Judge: Convicted 'Pillowcase Rapist' Could Become Lake Los Angeles Resident

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Santa Clara judge announced Friday that a convicted serial rapist could potentially live in Lake Los Angeles when he's conditionally released, which could be as early as December.

Christopher Hubbart, 62, who was known as the Pillowcase Rapist, will tentatively be housed at a residence on Laredo Vista Avenue in the community of Lake Los Angeles. A formal hearing has been scheduled in 45 days to finalize the proposed housing of Hubbart, who admitted to raping about 40 women between 1971 and 1982.

The house where Hubbart might take up residence is 2,200 feet from a park. Jessica's Law prohibits sex offenders released from prison from living within 2,000 feet of parks and schools.

L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said her office will work with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies to closely monitor Hubbart as required by law.

"Our priority is to safeguard our residents and make certain Hubbart is obeying all the conditions of his release," Lacey said in a statement.

Hubbart was arrested in 1972 in Los Angeles and deemed a "mentally disordered sex offender" and sent to Atascadero State Hospital. Doctors released him in 1979, believing he posed no further threat.

According to court documents, Hubbart raped another 15 women in the San Francisco Bay area over the next two years. He was again imprisoned, then paroled in 1990, and imprisoned again after accosting a woman in Santa Clara County.

Hubbart is being held at Coalinga State Hospital in Santa Clara County. His attorneys say their client's detention violates his rights to due process.

In May, Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown ruled that Hubbart should be released from prison and housed in Los Angeles County -- a decision that Lacey contended was in error. However, an appeals court and the state Supreme Court declined to overturn the ruling.

Lacey and L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich have strongly opposed plans to allow Hubbart to live in Los Angeles County. Lacey contends that Hubbart lived in Santa Clara County in the years leading to his last arrest and no longer has family living in Los Angeles County. California law requires a sexually violent predator be conditionally released to the county of his or her domicile "prior to the person's incarceration," according to prosecutors.

Earlier this week, Lacey's staff began notifying victims from Hubbart's earlier Los Angeles County cases about his possible release from custody.

"His past behavior is not a one-time occurrence where he made a mistake. We're talking over and over again," Antonovich said. "It's an outrage, whether he's placed in Lake Los Angeles, in Claremont or any of these areas where we have children."

Hubbart will be released to GPS supervision, possibly as early as December, according to the state.

Hubbart was born in Pasadena in 1951 and lived there for the first six years of his life. He then moved to Claremont, where he lived until 1971, according to the district attorney's office.

The public has until Nov. 29 to submit written public comments to Judge Brown by emailing the DA at HubbartLASafetyTaskForce@da.lacounty.gov or by writing to:

Hubbart L.A. Safety Task Force
c/o District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Division
320 West Temple Street, Room 777
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Judge Brown will hold a public hearing on Dec. 4 in San Jose on Hubbart's proposed residence. Anyone who wishes to address the judge directly will be allowed to speak at the hearing in Santa Clara County Court, Department 32, 190 W. Hedding Street, Fourth Floor.

»COMPLETE COVERAGE: Christopher Hubbart

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