Rothenberg Reportedly Paroled to Bay Area : Prisons: Notorious parolee is in or on the way to Oakland, Alameda County supervisor says he was told. Corrections officials will neither confirm nor deny it.

A Northern California public official said Saturday he has been told by state law enforcement sources that Charles David Rothenberg, released last week from prison seven years after setting his son afire, was paroled somewhere in the East San Francisco Bay Area.

Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata refused Saturday to identify his sources, who he said spoke to him on condition of anonymity. But Perata said in an interview that Rothenberg “is either on his way or has already arrived” in Oakland.

In its morning edition, the San Francisco Chronicle also quoted Supervisor Perata and an unnamed law enforcement source as saying they’d been “informed” that Rothenberg was either in or bound for Oakland.

Perata admitted he has not talked with anyone from the state Department of Corrections, which oversees California’s prisons and is shepherding Rothenberg’s highly publicized parole.

“These were people who were in a position of knowing,” Perata said. “I’m convinced he’s here. I was convinced (by Friday) because of the inquiries I made locally. If my information is wrong, I want to know from the state.”

However, Perata admitted that neither he or his sources were able to get a confirmation from the Corrections Department about Rothenberg’s alleged parole to Oakland.

State Department of Corrections spokesman Tipton C. Kindel would neither confirm nor deny Perata’s assertion. But Kindel did say, “I read it (in the paper) this morning and had a pretty good laugh.”

Kindel added that only the top law enforcement official--meaning a police chief, sheriff or constable--in the area where Rothenberg was paroled Wednesday morning had been briefed on his whereabouts. Politicians, supervisors or City Council members were not among those notified, he said.

“He is not the first person to speculate on where (Rothenberg) is,” Kindel said of Perata. “If he were positive, I think he would have said a little more than he did.”

Oakland Police Chief George Hart could not be reached Saturday. Neither could Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer--who also would have been told of Rothenberg’s parole there. Plummer would not comment on Rothenberg’s whereabouts in a Friday interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

That newspaper quoted him saying only: “I don’t like the system the way it is, but it is our system. You have to put these people somewhere. If people want this changed, they have to do something about it.”

Rothenberg, 49, burned his son beyond recognition in a March 3, 1983, Buena Park motel fire. He said his wife threatened to bar him from visiting his son, David, then 6, so he tried to kill him. “If I couldn’t have him, nobody could,” he said afterward.

He was sentenced to 13 years, the maximum then allowed under state determinant-sentencing laws that have since been toughened. If he were sentenced today, Rothenberg could be been sent to prison for life. Because state law allows prisoners one day off for each day they work or go to school behind bars, Rothenberg’s sentence was effectively cut in half. He did clerical and grounds-keeping work before he was released from prison Wednesday.

Public outrage over his release has forced state officials, fearing a repeat of the Lawrence Singleton case, to keep Rothenberg’s parole location a secret. Singleton was paroled after raping a teen-ager and hacking off her forearms, and citizens in several Northern California communities, enraged over his parole, drove him out of town.

That cost the state $2 million for all the relocations, Kindel said. Singleton finally was housed in a trailer at San Quentin prison. It will cost the state $18,000 a month to watch Rothenberg in what are the strictest security measures of any parolee in California history.

Rothenberg’s victim, David, and his ex-wife, Marie Hafdahl, were out of town Saturday but said Friday they did not want to know where Rothenberg was.

Perata, 44, is a full-time supervisor and former political consultant. He ran unsuccessfully for the state Assembly and has worked with state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp on several issues, including outlawing assault rifles and other crime-related initiatives.

He vowed to contest Rothenberg’s reported parole to Oakland and stir up a public protest, including writing an official protest letter to the Corrections Department. He has already contacted different community members.

“This is not your average, everyday crime. It’s a monstrous act a father did upon his own son.”

Of the parole location decision, he said, “You don’t see this happen to Rancho Mirage or Beverly Hills,” referring to wealthy and predominantly white California enclaves. “They put these people in Oakland,” which, he said, is a poorer city with less political clout.

“They can damn well reverse their decision. This won’t happen without a fight,” he said.

Dozens of police officers throughout the state have called the Corrections Department, some at the request of local reporters, asking if Rothenberg had been paroled to their community. Some of them, Kindel said, claimed they already knew Rothenberg was in their county but just wanted to know the specific town. This occurred even before Rothenberg was released Wednesday from an undisclosed California prison under heavy guard, Kindel said.