Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Police identify registered sex offender; he flees LG neighborhood

Megan's Law places new rules, restrictions on cops

Group home now in spotlight

By Clarence Cromwell

A registered sex offender fled Los Gatos after police delivered a flier to residents in the Lark Avenue-Highland Oaks Drive area alerting them--in accordance with Megan's Law--that he was living in their neighborhood. According to residents, the flier was delivered by hand on Sept. 4.

The subject of the flier was apparently convicted of misdemeanor child molesting and indecent exposure more than 20 years ago. He had lived in a Los Gatos group home on Highland Oaks Way, a cul-de-sac off Highland Oaks Drive, for two months before neighbors were notified of his presence. Under Megan's Law, police are permitted to notify neighbors when a sex offender moves in. The man identified on the flier left immediately after police delivered the flier in the area.

"I thought he was a nice man," next-door neighbor Deanna Baumgartner said. "He always said hello. I was not afraid of him."

Although he left, some neighbors turned their attention to the group home, a haven for recovering substance abusers. A number of residents who received the fliers now say they fear that the home makes their neighborhood unsafe, especially for children. Some want it closed.

It didn't take long for neighbors on Highland Oaks Way to figure out where the subject of the flier had been living.

Some recognized his picture on the police flier and connected it to the group home. And although there was no house number on the flier, the group home is situated on the tiny court with a handful of other houses. The flier went to houses within a few blocks of the group home.

LGPD Capt. Jeff Miller said the new law determines when police must notify neighbors of a sex offender's presence, and police followed the law.

Miller declined to say whether police delivered notices about other sex offenders in Los Gatos. Miller told the Los Gatos Weekly-Times that the law allows only notification of close neighbors and does not allow the public release of the name of a registered sex offender. "We also are not in a position to confirm if we distributed the fliers," Miller added.

The 95070 ZIP code in Saratoga contains 13 residents registered as offenders. Two are considered "high risk" offenders. The 95030 ZIP code, which includes Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, contains 21 offenders, one of them "high risk." In Santa Clara County 3,310 residents are registered sex offenders.

The subject of the flier, now 59 years old, received a "serious offender" classification from the Department of Justice.

Bob Norton, manager of Support Systems Homes, said the man told him that the crimes were committed more than 20 years ago. Norton did not know about the offenses when the subject of the flier checked into the group home, he said, and he didn't learn about the convictions until the fliers appeared.

The man decided on his own to leave the group home after police handed out the fliers, Norton said. He apparently left the county, and Norton did not know if he had found another group home where he could stay.

"He felt so bad about it, he moved," Norton said. "I understand everyone's concerns and everything, but this guy has done so well for himself."

Highland Oaks-area residents were angered that Support Systems sent a sex offender to their neighborhood.

"I felt like a prisoner in the house when I saw him [on the flier]," Margaret Quigley said. Like most other people in the area, she began to lock the doors and keep her windows closed. She didn't take her kids, ages 1 and 4, out to play. Quigley, who lives one street over from the group home, bought her house 18 months before the group home opened.

Mark Miller, a next-door neighbor of the group home, said the neighborhood, where 10 kids live within a block, is no place for a registered sex offender.

"You have to ask yourself why a convicted child molester would want to put himself in a position where there's so much temptation," Miller said. "When you're a recovering alcoholic you don't go sit in a bar."

Ron Devore, who bought a house this year on the same street as the group home, said Support Systems was "irresponsible" to place the man in a home on their street.

"I think the thing that concerns me most is it's a lack of judgment, overall, to put a sexual predator in that house," Devore said.

A handful of residents have battled the group home since it opened.

Lisa Miller, Mark Miller's wife, said the house has caused periodic parking and noise problems for years, but the situation changes as different tenants go in and out. She was one of the neighbors who signed a letter to property owners Richard and Cindy Battaglia in November 1993 asking the Battaglias to "reconsider the type of use" of their property.

With the police fliers out, more neighbors are concerned about the Support Systems house than ever. A group of angered neighbors began meeting weekly after learning about the registered sex offender in their neighborhood.

Some neighbors said they're afraid that Support Services will allow numerous sex offenders and perpetrators of other crimes to continue to flow through their neighborhood.

Falling property values are another concern.

Deanna Baumgartner, who lives directly next door to the group home, said three potential buyers withdrew offers for the house she shares with her daughter when they learned about the group home. Real estate agents advised, however, that the law requires disclosure of the information.

Baumgartner and her daughter settled for expanding their house.

Ron Devore said that he and his wife, Renee, were told that a group home had upset neighbors in the past, but when they bought their house, in June, they thought the group home had been closed.

Some neighbors remain sympathetic to the residents of the group home.

"They come and go," Baumgartner said. "They mind their own business."

She said the group-home residents keep their yard very neat and they're always polite and friendly when she sees them outdoors.

Baumgartner understands why other neighbors are concerned, she added.

"If my daughter were 5 or 6, I might have a different attitude," she said.

Renee Devore likewise noted few problems with the group home since moving to the neighborhood this year.

"I'd have to honestly say I haven't seen a whole lot of trouble," she said.

Norton defended the group home as a good neighbor. Support Systems has operated the home on Highland Oaks Way for seven years, and it hasn't been a problem any more than other houses on the street, Norton said.

Residents are sober and Support Systems encourages them to join a 12-step program. Enrollees live in a group house for three months; they work, pay rent and maintain the premises.

Norton added that Support Systems houses have not been previously occupied by sex offenders, to his knowledge.

He extended an olive branch to the neighbors.

"We'll be more than willing to come forward and talk to them," Norton said.

Residents of the Support Systems group home on Highland Oaks Way said they're not allowed to speak to reporters.

Area residents plan several avenues of attack to have the group house on Highland Oaks Way closed. Some say they're conferring with attorneys because they believe the group home infringes on their right to a safe neighborhood.

Others suggested that neighbors pitch in to rent the entire house and let it stand vacant, Renee Devore said.

Mark Miller asked the Town Council for help at its Sept. 15 meeting.

"I have great concern about the safety of my family," Miller told councilmembers.

Mayor Joanne Benjamin agreed to meet with neighbors of the group home.

The town cannot do much, Los Gatos planner Chris Lane explained, because the town has no authority to regulate such homes unless they house seven or more residents.

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