Sex Offender’s Release Protested

The release of twice-convicted child molester Sidney Landau to Anaheim provoked a protest Sunday by about two dozen people upset that he was released into their neighborhood near State College Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue.

Toting signs saying, “Sex offender and children equals a wrong move,” and “Are your children safe?” the protesters staged their event for television cameras and motorists and vowed to return to the busy intersection today--and every day at the 4 p.m. rush hour--until Landau is relocated.

By late Sunday, state parole officials had moved Landau to another location, although police did not know in what city.

“It’s very simple: The safety of our children . . . is the only reason he should not be living in Anaheim,” Chris Henderson, one of the protesters, said. “All of us parents have organized to show our . . . intolerance for a high-risk sex offender to be living [in such close proximity to] a high density of children and schools.”

In January 1997, Landau became the first sex offender to be targeted under California’s Megan’s Law, which empowered the state’s police agencies to alert a community about a convicted sex offender’s release.

Landau served eight years of a 17-year sentence for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy and was convicted in 1982 of another boy’s molestation.

After his 1997 release, protests in Fullerton, Placentia and Orange led the state parole department to move Landau around.

For allegedly pushing a television photographer in April 1997, Landau’s parole was revoked in May and he was returned to prison.

On Friday, parole officials released Landau into the neighborhood near State College Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Chuck Craig. That day, local police issued 500 fliers to residents announcing the introduction into the community of the convicted sex offender, Craig said.

On Sunday, 25 to 30 protesters urged passing motorists to honk if they want Landau chased out of town.

This morning, the group intends to spread the word of Landau’s release at elementary schools to assure all parents are informed.