SEX PREDATOR WITH BRAIN CANCER SLATED TO BE RELEASED INTO CAMPO NEIGHBORHOOD

By Billie Jo Jannen
For East County Magazine 

 

 

September 3, 2011 (Campo) Updated September 4, 2011--A sexually violent predator who is convicted of raping four women, and is currently housed at Coalinga State Hospital, is slated to be placed in a home on Shockey Truck Trail in Campo next month.

 

According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s office, Frank William Johnson, 53, will have a hearing on Oct. 14 for a final decision on whether he should be allowed to move into a home located at 33241 Shockey Truck Trail.

 

Johnson convinced California Department of Mental Health officials that he is a lesser threat due to physical debilitation from brain cancer treatments he received earlier this year, said Assistant Chief John Rice of the District Attorney Sex Crimes Division. 

 

“He has had surgery, radiation and chemo,” Rice said, adding the treatments are believed by DMH to have “reduced his vigor.”

 

Johnson was convicted in 1979 of raping three women by breaking into their homes when they were alone and attacking them, Rice said. He was committed to Patton State Hospital as a mentally disordered sex offender and was released five years later.

 

He offended again and was convicted in 1987 of burglary, rape with a foreign object and forced oral copulation after breaking into a woman’s home to attack her, Rice said. His sentences for those crimes totaled 35 years.
 

Johnson was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and received his treatments. He was ordered into sexually violent predator outpatient treatment on July 8.
 
Rice said the median survival time for a brain cancer patient is about three months if the cancer is not treated, adding that “with treatment, one to two years is common.”
 
Sexually violent predators, or SVPs, are identified in prison as posing an extreme risk to the community if they are released, according to the district attorney website. Prison inmates who have violent sex crimes in their histories are assessed for possible civil commitment before they are released to parole supervision. To be assessed for SVP commitment, an inmate must have committed a serious sex crime and have been diagnosed with a mental disorder.
 
 

 

Residents in the neighborhood of Johnson’s intended home say they already have a violent child molester living in the neighborhood and intend to fight Johnson’s placement there.

 

“This is totally unacceptable,” said Tanja Sallee, who lives next door to the Johnson’s would-be home. “He’s a high-profile predator. He doesn’t belong in Campo.”

 

Sallee said the neighborhood already lives in the shadow of a registered sex offender: Herbert Beierle, who returned to the community from prison after serving time for a number of crimes against children.

 

Beierle’s presence already creates stress for local families: “We can’t even let our children wait for the school bus alone,” she said.

 

District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob is adamantly opposed to Johnson’s placement in any San Diego County community. “This particular class of predator does not belong in any community,” she said in a statement earlier this week. “Once a person earns the depraved title of SVP, that person belongs in an institution permanently. Even with monitoring, the risk of an SVP taking another victim remains.”
 
In 2009, 81-year-old John David Norman, who was released into Boulevard, proved that age and debilitation do not necessarily deter a SVP. Norman had to be recommitted after making inappropriate contact with a 19-year-old bag boy at a supermarket. 
 
“At least four SVPs have been recommitted after the state saw fit to foist them on communities in San Diego County,” Jacob added.

 

Sallee said she intends to circulate a petition and that she and a number of other residents plan to attend Johnson’s upcoming placement hearing.

Campo currently houses 13 registered sex offenders, according to DMH. Of the seven current and former SVPs residing in San Diego County, one man, David Chambliss, lives in Jacumba.
 
 Liberty Healthcare Corporation carries out all community release supervision in California, conducting therapy sessions, global positioning monitoring and periodic polygraph assessment. Supervision methods include unannounced visits, covert surveillance, random searches and daily approval for all activities in which the patient plans to participate, according to the district attorney’s website. Parolees are not permitted to drive and their movement in the community is limited.
 
The two-bedroom house that Johnson hopes to move into was a bank-owned home purchased Nov. 23 by James L. Wallace, of Miami, Florida, according to county records. The home sits on 2.5 acres in a neighborhood of similar homes not far from the rural road’s intersection with Highway 94 and about two miles from the Campo Hills development.
 
Johnson’s rent and other living expenses are paid by the state, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Justin White.

 

Public comment opportunities
 
The public has a deadline of Oct. 3 to tender comments on the proposed placement. Comments may be emailed to the SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) Task Force at sdsafe@doj.ca.gov. The telephone number is (858) 268-5300.

 

Public comment will also be accepted at the hearing, which is in San Diego Superior Court, Dept. 36, 220 West Broadway, San Diego at 1:30 p.m., before Judge Kerry Wells.