Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is warning the general public after the coronavirus-related early release of seven sex offenders from the county jail system.
Spitzer describes the men as “high risk” offenders, and states that they’ve only spent days in custody instead of the months the men were slated to serve in jail or prison. The seven men are all parole offenders, but have been convicted in the past of felony sex crimes. The first of the seven offenders was released on April 7th.
The released convicts are Luis Ramirez, James Bowling, Rudy Magdaleno, Calvin Coleman, Kyle Winton, Jose Oregel, and Mari Sandoval. Spitzer is calling the men “the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to reoffend,” arguing that “these are not the kind of people who should be getting a break.”
The seven men have been convicted of crimes such as sexual battery, molestation of children, indecent exposure, and assault upon a peace officer. All of the men have multiple felony or misdemeanor convictions, raising questions as to why the Orange County Sheriff’s Department hasn’t reserved coronavirus jailbreaks to convicts incarcerated on first offenses. Sheriff Don Barnes has been bragging about reducing the population of the country jail system by 45%.
Prison and jail systems throughout the entire country have been released inmates that would ordinarily be considered far too severe offenders for parole or early release. The jailbreaks have proved to have disastrous consequences in some instances, with one Florida convict going on to shoot a man dead just days after being released from a county jail system.
Municipal governments that seek to confront the coronavirus epidemic with credibility on the topic of public safety need to think carefully about releasing veritably dangerous, repeat offenders from prison and jail systems. The public has enough to worry about from the virus alone.