Sexual Predator Leaves Parents Hunting for Answers

The disaster has occurred, the damage done. The question now is whether it was one of those random crimes that nobody could have prevented, or whether maybe, just maybe. . . .

Not much solace either way, is there?

Last week, 31-year-old Jose Arriaga was arrested for allegedly exposing himself to two girls, 8 and 9, at the Calvary Church school in Santa Ana and then engaging in “lewd and lascivious conduct” with two 7-year-olds in a playground restroom. He’s now in custody and facing multiple counts.

The incident, which occurred 11 days ago, has some Calvary parents posing a lot of “what ifs” and “why nots.” Beyond that, the whole unhappy outcome raises questions of what to do with repeat sexual offenders who have not yet become violent, as was the case with Arriaga until these recent allegations arose.

“It was very avoidable, this whole incident,” a woman with two children at the school told me. She believes that a disturbing thread of non-actions, running from the criminal justice system to the Police Department to the school administration, contributed to the incident.

First, there’s Arriaga’s record: A string of three misdemeanor convictions for indecent exposure, dating to 1989, preceded his conviction in 1993 on a 38-count charge that included nine separate incidents and 21 victims. Fifteen of the 21 were under 18 years old. The previous convictions had brought six-month sentences, but the 1993 conviction got Arriaga a year, although the district attorney’s office asked for seven.

Then, in 1994, Arriaga was given a two-year prison sentence for indecent exposure and child annoyance. He served the required year or so of that sentence, authorities said, before being paroled. He was on parole when picked up in connection with the Calvary incident.

The Calvary mother I spoke with is perplexed. “This guy is like a habitual predator, and no one can seem to put him away. As a mother, I don’t understand why a predator with 38 counts isn’t put in jail for more than 12 months,” she said.

Some parents, she said, are also unhappy with the Santa Ana Police Department for not notifying Calvary administrators that a similar indecent-exposure incident had occurred Jan. 19 at a children’s learning center about a mile from the school. There apparently is some confusion as to whether another incident occurred the Friday before the Calvary incident, on Feb. 5, but in any case, school officials were never notified of any incidents in the area, the mom said.

At a meeting with a Santa Ana police officer, one parent asked why the school wasn’t notified, the mother told me. She said the officer “hemmed and hawed” and told the parents that police aren’t certain that the two incidents are related. Even so, the mother said, “it’s unbelievable to me that the police don’t have anything in place to notify schools in the area when there’s a predator around. Don’t you think they should have told us?”

The other issue involves what she described as a long-standing concern about school security. The school, part of the complex including Calvary Church, borders on Tustin Avenue and Fruit Street. Walk-on access to the campus is virtually unfettered.

“Over the years, parents have complained about the lack of physical security and aides not paying attention,” she said. “Why is there a bathroom just yards from Tustin Avenue and another street where anyone can walk onto campus? Why are second- and third-grade girls sent to the bathroom [on the playground] alone? Parents have been talking about how unsafe it is for quite a while. We’re lucky [the girls involved in the incident] weren’t dragged off campus and hurt.”

Calvary administrators, attending a conference, were unavailable for response.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Bob Clark said that it’s up to the officer working a case to decide if wider notification is warranted. It’s a judgment call, Clark said, that depends on the nature and details of the incident. There is no departmental policy on notifying neighboring schools if, for example, a sexual assault occurs on another school campus, he said.

Meanwhile, the stakes have increased drastically for Arriaga.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Camille Hill said that she has already drawn up four charges against him in connection with the Calvary incident. She wouldn’t elaborate on the specifics of the more serious charges against him--those involving “lewd and lascivious conduct”--but said she expects to file additional charges before his arraignment Feb. 23.

Hill said she will ask for a 15-year-to-life sentence if Arriaga is convicted, because the charges involve multiple victims.

That should assuage many Calvary parents, but it leaves one unsettling question hanging over Calvary like a foul mist: Why should Arriaga--or anyone with a history of sex crimes--have been able to walk onto the school grounds in the first place?

Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, calling (714) 966-7821 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.