State Having Trouble Finding Home for 8-Time Rapist Awaiting Release

Sexual predator Patrick Ghilotti says he is frustrated over delays in his pending release and is ready to leave Atascadero State Hospital in December without mental health supervision if officials cannot agree upon a community to house him.

The 45-year-old eight-time rapist, the first inmate to be released under a medical treatment program designed to crack down on repeat sex offenders, has even offered to live in a trailer at San Quentin prison. But he has criticized state mental health officials for their inability to find him a home.

“I’ve tried to work with these people,” Ghilotti said in a telephone interview. “But the harder I work, the more opposition I get.”

In a court hearing Monday in Marin County, lawyers presented Superior Court Judge John S. Graham with eight pages of conditions outlining Ghilotti’s release. They include random drug testing, a daily curfew and being equipped with a global positioning device.

But both the prosecutor and defense attorney were frustrated that state officials had not found a home for Ghilotti, who has spent nearly half his life incarcerated.

“It’s the most important part of the puzzle,” said Marin County Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Charmatz.

Charmatz said that if authorities cannot find housing for Ghilotti by Dec. 1, he could be released without the severe restrictions that officials say would neutralize his threat to the community.

“We don’t want him to walk out of that hospital without supervision,” he said. “We don’t want any more victims.”

Defense attorney Edward Farrell said he hoped that a location would be found when the matter is next heard in court on Sept. 24.

“I’m disappointed that their efforts over the last few weeks since we were last in court don’t appear as intensive as before that,” he said.

Asked if Ghilotti would leave Atascadero without official supervision, he responded: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Nora Romero, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health, denied that the state has been dragging its heels.

“We have not let up on our search,” she said. “No one wants to rent to Mr. Ghilotti and that’s the problem. We can’t force them.”

Created through the state’s violent sexual predator law, passed in 1996, the security regimen requires the most dangerous sex offenders--those convicted of two or more attacks--to receive at least two years of medical treatment at a state hospital after serving their original sentences.

If doctors don’t think the inmate is ready for release at the end of that term, offenders are recommitted for another two years and the cycle repeats. Mental health officials acknowledge that, beyond public safety concerns, the reputation of a new state program depends on how the rapist behaves.

Ghilotti said in an interview Sunday that he would opt for continued state supervision after his release. “I know I’ve committed some horrible crimes, and any community is going to be petrified of me.

“But I’ve got to go someplace. I’ve been very reasonable. I’d prefer to go to an unpopulated place on state or county land. But the state is shooting itself in the foot by not finding me a home.”

Farrell said state officials had hired a private investigator to step up the housing hunt. Romero said officials have so far considered only Marin County.

Charmatz said he prefers keeping Ghilotti close to the county where he committed his crimes in the 1970s and ‘80s.

“I don’t want to deal with people saying that we’re dumping our mess on them,” he said. “At the same time, we’re telling the court to consider looking elsewhere.”

Ghilotti was also critical of a stipulation that requires him to seek permission from his outpatient supervisor to see his wife.

“All the time I’ve been in prison and here in Atascadero, I’ve had the right for nonsupervised visits,” he said. “Now that I’m stepping out into society, I lose it.”