A Placer County Superior Court judge is reconsidering his plan to release a soon-to-be-paroled sex offender into Santa Maria, after a sustained fight by city officials.
On Dec. 5, Judge James D. Garbolino found that “extraordinary circumstances” existed in the case of Tibor Karsai, 58, who was convicted in 1980 of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl in the northeastern California city of Auburn.
According to state law, parolees are required to be released in their last known county of residence. In Karsai’s case, that location is under debate. While his mother once had a home in Santa Maria, according to investigative records drafted during his conviction, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office contends his last known residence was actually in Morro Bay, in coastal San Luis Obispo County.
That has led to a fight by Santa Maria city officials and the county district attorney to urge Garbolino to send Karsai somewhere else, as long as it’s not in Santa Barbara County. The residence in Santa Maria initially under consideration falls within 1,600 feet of an elementary school, officials say.
To preempt Garbolino’s ruling, the Santa Maria City Council unanimously adopted an urgency ordinance on Nov. 15, barring convicted sex offenders from living within a 2,000-foot radius—straight line distance—from a school. The judge had previously interpreted the distance requirement in travel distance.
Garbolino said city and county officials’ arguments merited an effort by Liberty Healthcare Corp., a private firm contracted with the California Department of Mental Health to track sexual offenders, to search for other suitable locations for Karsai’s release. It’s unclear when that decision will be made.
The judge also issued a gag order on the case, prohibiting parties involved in the hearings from discussing potential placement options.
Santa Maria City Attorney Gil Trujillo did not return calls for comment as of press time.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2011.