Hubbard Had Followed Straight and Narrow Path : Crime: San Diego Police officer accused in attacks at beach had seemingly lived a life that was a model for a law-abiding citizen.

Morning after morning, Henry Hubbard Jr. sat among dozens of San Diego police officers at regular briefings, taking in details of police beach stakeouts in areas where several young men had been robbed and young women raped.

At one briefing in July, shortly after two teen-age girls were raped, detectives described the suspect as tall, thin and black. According to one officer who was there, a sergeant turned to Hubbard and smiled. “Sounds like you, Henry,” he quipped, repeating a bit of gallows humor often used by officers to ease tension in a profession saturated with bad news.

But to the surprise of his colleagues, usually even-tempered and soft-spoken Hubbard glowered, his body tensed and he clenched his fists, the officer said. He walked away quickly without a word.

Ever since Hubbard was arrested a week ago, hours after two men were shot in the chest during a robbery attempt on a La Jolla beach, fellow officers in the Northern Division have tried without success to draw a parallel between Hubbard, a loyal and likable officer, and the horrible early-morning crimes of which he is accused.

Sure, they say, Hubbard seemed to linger at his work locker a little too long, often waiting behind an hour after his 1 a.m. shift when others were eager to head home or meet for “choir practice,” otherwise known as a beer with the boys.

But he was respected and on the rise at the department, and, because of his amiability, colleagues are struggling to accept the news. Some are being more aggressive and hostile at work. Some, according to police administrators, are finding it hard to function at all. Others wish they had never heard of Henry Hubbard Jr.

Overall, most officers are trying hard not to believe that Hubbard, idolized for his prowess at professional baseball, could have been involved in any trouble beyond showing up late for work, administrators say.

The prime suspect in a series of seven attacks on young couples beginning in mid-June, Hubbard, 29, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and three counts of attempted robbery in last Thursday’s incident. He is to be arraigned today and is expected to plead not guilty.

Hubbard is from Lancaster, S.C., a town of 55,000 where news travels so slowly that the local Lancaster News printed the first story of Hubbard’s arrest Wednesday, six days after it occurred. For those who already have learned of Hubbard’s predicament, the reaction is the same. Not only do people not believe it, they refuse to accept it.

“He’s not the guy,” said Fred Thomas, a publicist who grew up with Hubbard and now lives in Chicago. “Henry didn’t even get into trouble like the rest of us hell-raisers did. You couldn’t even get him to speed in his car. When we’d all go out drinking, he was saying, ‘No, thanks. I’ll be out on the baseball field tomorrow.’ And he would be out there, hitting his home runs and running like a gazelle.”

Police and prosecutors say differently, pointing out that a flashlight with Hubbard’s name was found on the beach at the scene of the attack. That 21-year-old Charisma Carpenter, a woman whom detectives say was the suspect’s intended rape victim, lives and works in the same apartment complex and accepts rent checks from all the tenants.

That all of the attacks occurred shortly after 1 a.m., when Hubbard got off work. That Hubbard patrolled the beach areas and knew the territory intimately. That a sheriff’s detective suspected their man might be a cop because of the way he held his gun and flashlight. That he deftly avoided every stakeout.

According to a police description of last Thursday’s events, the gunman sat in a lifeguard tower, a ski mask covering his face and a handgun at his side. Carpenter and two friends were swimming. When she emerged from the foam, Carpenter walked to the tower and screamed, and the two men rushed to her aid. The attacker ordered Aldo Ochoa, 21, to bind the hands of Arthur Gracia, 23.

After Gracia tied Ochoa’s hands, the gunman demanded that Carpenter bind Gracia, but she refused and ran away. Gracia and Ochoa rushed their attacker and six gunshots were fired. One hit Ochoa in the chest. The other struck Gracia. Gracia has been released from the hospital. Ochoa is in fair condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

A third bullet accidentally hit the attacker, who ran off.

Several hours after the attack, Hubbard was at the hospital, where he had been taken by his wife with a bullet wound in the hand. The hospital, following routine, notified police that they were treating the victim of a gunshot wound.

Hubbard explained his wound to his wife and investigators by saying his car had broken down and he had been beaten and shot by three men.

That explanation is what Hubbard’s family and friends have clung to in the past week. They will not accept Hubbard portrayed in any other light.

“He has impeccable character,” said John Daurity, who was Hubbard’s baseball coach at Lancaster High and Wofford College. “He was a model athlete and a model student. The man you’re describing is not the Henry Hubbard I know.”

In Lancaster, he was simply known as “Junior,” the son of Henry Hubbard, the director of student services for the Lancaster Area School District and former principal of several elementary schools in the area. Hubbard Sr. was a school disciplinarian whose three boys, Henry, Morris and Jerod, never stepped out of line.

“He was my principal,” Frank Thomas remembered. “And he has had me over a chair with a paddle on my butt.”

Henry Jr. never got into such trouble, Thomas and other friends say. He was too busy playing baseball, collecting awards as most valuable player for Lancaster High and a local American Legion team.

When he entered Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1980, Daurity said, Hubbard had a full scholarship to play at Baptist College in Charleston, S.C. But he took a scholarship at Wofford instead and was reunited with his old coach. His two brothers, now 28 and 22, also received scholarships to the same school.

For three years, Hubbard helped improve a baseball program that had nearly ended because of the school’s financial condition. During that time, he batted .420 and played exceptionally in the outfield, Daurity said.

“The things that he exhibited other than running, hitting or throwing a baseball were amazing,” he said. “The class he had transformed our program. He offered us a lot of depth.”

So taken with his star player was Daurity that his three sons wore Hubbard’s number, 21.

Handsome and athletic, Hubbard “had his choice of ladies,” said William Peay, a college friend at Wofford. “He showed no violent tendencies. He was never loud, never boisterous. He never got drunk. He tried to look right and wear nice clothes. I think women really liked the way he handled himself.”

After three years at Wofford College, Hubbard was drafted by the San Diego Padres organization and reported to Spokane, Wash. Hubbard, an economics major, left Wofford with a 1.9 grade point average, an admissions clerk said.

He played for the Spokane Indians in 1983, and for the Reno Silver Sox in 1984 and 1985 before being released after a knee injury ended his career. While in Reno, he worked as a security guard at a local casino.

In a move that surprised his close friends, Hubbard joined the San Diego Police Department in December 1986 while at the same time pursuing a commercial pilot’s license.

“Henry was so quiet, I can’t imagine him telling anyone to halt,” Thomas said. “He is the epitome of cool without even trying to be.”

Although he finished in the bottom half of his academy class, Hubbard was sent to the Northern Division, considered a plum assignment. Police there patrol an area from Torrey Pines State Park to Pacific Beach, including the La Jolla area.

In 4 1/2 years, Hubbard had a nearly spotless record. Once, he received a verbal reprimand for not filling out a crime report. In that incident, a young woman had directed racial slurs at Hubbard, who said nothing but ignored her request to fill out the report.

His superiors never had cause to reprimand him again. As one officer said, “Henry was very intelligent. He never made the same mistake twice.”

His last work evaluation listed him as “above average,” according to a police source who described Hubbard as “an average officer who had the potential to go a lot farther.”

Hubbard could be aloof or gregarious, depending on the subject he was discussing. For example, he rarely spoke to co-workers about his wife, Karen, and 2-year-old daughter, Samantha.

But he was happy to talk about any number of subjects, including baseball, police work or flying. He took a number of fellow officers flying and spoke to friends of either quitting the department and becoming a commercial pilot or flying full-time for the police.

Still stunned by the news of his arrest, many who knew Hubbard are flocking to counseling sessions being offered at Northern Division. Hubbard’s partner, described by officers as being very close to Henry and Karen, is visiting the family and serving as a buffer between Karen Hubbard and the department.

“There is a shock and a feeling of bewilderment,” said Assistant Chief Norm Stamper, who has visited the Northern Division several times since the arrest. “This is like a member of your family being accused of criminal behavior.”

Added an officer who has worked with Hubbard: “People are wondering why and nobody knows why. Nobody knows. This is a guy who had everything going for him. People are numb, dazed. It’s like Henry’s died because people are sure they’ll never see him again.”

Back in Lancaster, residents are taking up a collection for Hubbard’s legal defense under the direction of a local dentist who is a friend to the family. Members of the Padres organization also have offered to help, said James Gattey, who is representing Hubbard in administrative dealings with the department. Hubbard has been suspended, and Police Chief Bob Burgreen said termination proceedings have begun.

Attorneys for Hubbard say there is a logical explanation for how Hubbard’s flashlight got on the beach that night, but they say they cannot discuss specifics yet.

Family members say they have no comment about their son. Henry’s mother, Annie, said in a previous interview that Henry always loved to play cops and robbers and talked constantly about flying. A friend of the family said Annie Hubbard is recovering from cancer treatment.

For now, those who know him are focusing on his past instead of his future.

When Hubbard played baseball, “he made everything look effortless,” Frank Thomas said. “He would throw a ball in from center field and cut down a runner at the plate, and it was like he was tossing it 2 feet away. And that’s the way his life was. Effortless. Everything just came to him.”

After Hubbard’s arrest, officers in Northern Division recalled the daily briefings that Hubbard attended. Each detailed the whereabouts of police and San Diego Sheriff’s Department surveillance and stakeout teams.

After the fifth attack in the rape series, in which a 13- and 14-year-old were sexually assaulted on the beach in La Jolla, officers vowed during the briefings that they were going to get the rapist. Sometime in August, the briefings were limited to superiors in the division. No patrol officers were informed. The only explanation given was that the information had to be contained among a few supervisors.

Now the officers, trained to solve mysteries, are picking apart a puzzle that involves them all.

“We’re brothers and sisters, and this is a family situation,” said Sgt. Tom Packer, who works on Hubbard’s shift. “We’ve all been hurt and touched by this in some way. Now we’re trying to resolve the issues in our own mind. The whys, wherefores and hows.”