This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press May 4, 2000
By BART WEITZEL
Valley Press Staff Writer
PALMDALE - Rapist Eldon West is out of here.
The convicted rapist and habitual offender was removed from Palmdale late Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the community was informed of his presence in an east Palmdale neighborhood.
West, 61, was moved into an apartment complex on 5th Street East near Avenue Q on April 27.
The move occurred after citizen protests at his original parole placement in Garden Grove forced parole agents to remove him from that Orange County community.
Residents there formed angry protests, in fear for their safety. West is considered a "high-risk offender," meaning that he is believed by professionals to have a 65% to 75% likelihood to commit more sex crimes.
West was placed in Palmdale to get him away from the protests and media attention in Orange County.
Parole agents believed he would be able to re-integrate into society in Palmdale without much of a community uprising.
That prospect dimmed when Assemblyman George Runner, RLancaster, lodged an angry protest, joined by Palmdale Councilman Mike Dispenza.
Parole Unit Supervisor Steve Guss and Parole District Administrator Nal Pedrosian were said to "feel the community response will be limited and not rise to the level of demonstrations and public protests," according to a state Corrections Department memo attributed to Regina Stephens, a deputy corrections director.
Instead, the cycle of community outrage and protest was merely displaced to Palmdale.
"He'll only spend one night in Palmdale," vowed Runner when he learned of West's presence Tuesday afternoon. "We are outraged by this and we have given an ultimatum to the Department of Corrections - he must be out of here by today."
Runner honored his vow to have the convicted rapist removed from Palmdale within 24 hours.
Runner said he met with Robert Presley, secretary of the youth and adult corrections authority, early Wednesday and began negotiations to get West out of the Antelope Valley.
In 1991, West was convicted in Orange County of rape by force, oral copulation, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.
According to reports of his conviction, West picked up a prostitute Jan. 9, 1990, and forced her to go to his apartment, where he beat and raped her and stole $100 from her purse before releasing her.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and was paroled on Oct. 21, 1999, to his ex-wife's house in Garden Grove.
When West was paroled, the department of corrections recommended he be committed to a mental institution as a violent sexual predator and a threat to public safety.
Orange County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Harper reviewed the case and dismissed it after psychiatric experts changed their opinions about his mental state.
"The experts both changed their opinion and another expert concluded that the individual did not meet the criteria to hold him for a civil commitment," said Rick King, the assistant district attorney for Orange County.
Margot Bach, spokeswoman for the California Department of Parole, explained that it is normal practice to keep parolees in the county in which they were convicted.
"Generally speaking, parolees are released to the county of their last legal residence," Bach said.
Sex offenders are required to stay a certain number of miles away from their victims, generally about 35 miles, and to live at least a quarter mile away from any school. In Garden Grove, West lived a half mile away from a school, Bach said.
The day after citizens of Garden Grove learned of West's presence, protesters picketed in front of his residence. West was re-arrested March 27, for allegedly making terrorist threats against the protesters.
Witnesses said in the police report that West called the protesters nothing more than prostitutes and "if he saw them on the streets, they had better give it up or he would just take it."
The terrorist threat charges were dropped, but parole agents felt it best to remove West from Garden Grove for his safety and to quiet the public outcry.
Just as it happened in Garden Grove, Palmdale sheriff's deputies began the notification process to area residents that is required by the statute commonly known as "Megan's Law."
Enacted in California after the high-profile Polly Klass abduction and murder, Megan's Law requires that the public be notified of registered sex offenders living in the area.
Deputies began at 9 a.m. Wednesday showing pictures of West to residents within a quarter mile of Fifth Street East and Avenue Q, and advising them that a high-risk sex offender was paroled into their neighborhood.
"It's ridiculous to think that they can put him somewhere else and that people are not going to protest," said resident Ernie Johnson. "Why can't they put him out in the middle of the desert somewhere?"
By noon, residents were planning protests and pickets in front of West's apartment building.
Marta Williamson, co-chairwoman of the Old Town homeowners group, organized a group of protesters to meet at Fifth Street East and Avenue Q-3 this morning.
"When you get neighbors coming over in tears, upset because of what is going on, you have to do something," Williamson said. "You've got a lot of young mothers or older women who are single and alone in our neighborhood. Who thinks up these brain-dead things?"
Wednesday evening, sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., parole agents picked up West and moved him to another location. The department of corrections would not release the location to which West was being moved.