When news of Cary Verse's location filtered its way to San Jose City Hall the next day, there was an immediate and angry reaction from city officials.

Verse, 33, has been bounced from Mill Valley and Oakland due to citizen protest after his release from Atascadero State Hospital, where he served six years for sexually assaulting two boys and a homeless man. The motel where he's now staying is within walking distance of 12 schools, nine parks, and several bus stops used daily by children.

The San Jose City Council voted March 23 to formally announce Verse wasn't welcome here. Vice Mayor and District 6 Councilwoman Pat Dando said the city, which already includes 2,300 registered sex offenders and 28 high-risk registrants like Verse, can't become a "dumping ground for dangerous criminals." According to Dando, the mayor and other council members, San Jose takes on more than its fair share of registered predators because of its excellent police work—compared to other cities its size, they say, it arrests a higher-than-average percentage of predators, and California law currently states offenders will be released into the county in which they were arrested.

A high-risk sex offender, as defined by the California Department of Justice, is someone who has committed two violent offenses, one of which is a violent sexual offense like rape or child molestation. High-risk offenders are considered likely to commit a similar crime again.

However, according to data from the respective sex registrant units of other police departments, San Jose is hardly a dumping ground for high-risk offenders: San Francisco has 36; Denver, Colo., tracks 46; Jacksonville, Fla., monitors 58; and Seattle has more than 100.

And despite its strong statement, the San Jose City Council has no power to put Verse out of town.

"But it worked with DeVries," Dando said, referring to convicted child molester Brian DeVries, who was slated to be released into San Jose last year. He now lives in a trailer on Soledad Prison grounds instead.

The council also called for an overhaul of the way the state handles releasing sex offenders. Currently the California Department of Mental Health is not required to notify communities about releases. Even police weren't notified in advance of Verse's move. Police Chief Rob Davis said they found out when a woman called the department around 10 a.m. on the morning of March 16. "It was unreasonable, it was irresponsible, the way the state mental health department handled this. The secrecy, the lack of information," said Davis. "The system is broken."