Downey Blocks Plan for Molester : Crime: Community fought parolee’s placement in a motel near schools. Corrections officials will seek a more suitable site in county for repeat offender.

Outraged Downey police and school officials successfully blocked the placement of a 74-year-old repeat sex offender in their city, where he was scheduled to move into a motel within walking distance of two preschools and a junior high school.

Joe Caro Jr.--whose record of sex crimes against children dates to 1952--was en route Friday from a Central California prison to Chino, where he must undergo a final psychiatric evaluation before his release today. A new location will be selected after the evaluation, said Mike Badstubner, regional administrator of the state Department of Corrections.

Caro has served four prison terms for sex crimes against children, and just completed half of an eight-year sentence for child molestation, law enforcement officials said. Caro was granted early release after participating in a work incentive program in which he earned a day off his sentence for each day he worked.

Officials declined to elaborate on Caro’s crimes, except to say they involved sex acts with children between 7 and 9 years old. The Texas native also spent time at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, a state mental facility, they said.

Hundreds of shocked residents flooded the Downey Police Department and the Department of Corrections with phone calls after news of Caro’s release was reported in the city’s local newspaper Friday morning, said Capt. John Finch.

By midday Friday--after additional pleas from politicians and the police chief--parole officials agreed to find another location for Caro, Finch said.

“We made a very sound case about the dangers of sending a convicted child molester to that location,” Finch said.

Downey Police Chief Gregory C. Caldwell said he was told Thursday afternoon by corrections officials that Caro would arrive in Downey today. Caldwell said the placement was puzzling because Caro did not appear to have any connection with the city.

“As far as we can tell, he never lived here, did not commit his crimes here and was not arrested here,” Caldwell said. “We don’t want him here.”

Corrections officials offered no explanation for why Downey was selected, saying only that they are required to release parolees to the county where their crimes were committed.

Caldwell wrote a letter to the corrections department stating his concerns and urging officials to reconsider.

“Within 200 yards (of the motel) are two preschools, a church, a liquor store and an adjacent large apartment complex in which several children reside,” he wrote. “The entire surrounding area is densely populated and frequented by children.”

Corrections officials said they were unaware of the motel’s proximity to the preschools until they received Caldwell’s letter, and said Friday that they would find an alternative site for Caro, either in Downey or another city in Los Angeles County.

“If there are schools nearby, (the Downey motel) obviously is not the most appropriate place for him,” said Art Lucero, deputy regional administrator for the California Department of Corrections.

Still, Lucero said, the parole department is obligated to place Caro. “We recognize that he has a long and nasty history as a child molester,” Lucero said. “But even so, he has to go somewhere when he gets out.”