Oakland Officials: There’s No Room for Rothenberg

Although admitting they don’t know where Charles David Rothenberg is, Northern California politicians Monday speculated that the man who set his son afire was in Oakland, and at least two public officials vowed to seek the governor’s help in having him transferred elsewhere.

Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson told a throng of reporters Monday that, based on remarks by Oakland Police Chief George Hart, Wilson thinks that it is “likely” Rothenberg was paroled last week to that city.

Wilson said Hart refused to answer the question directly but responded by referring Wilson to the state Department of Corrections, which is shepherding the parole of Rothenberg, who burned his son beyond recognition nearly seven years ago. He added that Hart said he “doesn’t feel it’s in his best interest to release that information.”

There has been no official confirmation as to Rothenberg’s whereabouts.

At the afternoon press conference in his Oakland office, Wilson joined other public officials expressing outrage that Rothenberg may be in Alameda County. The chairman of the Board of Supervisors today is expected to file official protests with Gov. George Deukmejian, seeking Rothenberg’s transfer from the community.

Supervisor Don Perata said he will ask that Rothenberg, 49, be held on the San Quentin prison grounds for the rest of his three-year parole. This is where California’s other notorious parolee, Lawrence Singleton, convicted of raping a teen-ager and axing off her forearms, was held after residents angered by his release drove him from Northern California towns.

“I have formally appealed to him in a letter this afternoon,” Perata, chairman of the board, said. “I have asked the governor to overturn the decision by the Department of Corrections which apparently is (that) they have or will parole Charles Rothenberg to this county. I asked him to intervene . . . and I cited the precedent set in the Larry Singleton case a few years back where public protest and concern led the governor to remand Singleton to place him on the campus of San Quentin” prison.

“When we get the communication, we will respond,” said Robert Gore, the governor’s press secretary. “The parole of Rothenberg has been very uneventful so far. I mean, he’s just disappeared.”

Rothenberg doused his son, David, 6, with kerosene in a Buena Park motel room March 3, 1983, and set him on fire. He had taken his son from New York, and when he phoned his wife to tell her, she threatened to prevent Rothenberg from ever seeing his son again. He was arrested a week after the fire and confessed to trying to kill his son because, “If I couldn’t have him, nobody could.”

He was sentenced to 13 years for the attempted murder, arson and other crimes connected to the fire. State law allowed him to serve only half the sentence for work he did behind bars. Rothenberg was released Wednesday from an undisclosed prison amid the tightest security of any parolee in California.

Public outrage over Rothenberg’s release prompted prison officials to keep his parole destination a secret.

Corrections spokesman Tipton C. Kindel refused to comment on Rothenberg’s whereabouts but said Monday that the arsonist is aware of the “revulsion by the public” and fears for his life.

One source said Rothenberg is wearing a bulletproof vest. He has had no contact with anyone beside the four parole agents who take shifts guarding him, Kindel said.

Wilson said that if Rothenberg was paroled to Oakland, he should not have been. He said the parolee belongs in a smaller community where he can be supervised more closely. The Oakland City Council is expected to draft a resolution tonight protesting Rothenberg’s parole to their city.

A vigilante atmosphere has developed in the East San Francisco Bay Area as the media cover the daily developments on Rothenberg, Wilson said.

“It’s out there and it’s been out there for a few days now,” he said. “People are going to have their fears.”

But Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer disagrees. Plummer, who wold not comment on whether Rothenberg was in his county of 1.3 million people, said he has not received any calls from residents regarding Rothenberg, only “from politicians and reporters.”

Morain reported from Oakland and Wride from Orange County.