Seven sex offenders considered “high risk” by the Orange County District Attorney’s office were released in California because of coronavirus fears.
Court Commissioner Joseph Dane approved the release of seven high-risk sex offenders with crimes including indecent exposure to a child, sexual battery of a child, and child molestation who have histories of disobeying parole orders, according to Breitbart News and a statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is issuing a warning to county residents about seven high risk registered sex offenders who have been released from jail months early despite being charged with cutting off their GPS monitors or otherwise tampering with the tracking devices to render them inoperable,” the Tuesday statement read.
The statement also pushed back on the premise of releasing the inmates by citing Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes’s claim that the jails in the county are not overcrowded and have implemented practical social distancing measures.
“Sheriff Don Barnes reported to the Orange County Board of Supervisors today the population in the Orange County jail system has been reduced by nearly 45% since March 7 and there is no overcrowding issue. Sheriff Barnes assured that proper steps, including social distancing, masks, and quarantining of new inmates, are in place,” it read.
All of the inmates, including 27-year-old Luis Joel Ramirez, have violated parole at least once, and many have been caught tampering with GPS trackers to escape police observation. Ramirez has violated parole four times since 2019.
Ramirez has a criminal record that includes convictions of sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer, burglary, and possession of a deadly weapon.
“These kinds of high-risk sex offenders are the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to reoffend. They are doing everything they can to avoid detection by the parole officers assigned to monitor them so they can potentially commit additional sex offenses. These are not the kind of people who should be getting a break,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “As a state legislator, I was the author and founder of the State of California Sex Offender Management Board and the author of Megan’s Law on the Internet, which allows the public to see where these sex offenders are so that they can protect themselves and their families.”
“It is not the court’s responsibility to control the jail population by releasing these dangerous criminals back into our communities. The residents of Orange County deserve to have the peace of mind that registered sex offenders are being held accountable and not just let out the front door of a jail by a court commissioner who refuses to follow the law.”
High-level California officials have maintained that releasing convicted criminals is an effective way to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who commuted the sentences of 14 people convicted of or involved with murder, cited the coronavirus pandemic as a reason for his decision.
