Victims’ Aid Funds for Convict Protested

The state attorney general’s office is protesting a state board’s decision to make a prison convict serving a 208-year sentence for kidnaping and sexually abusing two young children eligible for up to $10,000 in assistance under a program for victims of violent crimes.

The attorney general’s office wants the the state Board of Control to reconsider its decision made last January to give an initial grant of $700 to Alex Cabarga, 22, and declare him eligible to apply for thousands more. If the board refuses to do so, the attorney general’s office said it has not ruled out the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

The award of $700 to Cabarga was for private psychiatric help that he obtained in 1984 while a prisoner in San Francisco City Jail. The award was based on a finding that Cabarga was a victim of physical and sexual abuse as a youngster at the hands of Luis (Treefrog) Johnson.

Guilty of Child Abuse

Cabarga and Johnson were found guilty in a 1983 trial in San Francisco of charges arising from kidnaping 2-year-old Tara Burke and Mac Lin, 10, and the sexual abuse of the children in a van for 10 months. Johnson was sentenced to 527 years for his part in the crimes.

When Cabarga was 9 years old his parents “gave” him to Johnson. Testimony indicated that Johnson beat and sexually abused Cabarga for nine years before the two joined to abduct and abuse the two children in 1982.

Last January, at the request of Cabarga’s mother, the state Board of Control, which operates the program to indemnify victims of crime, approved $700 to pay for court-ordered private psychiatric help that he received in the San Francisco jail.

Under the program, crime victims can receive up to $10,000 for verified losses, often medical bills, if they have no other financial resources and the losses were suffered in connection with a crime.

Need for Therapy Cited

Michael Siegel, a Sacramento attorney representing Cabarga’s mother, termed Cabarga himself a victim of a “sex-crazed” Johnson and said Cabarga is in desperate need of psychotherapy. He asserted that such aid is not being provided in prison.

However, Robert Gore, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said Cabarga “is seeing a psychiatrist regularly and we feel specialized help is not necessary at this time.” He said a psychiatrist is also readily available in case of a “personal crisis.”

Siegel maintains, however, that Cabarga has been examined only once or twice by prison psychiatrists and those were routine affairs that all inmates undergo.

Siegel said it is unclear to him what Gore meant by regular treatment. “How often is regular? He currently is not receiving it. We don’t care if it is by (prison psychiatrists) or from someone from the outside. All we request is that he get therapy from somebody.”

Anne Garbeff, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Control, whose crime victims program is running out of money, said no additional requests have been filed on Cabarga’s behalf for additional sums. She said the approval of $700 did not assure him of receiving any additional money although he is eligible to apply for up to $10,000.

Garbeff said if additional applications were made, the “board would consider that (Cabarga is in prison) and look to the Department of Corrections for some evaluation of his need and covering that need.”

‘Receiving Psychiatric Care’

From the prison system’s standpoint, spokesman Gore said, “Cabarga is receiving psychiatric care.”

Steve White, chief deputy to Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, said Cabarga was not qualified to participate in the victims program because he voluntarily participated in sex with Johnson and failed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in the apprehension and conviction of Johnson.

“We hope that the Board of Control will reconsider its decision based upon our legal conclusion that payment to Cabarga is not legally authorized,” White said.

Asked whether the attorney general will file a lawsuit if the board refused to reconsider its action, White said: “I would not rule out that possibility.”

W. J. Anthony, state director of general services and chairman of the Board of Control, told White in a May 20 letter that the prosecutor and defense attorney in Cabarga’s case and a licensed therapist who examined him found him to be a “victim of child molestation for several years.”

“The fact that he was found guilty of child molestation does not preclude Mr. Cabarga from being a victim of the same crime,” Anthony said.