DECISION ON PLACEMENT OF PREDATOR ALLEN FIELDS IN CAMPO POSTPONED TO AUGUST 22

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

August 2, 2014 (Campo) – Following testimony by Campo residents and Supervisor Dianne Jacob objecting to proposed placement of sexually violent predator Allen Fields in this rural community, Judge Margi Woods postponed action.  She indicated she will visit the site and talk with law enforcement about response times before a new hearing set for August 22.

Just one day before the July 23 hearing on Fields, another sexual predator, John Wilson Kreischer, broke into a 70 year old woman’s home in Jacumba and sexually molested her—while wearing an ankle bracelet, the Sheriff reported. 

That doesn’t inspire confidence in electronic monitoring, which officials had previously touted as a means of protecting community members.  Moreover, Campo has among the slowest response times by law enforcement of anyplace in the County, as an ECM special investigation recently revealed.  Campo residents regularly waited 25 to 30 minutes or more on average for Sheriff deputies to respond to even the most serious felonies.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob noted that three of six sexually violent predators released recently into the backcountry and been returned to a state mental hospital for violating parole conditions. “This just demonstrates the system doesn’t work,” said Jacob, who called the system “broken” and insisted that such individuals pose a danger to the community.

Fields, a diagnosed pedophile, was convicted of molesting four young boys after first establishing relationships as their caregiver or Boy Scout leader.  After spending 25 years in prison, he underwent sex offender treatment n a state hospital and in 2003 submitted to surgical castration.

Last December, Judge Woods granted Fields' petition for outpatient placement, finding that he could be safely released into the community. The state Department of Hospitals proposes that Fields be placed in a Campo home on five acres of private property. 

Alan Spillman of Liberty Healthcare, which monitors released predators for the state,  testified that in the program’s 11 year history, it hasn’t had a client commit a new sexual offense, Channel 6 News reported.

But families living just a few doors away aren’t satisfied, and fear for the safety of their children.  Christine Vergara voiced anger over the proposal and told the judge that placing a predator in their neighborhood would be a “detriment to our community.”



 

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.