Antelope Valley is a ‘dumping ground’ for sex offenders, locals say

When kindergarten teacher Cynthia Farrow was looking for a community where she could raise her family and buy a home with enough room for a few horses, she settled in the sun-drenched desert town of Littlerock in the Antelope Valley.

Farrow, along with her husband Gary and their 10-year-old son and three-year-old daughter bought a house in 1996 about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

“We got the price from a lot of places other than here in AV,” Farrow said, referring to the Antelope Valley. “It was a dream place and we found a community here. But, sadly, that attracted others here.”

Affordability, low population density and space between homes and buildings — often measured in acres — are also attractive to authorities and courts across the state looking to relocate sex offenders who have been paroled or recently released.

Antelope Valley residents like Farrow and others who have been fighting for the detention of such criminals have been moved by the move to move Christopher Hubbart, known as the “Pillowcase Rapist,” to the Juniper Hills community.

They see his appointment and two others in 2021 as an increase in the transportation of violent criminals to their community.

LA County Superior Court Judge Robert Harrison is debating whether to approve the move, after receiving 600 letters and complaints Tuesday from local residents. Los Angeles County The district. He said. George Gascón, Manager Kathryn Barger and other officials have spoken.

Farrow, who lives across the street from former sex offender Calvin Lynn Grassmier, attended the hearing in Hollywood along with friends Mary Jeters, Linda Adams and Diane Swick.

“We are writing petitions, attending court cases, doing everything we can to stop him from moving here,” said Farrow. “We had enough. We need to be respected.”

Placement of sex offenders within the Antelope Valley, an area that includes about 545,000 residents with two major cities, Palmdale and Lancaster, is well documented.

The Antelope Valley Times labeled the region as “a dumping ground for sex offenders” in 2014 when it documented 876 registered sex offenders in the area. That accounts for about 6% of the sex offender population in Los Angeles County (11,520) during that time.

Sen. California State Rep. Scott Wilk (R-Antelope Valley) tried to address the “abandonment of sex offenders” in his community in 2018 by authorizing legislation requiring parolees or released registered sex offenders to be returned “with every reasonable effort” to the city of residence. in it legally or in the nearest place where the person has family, social or economic ties.

“This change in law is good news for people living in rural and affordable areas of California, like Victor and Antelope counties,” Wilk said in August 2018. “Until now, the families living in these areas have had to bear the burden of returning their houses and rehabilitating the sex offenders from the government. All that is about to change.”

The release of a sex offender involves various conditions.

Megan’s Law of 2004 created a publicly accessible database to show where sex offenders registered to live. Jessica’s Lawpassed in 2006, it requires a parolee to be prohibited from staying within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children congregate.

But for some Antelope Valley residents, Wilk’s Law hasn’t changed much.

“The last thing you get is a case like Christopher Hubbart, a violent man who the courts say should be released,” said Jeters, who opposes the placement of those who commit sexual abuse and runs a Facebook Group. There are no SVPs in Antelope Valley. “Many people think that there is nothing here, that we have a lot of people, so they try to put him here.”

In 2021, an LA County Superior Court judge released convicted sex offender Calvin Lynn Grassmier from the city Littlerock, despite the opposition of thousands of citizens. That same year, Lawtis Donald Rhoden, who who sexually abused many young girlsit was also placed in an unincorporated county near Lancaster.

“What has changed in the last few years is the number of really violent rapists who have come in,” said Jeters, 62, who lives within six miles of all three men.

Hubbart earned the moniker “The Pillowcase Rapist” because he covered his victims’ heads with pillows while raping and beating them.

This undated law enforcement booking file photo, released by the LA County Sheriff’s Department in 2014, shows Christopher Hubbart.

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He attacked and raped women in Glendora, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights and Pomona, making headlines in 1972.

A furniture worker in Claremont at the time, he was arrested after receiving a tip from a suspicious man who was hiding near Brea. He was charged with rape, rape and attempted rape, and finally confessed to the other charges before being taken to a government hospital. Released in 1979, he moved to the Bay Area and was arrested again two years later and convicted of rape, burglary and other crimes.

Hubbart eventually admitted to 44 counts of sexual assault over an 18-year period.

Hubbart was committed to the Department of State Hospitals in 2000 for mental health evaluation and treatment, as required of violent sex offenders within six months of parole. DSH provided Hubbart with years of sex abuse treatment.

Hubbart was first released in 2014 to the Lake Los Angeles area near Palmdale under the parole program, despite the objections of former LA County Dist. He said. Jackie Lacey. He stayed there for two years before he violated the terms of his release and was sent back to DSH Coalinga State Hospital.

DSH declined to disclose the nature of the breach due to patient privacy laws.

After five years, the court recommended that Hubbart be given another chance at parole.

In 2022, the Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled that Hubbart should be housed in Los Angeles County. In March 2023, that court ruled that Hubbart was indeed eligible for parole and a search of his home was initiated by DSH’s housing contractor, Liberty Healthcare.

A representative of DSH emphasized that it was the courts that “decide whether a person appointed as SVP can be placed in outpatient treatment.”

Liberty found a place to live in Juniper Hills, which Judge Harrison said he would be very careful to consider, as if he lived in the area.

Juniper Hills resident Diane Swick, 60, went from happy to depressed quickly in early August.

The retired dental technician received a pacemaker in July to treat heart failure that caused months of fatigue and shortness of breath.

Two weeks into her new lease of life, Swick said she heard about Hubbart and stayed home for a week, fearing Hubbart might have moved to a nearby neighborhood about 300 feet away.

“I’m not depressed, but I couldn’t move, I was afraid,” said Swick. “I didn’t want to do anything and I felt like my world, my life was controlled by someone else.”

Like Farrow, Swick raises horses and a variety of animals. What he likes most about his community is safety and security.

“I can leave the back door unlocked and not worry about someone breaking in,” she said. “I can leave my car unlocked and don’t worry.”

He remained in court confused as to why a high-ranking community like La Crescenta successfully blocked the placement of Grassmier in 2021 but “AV is ignored.”

“Sometimes I wish the courts would see what is at stake here and I wish Liberty Healthcare would consider us,” she said. “This is a community recovering from wildfires — especially the Bobcat fire — and this is a blow.”

However, Swick continues to fight. He and his friends sent letters to Harrison while raising public awareness through social media and town rallies.

“What can we do other than talk and let people know we are here?” Swick said. “We are not sad. We are determined.”

Campa is a staff writer and House is a photographer.