The Crimes That Prompted Bland’s Life Sentence

Bland’s verified criminal career began in 1957. After receiving a bad-conduct discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps . . . (he) began residing in Los Angeles.

In August, 1957, Bland test-drove a Thunderbird . . . and did not return it. Two weeks later, he was arrested while still in possession of the automobile . . . .

In October, 1957, he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge and was placed on three years’ probation.

Thirteen months later, and while still on probation, Bland stabbed a man in the stomach with a hunting knife for allegedly making rude overtures toward Bland’s wife. . . . Bland was convicted of the felony offense of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

On April 14, 1959, Bland was placed on felony probation for . . . five years.

Less than a year later, and while still on probation for both of his prior offenses . . . Bland accosted a 43-year-old woman in her garage. . . . Bland approached the woman from behind, grabbed her by the throat, and, clamping his other hand over her mouth, instructed, “Do as I say and I won’t hurt you.” Bland then forced the woman back into her car and drove her several blocks away to a vacant field. There, he . . . raped her.

Following the rape, Bland . . . forced the victim to drive him back to the area where he initially accosted her. There, . . . he robbed her of all the money that was in her purse--$6.

. . . On March 17, 1960, Bland pled guilty to one count of kidnaping for the purpose of robbery and to one count of forcible rape.

Psychology and psychiatry were coming of age in the California justice system in 1960. . . . The prevailing thinking was that if we could understand the rapist, we could help him to understand himself, and thereby rehabilitate him. . . .

As a result . . . Bland was not sent to prison. Instead, he was declared to be a “mentally disordered sex offender” and he was dispatched to the California State Hospital at Atascadero. For the next seven years, Bland was studied, psychoanalyzed, counseled, interviewed and generally “treated.” When it was finally determined that Bland “probably would not benefit from further treatment,” . . . (he) was released. . . . (On Aug. 8, 1968) while on parole for rape and kidnaping . . . Bland armed himself with a knife and forced entry into the apartment of a 28-year-old schoolteacher (at 3:30 a.m.). Standing over the woman’s bed, Bland slapped her in the face to awaken her. He then threatened the woman with the knife and commanded her not to scream. Bland forced oral copulation with the woman and then forcibly raped her.

On Nov. 4, 1968, at approximately 3:15 a.m., Bland reached through the bedroom window of a 31-year-old woman and clasped his gloved hand over her mouth as she lay sleeping. Bland told the woman, “I have a knife and I’ll use it if you make any noise.” He then forced the woman out of the window and into an adjacent back yard where he gagged her (and) raped her.

. . . On Nov. 22, 1968, Bland was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of burglary and two counts of kidnaping. On Feb. 27, 1969, after a jury trial, Bland was convicted of all counts. (On appeal, the kidnaping charge arising from the Nov. 21, 1968, incident was reversed.) On March 20, 1963, Bland was sentenced to an indeterminate term of years in the California state prison.

Bland was paroled on Aug. 22, 1975. A year and two days later, while still on parole, Bland committed another violent sexual assault. This time his victims were an 11-year-old girl and (her) mother.

On Aug. 24, 1976, Bland drove by a woman and her three children who were walking along a public street in a Los Angeles suburb. Bland pulled next to the curb and offered the woman and her children a ride. The woman declined the ride and continued to walk with her children. Twice more, Bland pulled next to the woman and offered a ride. On his third invitation, the woman accepted.

Instead of driving the woman to her destination, Bland drove into an alley. There, he pulled out a hunting knife and placed it next to the woman’s neck and threatened her to do as he directed.

After a short period of time, Bland ordered the woman to get out of his car and to take her two younger children with her. Bland insisted, however, that the woman leave her 11-year-old daughter with him. He told the frantic mother, “I need her for insurance--I’ll just take her to the end of the ally.” Bland then drove away with the little girl.

. . . After a few moments, Bland stopped the car and, placing the hunting knife to her neck, instructed her to undo her pants. . . .

Bland undressed and instructed the little girl to get in the back of the car. Once in the back seat, he (used a clothespin and a hemostat-like device on the girl). He then . . . attempted to rape her. Failing at that, Bland forced the little girl to orally copulate him. . . . Bland later abandoned the little girl on a nearby street.

. . . On March 8, 1977, Bland pled guilty to assault with intent to commit rape and to kidnaping. . . . On March 29, 1977, Bland was sentenced to an indeterminate term of years in the California state prison.

On April 6, 1980, Bland was paroled. . . . Within eight months, Bland was back in jail charged with a violent sexual assault on a young boy.

On the evening of Dec. 30, 1980 . . . Bland importuned an 11-year-old boy who was walking home on a public street near Torrance. Bland told the boy that he owned a boat and offered to drive him home and show him the boat on the way. Naively, the little boy accepted Bland’s offer.

Bland drove the boy to a remote location and parked the van he was driving in an empty parking lot. He then grabbed the boy around the mouth and forced him into the back of the van. Bland ordered the boy to remove all of his clothes and he tied the boy’s hands behind his back. He then removed several clothes pins from a tool box and clipped them on the boy’s nipples.

For more than an hour, Bland tortured and molested the 11-year-old-boy. At various times, Bland struck the boy, gouged him in the face with a wire, and threatened him with a large knife. Bland also applied pliers and Visegrips to the boy’s nipples.

. . . Bland . . . forced the boy to orally copulate him. . . . Bland then orally copulated the boy. . . . (Afterward), Bland pushed him out of the van and abandoned him on an unfamiliar street.

Bland was arrested and charged with one count of committing forcible lewd acts upon a child and two counts of forcible oral copulation. It was further alleged that Bland used a knife during the commission of those offenses. On July 24, 1981, Bland pled guilty to all three counts and admitted the knife-use allegation. The same day, Bland was sentenced to nine years in the California state prison.

On Jan. 20, 1986, Bland was paroled from prison. . . . He began employment as a handyman and painter.

On April 11, 1986, Bland was arrested for shoplifting a pair of pliers from a hardware store. At the time of his arrest, Bland had approximately $70 in his wallet. He was subsequently convicted of petty theft, fined and placed on probation.

On Dec. 11, 1986, a 7-year-old girl by the name of Phoebe Ho was abducted while walking to school in South Pasadena. Around the time of the little girl’s abduction, Bland was working two blocks away. Seven days later . . . Phoebe Ho’s body was found in a ditch in Riverside County. An autopsy revealed that the little girl had been extensively molested and tortured. . . .

Riverside County homicide detectives interviewed Bland on Dec. 17, 1986. During the interview, Bland admitted being within two blocks of the area where Phoebe Ho was abducted around the time that the little girl disappeared. When one of the detectives informed Bland that he was a principal suspect in the case, Bland terminated the interview.

Following his interview, . . . Bland . . . fled from parole supervision in Los Angeles. He remained a fugitive until his arrest in San Diego on Feb. 9, 1987.