A convicted child molester will not be moving to Ramona any time soon.
On Monday, state officials rescinded its proposal to place Matthew Harvey Hedge in a home less than one mile from an elementary school.
A release from the Department of Mental Health in late January listed a proposed new home for Hedge, 45, at a single-family private property located at 3337 Highway 67. According to the release, that address was near the intersection of state Route 67 and state Route 78.
The nearest school, Hansen Elementary School, was .91 miles away and there are two known pre-schools in the area.
Hedge pleaded guilty to molesting four children in 1989 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. According to the Megan's Law Web site, he voluntarily enrolled in sex offender treatment while in prison and has been in the Department of Mental Health hospital since 1998. He was ordered into outpatient treatment in 2005 but was revoked within 6 weeks for violations in early 2006.
After more than 2 years of continued in-hospital treatment, on October 1, 2008, the court once again granted his petition to be placed in outpatient treatment.
The proposal was met with public concern from people in the community, including Supervisor Dianne Jacob. A hearing that was scheduled to discuss Hedge's placement on March 13 will now be a status hearing on the progress of finding an appropriate alternate location.
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Once a new location has been proposed, the public will be notified and will have an opportunity to provide comments about the proposed placement recommendation prior to it being approved.
As of January 21, there are 32 other registered sex offenders in the city of Ramona, according to Megan's Law.
