Parolee Singleton Placed in Undisclosed N. California Site

Paroled rapist Lawrence Singleton, the object of a controversy over where he should be placed for the remaining 49 weeks of his parole, was taken Saturday to a “final” undisclosed site believed to be in Northern California.

Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Gore said he was not at liberty to disclose the location. “It is standard procedure not to release the location of any high-profile parolee,” he said.

Gore said the Department of Corrections views this placement as “the final stop for him,” but he added: “If the location gets discovered or disclosed, we’ll move him.”

Singleton, who served eight years and four months of a murder sentence, was released from the Men’s Colony at San Luis Obispo on April 25 and has been shifted around to a number of localities ever since because of a series of court injunctions and complaints from a number of counties.

Singleton, now 59, was convicted in 1978 of raping 15-year-old Mary Bell Vincent, chopping off her forearms with an ax and leaving her to die in a Stanislaus County ditch.

He last was placed in El Cerrito, where local citizens staged a small demonstration in front of the police station Saturday in protest. An El Cerrito police official confirmed Friday night that Singleton had come to the suburban San Francisco community of 24,000 but then was moved when word leaked to the media.

“He is not in El Cerrito now,” police Lt. Bill Edmunds said.

About 18 demonstrators, some carrying signs, marched in front of the police station for about 30 minutes Saturday, then dispersed quietly.

Gore said corrections officials would continue to notify local police of Singleton’s whereabouts but would not tell the media or the public.

He said his department cannot prevent local law enforcement agencies from revealing the whereabouts of a parolee.

“We rely on the professional discretion of those authorities,” Gore said. “Los Angeles kept Dan White’s location a secret for a year and we assume there are other agencies equally as capable. We keep working at it until we get a suitable location.”

White was convicted in the killing of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978 and was paroled to Los Angeles after serving five years and nine months. Once his parole was over, White returned to San Francisco and later committed suicide.

Both Contra Costa and San Francisco Counties obtained court orders prohibiting Singleton from serving out his parole in their jurisdictions. But the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday on an appeal by San Francisco that the Department of Corrections was free to place Singleton wherever it chose.

While on parole, Gore said, Singleton is forbidden to drink alcohol or use drugs, and is subject to blood tests at any time. He also is subject to random visits and searches by parole officers.

“He will be kept under surveillance,” Gore said, but declined to say how the surveillance will be carried out.