Santa Cruz County Sheriff Chris Clark is fiercely opposing a state proposal to relocate Michael Thomas Cheek, a 74-year-old convicted rapist classified as a sexually violent predator, to a taxpayer-funded $800,000 rental home situated perilously close to a Girl Scout camp and local schools in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Clark has voiced grave concerns regarding the property’s remote location, which he argues could impede law enforcement response times in the event of another crime, and the potential unreliability of electronic monitoring systems due to frequent power outages and poor cell service in the rugged terrain. Cheek, who was convicted in 1980 for a brutal armed rape and later escaped jail only to commit another armed rape against a 15-year-old girl, has no ties to Santa Cruz County other than his past victimization of its residents, making the sheriff’s opposition to housing him there particularly strong. This controversial plan comes after two previous attempts to place Cheek in Santa Cruz County failed, and a judge is set to hear arguments on the proposed housing on October 30th.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
