Hundreds of Borrego Springs residents pleaded with a judge not to make their community the new home for a man who has been designated as a former sexually violent predator.
“We have 500 children and we are in a donut hole in the middle of a state park,” Honorary Mayor Martha Deichler said. “We know this man needs a place to live, it’s not Borrego Springs.”
More than 500 signatures have been collected in protest of a plan to place Terry Stone in the small desert town east of San Diego with approximately 1500 year-round residents.
Stone is a convicted pedophile who committed lewd acts against 5 different young victims under the age of 11.
In 1994, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison, and in 2003, he was committed to the state hospital as a sexually violent predator.
One month ago, the Department of State Hospitals proposed letting Stone live on Frying Pan Road under a conditional release basis.
A previous proposal to place Stone in Spring Valley was denied.
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The home is on a half- acre with no fence and according to residents it is in a residential community, less than two miles from schools, the Boys & Girls Club and a local park.
They claim it’s also located one house away from a daycare.
Deichler argues that the tight-knit community is not the place for a sexually violent predator and that their children's lives will be in jeopardy if he is allowed to live there.
Judge Frederick Maguire ruled he would defer judgment for three weeks to follow up on some of the concerns brought up Friday by residents.
Stone has completed 19 years of treatment as required under his conviction and is ready for conditional release.
Attorneys told residents that Stone will have 24-hour supervision initially with weekly treatment and random searches by law enforcement officers.
“He’s going to be heavily monitored and supervised. I’d be more concerned about the others,” said a spokesperson from the Department of State Hospitals hospital’s placement program.
As of November 2013, there are 76 SVPs currently committed to Coalinga State Hospital from San Diego County.
There are currently four former SVPs residing in San Diego County.
Mikel Marshall and Douglas Badger are awaiting housing. David Chambless has been living in the community as an outpatient since 2007.
Gary Snavely and John Norman were both moved from the hospital on condition released but were hospitalized again for treatment.
Matthew Hedge, who was placed in the community twice - once in 2006 and then again in 2009 - has been released unconditionally. He is no longer considered a sexually violent predator, according to hospital officials.
