so on?
Funny how that is. When I hear ‘sex offenders’ like the ones we get placed in the Antelope Valley, for some reason, I don’t immediately of those types listed above. I think of that creep that assautted a young girl in a restaurant restroom. It’s the one with the surveillance video on the news.
But, then there are those others I mentioned that are all around us whether or not they’ve ever been prosecuted. It’s not just a low-life problem like we’re led to believe.
When priests do it despite their vows and what should be an excellant support structure that surrounds them, what hope it there for a homeless, drug addicted person?
People spend years in prison for non-violent crimes such as drug use while sex offenders are released back into the population after what seem like fairly light sentences. Is this upside-down and backward or what? Release the non-violent prisoners and keep the pedophiles and sex offenders there for life. I mean, it’s a ‘gated community’ after all. What’s so bad about that?
justme says
I think of everyone. I don’t trust no one.
vahall2012@gmail.com says
Fairly light sentences? Not so much. Read Chelsea’s Law lately? Mandatory minimums, mandatory life for some, lifetime monitoring via GPS, lifetime public registry (meaning, lifetime no home, no job, and you wonder if your town is becoming a “dumping ground”). There are over 200 crimes which can land you on the LIFETIME registry, many of which don’t involve a child or even another human being. It’s a wide, broad, forever label.
dumbandblind says
SURPRISED? Check out this other database:
http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-A.html
NoCuts says
WTF we live in a valley full of Sex offenders,registered sex offenders,serial rapist ,child molesters and these police is worried about gang activity ?????WTF these weirdos is a rapist and molesters Gang of they own and the numbers look like they growing in faster numbers then any Blood or crip gangs i’ve ever seen. Isay kill then all i have two little daughters ,a mother ,aunties and cousins that i’ll go nuts over if just one of these guys nor b!TCHes lay a eye on mines .
aint no math whiz but.. says
not that it matters much, but i believe 17% of 11,520 is around 1,958. The correct percentage of 673 living here is 5%. It’s still 5% too much, they need to send them out on a barge anchored in the middle of the Arctic ocean.
vahall says
Yes, good math. The US has over 750,000 registered citizens, the State of CA has over 106,000, LA county alone has over 10,000. My zip code has 32. However, the reoffense rate of sex offenders is between 2.9-5%. The vast majority of child sexual abuse is perpetrated within the child’s own home or close social circle, as these comments illustrate. Why are we lulled into a false sense of safety by thinking we can look on a website and create safety for our loved ones? It’s not true. My neighbor could be a drug dealer selling junk to kids, a drunk driver who has killed people, or any other violent criminal. I have no way of knowing, there is no “registry”.
You cant understand unless says
People who have never been a victim of a child molester will never and could never comprehend what it does to a child. What things you have to overcome, How overly protective you become of your kids. How much you wish you knew what child hood innocents was. How you will never fully trust anyone. But the worse of it all is how no one is willing to say a child’s innocents just 1 child’s innocents is not worth a life sentence. Because that child is living a life sentence. but yet sex offender are free to do it again and again. What ever I’m so done. What society should just say is our children don’t mean a damn thing because the most time a child molester gets on his 1st offense is no more than 3 years. no worries he will re offend.so his 2nd term may be 6 years. I don’t think it is even a strike-able offense yet. i could be wrong.
skntired says
This is so true.My husband suffered greatly after being molested by a neighbor.It colored his whole life until the end.They basically murder the souls of their victims and should be prosecuted as such.
L. Dorsey says
Lanora,
Please contact our office (661.729.0530 ext 225) regarding your concerns. Parole will move the parolee to another location if both the victim and parolee are local.
Thank you!
L. Dorsey
Parole Agent III
Antelope Valley Parole Office
Much Ado says
And yet, our politicians and our community activists do not want to take the proactive choice of how to deal with this issue proactively with a combination housing/monitoring/treatment facility that a local nonprofit has been trying to get them to do for a half a decade now.
Like so many others, they would rather just complain and point fingers everywhere but at themselves.
soapbox journal says
If the AV were to rid itself of all the cheap motels such as the ones on Sierra Highway you would see the human cockroaches leave for parts unknown because there would be no place they could afford to live and no cheap motel owners to lease to the state of CA to place these losers
Nancy P says
There are landlords renting rooms in their rentals houses for a few bucks to anyone who can/will pay. Sober living homes and other residential facilities do not need a rental license if the homeowner says they are living there and they say they are renting to no more than 6 people. (homeowner continues getting their mail at the address and does not change dr. license)
Parole may (or maynot) come check the address. Privacy laws, on the books, prevent police or city from letting neighbors know what is going on.
think about it says
Say what you will about the AV. If you don’t like it MOVE out, it’s that simple. That fact is yes the low life [removed] sex offenders have moved out here; however their crime didn’t and/or hasn’t happen out here. Our biggest concern are [removed] drunk driver, Meth Lab and out of controlled teens. Sex offenders have lived in the AV for years and I for one am vary happy the crimes that they have committed wasn’t committed here.
Ummokk! says
Haaaaaa! someone’s full off ?!$(!
Look again! Is Someone paying you to say this?
AV has more crime than LA itself!
Put these people next to the mayors house an see how fast there removed!
no you THINK about it says
Really you would rather have a sex offender vs a drug addict. You really have lost your mind. A sex offender may not have committed his crime out in the A.V. But who’s to say he wont commit a Sex Crime here. Please Sex offender ARE the most likely to re-offend. So when your daughter or granddaughter gets her child hood innocents taken away, or your son or grandson becomes a sex offender because he himself was a victim see how happy you will be to have them living next door vs a drug addict. Seriously Think about it!!!!!!!
Breathinnnn! says
Are you on something? Obviously your not thinking! Look again buddy! AV is full of trashy people that LA dumps over here! I say our mayors should grab all these offenders an send them back to LA! Also to, they should fine the landlords who rent to these people! These landlords don’t even live up here an don’t care about the safety of our families!
Bob says
Hey [removed] I shouldn’t have to live next to sex offenders or drug addicts!
gdavis says
Not to burst your bubbles, but most sex offenders commit acts upon people within their own families. Be more concerned about the people you know, and less concerned about others.
just me says
Gdavis, sad but true most child molesters are family or a close family friend and most never get reported. Either way f¥¿k em all.. everyone of those s.o.b that get off on little kids shouldn’t have the right to exist! But that’s just my opinion
vahall2012@gmail.com says
Well said. It is well documented that the VAST majority of child sexual abuse is perpetrated within the child’s own home or close social circle (94%). NOT by people on the sex offender registry. Just sayin’.
.45 says
Lock and load
Rat Killer says
It seems to coincide with the least expensive housing. Undesirable locations naturally attract the people who can’t afford to go anywhere else. I’m sure there are sex offenders in every walk of life, but people in high end neighborhoods pay higher taxes and have more influence on the officials. If they don’t want sex offenders in their neighborhood, money talks.
vahall says
No, ratkiller, the registry talks. Even the wealthiest offenders, if convicted, must follow parole conditions for sex offenders and the tenets of Jessica’s Law with regard to living near parks, schools, etc. People who end up in the river, under the bridge, in the bad part of town, have no other options. Neighborhoods pass laws to keep them “out of my backyard” which results in ex offenders ending up in another area. THen that area passes a law, or an anti-clustering law, and they end up homeless, and impossible to track or monitor, and at risk for committing more offenses since they have no stability or buy-in to society. Who’s safer? Not us.
anonymous says
The video talks about sex offenders wearing GPS monitors. Is that ALL sex offenders? Because I’m pretty sure I have seen one of them and have never noticed him wearing one.
vahall2012@gmail.com says
Pardon me for asking, but why are you getting up close and personal with the ankle of a possible convicted sex offender?
Lanora says
I find it appalling that these offenders are being dumped here, when my daughter was molested and the registered sex offender that molested her was incarcerated I requested for her safety that he not be paroled here and was told he had to be released in the county that the offense took place, but yet it is ok for others to be paroled here but not ok to parole offenders from here to somewhere else? This doesn’t make any sense to me. I think they need to re-evaluate their (our) system!!!!!
Anonymous says
The excuse for dumping them in the Antelope Valley used to be that prisoners must be released 50 miles away from their victims.
just my 2 cents says
^ That and 200 feet away from schools parks and churches. But since it is now like what 25 feet because 200 feet was unconstitutional because there was no where in L.A. they could live without being close to schools, parks or church, now that it has been changed why are they still here.
vahall says
Try again. It is 2500 feet from a school, park or place children congregate (for parolees), 2000 feet under the state law for non-parolees. This law has caused incalculable damage to families and communities, because people who can not reintegrate into society, get jobs and have homes, reconnect with their families, etc. do not make the area any safer. Lanora, I agree, returning offenders to the county of offense is not the best policy, especially if they have no support there. People who offend, the majority of them, will be released. It’s how we do things in this country. You may not want them in your backyard, but pushing them further out and away, creating an underclass who can’t find work or housing, makes NO ONE safer.
justme says
Vahall ..you speak as though you yourself or someone very close to you has been convicted for a sex crime. There are some sex offensive. I think is completely stupid for instance Young couples getting caught in a car having sex. Yes People that’s a sex.crime so is going pee out side that’s indecent. Exposure. or pissed off parent mad that she is 16 he just turned 18 and they had sex. Sex.crime! but the offensive I feel should hold a life sentence is any crime against a child 14yrs of age and younger. People that prey upon children. Not some guy arrested for rape because a relationship went sour or she regrets what she did… I only care really for children who lose their Innocents because of some sick freak.
soapbox journal says
outrageous
Yesithas! says
I truly believe yes it’s true! I’ve been saying it all along that city of LA has been cleaning out there city’s an dumping the trash out here! Why o why does this keep happening? The only thing I see is I can almost bet along with the trash, they give our cities $$$$ for improvements! Am I wrong?
Bob says
Approximately 10 years ago Readers Digest, (an international publication) ran a story featuring Lancaster California as the, “child molester capitol of the nation”. This sewer we know as the AV is of course a dumping ground for perverts. Always has been,,, always will be. The AV, a great place to raise a family.
not sure says
Not sure if this is still the case, but years ago I was told that a sex offender had to be released in the same county as his/her offense, but could not be within 50 miles of his/her victim. Pick any spot in the greater L.A. area on a map and draw a circle with a 50 mile radius. The A.V. is the only area outside the circle, but still in the county. Thus, we ARE the dumping ground for L.A. county.
The motels on Sierra Hwy are a release location for sex offenders. Even though parolees are not to be in the presence of like-others, several reside in the same motels.
And to the poster who mentioned a barge anchored in the Artic Ocean for such offenders, you neglected to add a hole in the hull.
vahall2012@gmail.com says
Not sure, I believe it is 35 miles from the victim. Anyway, the barge is an unAmerican, unChristian idea. Where do you propose these people go, to reintegrate into society, get jobs, have homes? Oh, you don’t want them to reintegrate? Or just not in your area? THen don’t be surprised they end up at motels, if they are lucky. You are shortsighted. There are over 10,000 registered citizens in LA County, I know they are not all in A.V. For those that are, how about giving them a job, housing, stability, so that they can be monitored by LE and reduce the rate of reoffense?