The “Pillowcase Rapist” has lost his freedom and is being sent back into custody.
A judge in Santa Clara County revoked the conditional release of the serial rapist who lived in a home near Palmdale for about two years before being taken back into custody, but criticized what he called the “reprehensible” actions of Los Angeles County’s District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Richard Loftus found there was “sufficient evidence” to justify ordering 65-year-old Christopher Evans Hubbart — the so-called “Pillowcase Rapist” — to be recommitted to a state hospital or other approved facility for violating terms of his release.
But in a lengthy footnote to his seven-page ruling, Loftus wrote: “The actions of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office were, in this court’s view, reprehensible.”
In the footnote, the judge said the sheriff was “less than cooperative with the outpatient team, hampering success of the placement” of Hubbart in a county in which no other people designated as sexually violent predators had ever been placed.
The judge also noted that the District Attorney’s Office unsuccessfully tried in 2015 to have Hubbart’s conditional release revoked in an action that was “wholly without merit,” filed another such request and, “most seriously, interfered with the therapy by, in respondent’s (Hubbart’s) view, by a continuing pattern of seeking revocation that appears to this court to may be the reason respondent withheld information from the polygraph examiner.”
The D.A.’s office had no comment on the judge’s criticism, but District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement that “Christopher Hubbart is a prolific serial rapist and even after years of treatment he remains a danger to women.”
“Today’s ruling reaffirms our belief that he should remain in a state hospital for additional treatment,” Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor said.
According to her office, Hubbard will be held for at least a year as a result of the ruling.
Hubbart was taken into custody Aug. 9 for violating several terms of his conditional release, including failing the five polygraph tests, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
A polygraph examiner who had given 11 polygraph tests to Hubbart reported that Hubbart admitted to him that he had withheld information during a post-exam interview in every exam he failed, and that Hubbart said he knew the district attorney had subpoenaed the polygraphs and that he made a choice to withhold certain information from the examiner, the judge noted.
Hubbart’s outpatient treatment supervisor also said Hubbart had violated other terms of his supervision treatment plan, including withholding information, not participating in a meaningful manner in treatment and not being transparent with his treatment providers, and that he felt Hubbart needed inpatient treatment, according to the judge’s ruling.
Hubbart was released from Coalinga State Hospital in July 2014 and was assigned by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown to live at a Palmdale-area home in the 20300 block of East Avenue R, despite outcry from residents and area elected officials.
Hubbart was designated a sexually violent predator in Santa Clara County in 1996. His lawyers argued in 2014 that Hubbart’s continuing detention violated his rights to due process, sparking a battle over where he should live.
Residents of the area where Hubbart was sent to live vehemently opposed the decision, as did then-Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represented the area.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger — who replaced Antonovich — applauded the latest ruling.
“Hopefully, now we can close the final chapter of this dark saga and our Antelope Valley constituents can breathe a collective sigh of relief knowing this dangerous criminal is behind bars,” Barger said.
The District Attorney’s Office tried unsuccessfully in 2015 to have Hubbart’s release revoked, with Lacey saying “this violent predator continues to pose a serious danger to our community.” A judge, however, rejected the request.
Hubbart was sent to Atascadero State Hospital in 1972 after the court deemed him a “mentally disordered sex offender.” Seven years later, doctors said he posed no threat and released him.
Over the next two years, he raped another 15 women in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to court documents. Hubbart was again imprisoned, then paroled in 1990.
After accosting a woman in Santa Clara County, he was sent back to prison and then to Coalinga State Hospital.
As a condition of his release, Hubbart was required to wear an ankle monitor, attend regular therapy sessions and make quarterly reports to a judge. He was monitored by security guards working for a state contractor, who were said to maintain a 24-hour watch.
–City News Service