Report of Sex Offender’s Relocation Draws Protest : Demonstration: Neighbors say a paroled child molester intends to move near his victim’s home. He denies it.

Residents and concerned parents plan to stage a protest today against what they contend are plans by a convicted child molester to move in with his mother, only blocks from the home of his young victim. The molester, however, says he has no such plans.

Protest organizer Jayne Shapiro, a friend of the child’s family, said the group fears that Daniel Supri, 33, may molest other children. Shapiro said the family of a Reseda boy, who Supri was convicted of molesting, moved to Woodland Hills to get away from the scene of the incident, only to learn recently that they had unwittingly picked a home just four blocks from Supri’s mother’s house in Woodland Hills.

Supri, who served 18 months of a three-year sentence on three counts of child molestation imposed in 1991, has been living on parole in Bakersfield. According to Shapiro, he indicated on papers filed with state penal officials that he intends to move in with his mother when his parole is up in late August.

But Supri says he does not plan to move to Woodland Hills and that the protesters have no reason to fear him.

“I have dealt with a lot of stuff in the last five years and have not hurt or harmed anyone,” Supri said in a telephone interview. He said he has made no plans to move. “I don’t know what I am going to do when my parole ends,” he said.

Supri will be free to move anywhere he likes when his parole ends next month and he is released from state supervision.

But Shapiro moved ahead with plans for a protest today by pickets in front of Supri’s mother’s house. “The real crime is not him being released,” Shapiro said. “But the fact that he is able to re-terrorize the same kid again.”

A Los Angeles police captain said he is aware of the protesters’ plans and will dispatch a patrol sergeant to monitor the event.

“We don’t think there are going to be any major problems,” said Capt. Val Paniccia, commanding officer of the LAPD’s West Valley Division. “We’re anticipating a peaceful protest.”

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Supri’s case has also caught the attention of state Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills). She is planning to meet with Shapiro in the next few weeks to discuss drafting legislation that would require notifying residents when certain parolees are released into their neighborhoods and also to consider creating a “two-strikes” provision for child molesters. Such a law could require that those convicted of child molesting a second time be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

“The most essential role of government is public safety,” said Boland aide Scott Wilk. “Yet we are releasing predators out on the street without any notification whatsoever.”

Wilk, who said he plans to attend today’s demonstration, added that current state law does not require that residents be notified when sex offenders are paroled in their neighborhoods.

Hank Peralta, a regional administrator for the state Department of Corrections, said the state is powerless to control where a prisoner goes after being released.

“The problem with these type of cases is that when these guys are released, they can go anywhere they want,” Peralta said. “And then it’s up to the community to raise hell.”

Peralta expressed tentative support for the two-strikes provision, expressing worry that it could aggravate the problem of overcrowding in prisons.

“It’s like a third-striker when he goes to jail for 25 years,” said Peralta. “The law would work the same way for child molesters.”

Last year the legislature approved a law that gives the public access to a sex offender’s records by calling a 900 telephone number. But a law requiring public notification of parole locations could be tougher to pass.

New Jersey made national headlines when it passed “Megan’s Law,” which required police to inform communities when dangerous offenders move to their neighborhoods. The law was prompted by the slaying of 7-year-old Megan Kanka, allegedly by a convicted sex offender living across the street.

But a federal judge ruled in March that the law was unconstitutional, declaring that it amounts to additional punishment for sex offenders, beyond the provisions of their sentences. However, the judge found that the law’s requirement that offenders register their addresses with authorities is constitutional.

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There have been uproars over convicted sex offenders moving into California neighborhoods since the case of Lawrence Singleton, who raped a 15-year-old girl in 1978 and hacked off her forearms with an ax. Singleton faced a storm of protest against his relocation plans when his parole date came up, and increasingly so have others.

Most recently, the possible release of a Covina rapist triggered waves of protest around the county. Reginald Donald Muldrew, 46, was sentenced to 25 years in state prison for raping eight women and committing six burglaries. He was suspected in more than 200 sexual assaults in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1978.

Muldrew’s scheduled release to Covina last year was stymied when he failed a psychiatric exam, but under the sentencing laws in effect when he was convicted, he must be released in December.