In the wake of the Kenneth Rasmuson controversy, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is looking to tighten restrictions on where convicted sex offenders can reside.
Supervisor Joni Gray (4th District) brought the matter to the board at a hearing on May 19. The board voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance expanding on Jessica’s Law requirements and instructed staff to research the possibility of a loitering ordinance separate from Jessica’s Law.
“That gives both our law enforcement, probation people, and hopefully judges some ways of carefully limiting where these folks live and also where they can go,” Gray said.
Jessica’s Law, passed in 2006, requires convicted sex offenders to reside more than 2,000 feet from schools and parks. The law allows for local communities to include other designated places in their residency restrictions.
At the meeting, the board discussed classifying schools, parks, libraries, skate parks, golf courses, and bus stops as places where children congregate.
Steve Underwood, spokesman for the County Counsel’s office, said the counsel is currently checking the legality of placing a restriction on sex offenders visiting within 300 to 500 feet of such places. He said research on the issue should be wrapped up by the end of June.
Gray said Rasmuson’s case was the trigger for the motion.
“The people that are having to experience Rasmuson here in our community, they just don’t want him here,” Gray said. “I just want him on an island somewhere. I don’t want him out in our community even kind of-sort of. In my wildest imagination I can’t imagine that he ought to live anywhere, except on Mars.”
Rasmuson was the first sexually violent predator to be conditionally released into the county. His move to a 21-acre residence in Lompoc on March 20 caused an uproar from neighbors and county officials. Neighbor Chris Ohlgren appealed to Gray to get the nearby La Purisima Golf Course designated as a “youth-serving facility,” which would force the Department of Mental Health to find a new home for Rasmuson.
A two-time sex offender, Rasmuson was convicted of sexual molestation before Jessica’s Law was enacted. Gray said it’s still unclear whether or not a new ordinance would apply to Rasmuson.
“In most cases it’s a pretty safe bet that you cannot apply a law retroactively,” Gray said. “However, here we don’t know for sure. It’s at the Supreme Court level now so we could have a decision made in six to eight months.”
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.