March 25, 2004

City Council votes to oust sex offender; asks for stricter notification requirements from state on placement

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Violent sexual predator Cary Verse will have to find another place to live after the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to kick him out of the city at Tuesday's City Council meeting

“I want him out… He doesn't deserve to be here,” said District 2 Councilman Forrest Williams at the March 23 council meeting at City Hall. “The community is outraged… The parents are concerned and they're saying we don't want Cary Verse here. He's a repeater. I can't answer the question, ‘If he stays now will he strike again? I don't know,” Williams said. “Many people say, ‘Give him another chance,' but he's had several chances already. We don't know what the consequences will be the next time.

“Whenever anyone molests a child, they don't deserve a chance…Cary Verse has done it more than one time. So, should we welcome him with open arms? Should we feel safe? Should our families and the community feel safe because he's there? I say, ‘no.' He's had his chances and he's squandered each one.”

San Jose is Verse's fourth destination. He was hounded out by angry community members from a motel in Mill Valley, then from a residential hotel in downtown Oakland, and most recently, St. Patrick's Abbey in East Oakland, across the street from an elementary school.

On March 16, Verse landed at the Mission Motel on Monterey Highway, in south San Jose, during the early morning hours without notification to San Jose police authorities, catching them by surprise.

Officers quickly made door-to-door neighbor notifications in the mostly industrial area south of Capitol Expressway. Williams' district includes the neighborhood where Verse lives. There are several mobile home parks in the vicinity of the Mission Motel with hundreds of children.

Police Chief Rob Davis said the state Department of Mental Health did not notify the department about Verse's move to San Jose, an omission that he found disturbing.

On Tuesday, c ity officials agreed to send a letter outlining their position to the state Department of Mental Health and to Verse's presiding judge.

Mayor Ron Gonzales said Tuesday's action by the council was a judgment against he state system. “This latest example shows the system is broken and needs fixing. It's important for every city in the state of California to do what we've done,” Gonzales said. “We need a system that works cooperatively with police departments. (Verse's move into San Jose) is not supported by the neighborhood and is not supported by the city council,” he added.

“This is only going to work when local jurisdictions, police departments and city councils feel they can work with the state Department of Mental Health. That was not the case here in San Jose,” Gonzales said.

In early February, Verse was conditionally released from Atascadero State Mental Hospital.

Because of community fears and opposition, Brian Devries, another convicted sex offender, relocated to San Jose, eventually moved to a trailer on the grounds of Soledad State Prison near Salinas. Verse is the second offender to get conditional release from the state's sexually violent predator program.

Verse has been convicted in four sexual assaults, including two in Alameda County and one, his most recent, in Contra Costa County in 1992.

The council's motion came after Gonzales, Vice Mayor Pat Dando, and Councilmembers Williams and Terry O. Gregory drafted a memorandum recommending the council develop stricter notification requirements for state agencies to provide longer advance notification to local communities regarding the proposed release and placement of sex offenders.

The council also agreed to explore state legislation or policies to better define an overall process for placing sex offenders in local communities, with requirements that limit their placement away from parks, schools, and other places where children are likely to be present, to ensure a high level of safety.

City officials also vowed to explore state legislation or policies that would prevent the placement of a disproportionate number of sex offenders in any community compared to the rest of the region to prevent inappropriate concentrations.

“Verse's presence in our community has caused alarm among our residents that we also share. In short, the risk is too great, and the cost is too high,” read a memorandum attached to the motion.

The memorandum also stated that state policy requires sex offenders be released into the city or county where they were apprehended and convicted. “This policy means that communities such as San Jose, with very effective law enforcement and prosecution that remove these high-risk offenders from our city, will end up bearing the burden of them returning here when released from prison. The ‘reward' for doing a good job to protect our residents in the first place is that we then face the unreasonable cost and burden of monitoring these high-risk individuals when they are back on the street in our city,” the memo said.

Dando lamented the city already serves as home to a disproportionate number of registered sex offenders—2,300 of them—compared to the rest of the region. “Clearly we're not saying, ‘Not in my backyard,” Dando said. “In my opinion when someone has raped children repeatedly… multiple times, they forfeit some of their rights.

William Garbett, a San Jose resident for 34 years who recently ran for Dando's council seat, was one of only two speakers who addressed the council on the motion. He said he was not surprised when Verse moved into the city because of the high number of sex offenders. “It wouldn't disappoint me if he leaves, but then again, it wouldn't disappoint me if he stays. It doesn't bother me either way.”

He expressed frustration with the current system. “They're not offering anything other than life in prison or death for these people. I don't think that's proper. It's a scarlet letter and banning them from society forever is not the appropriate thing,” Garbett said.

Ross Signorino, another San Jose resident, pitied the council for having “a very difficult decision to make and I don't envy you for one moment.”

“How far can we go to take an individual's rights away from him?” he asked. “Where does he go from here? Nobody wants him. When do we give him another chance? That's something we all have to think about.” Signorino said. “This situation is not going to go away.”

A group of about a dozen protesters has been gathering nightly in front of the Mission Motel to protest Verse's placement in the city. Others have asked the community to give Verse another chance and offer forgiveness.

State mental health authorities, citing a judge's gag order, have declined comment on Verse's case.

After his most recent prison term, Verse spent five years at Atascadero, where he underwent therapy and chemical castration as a part of his rehabilitation.