Editor’s note: Be advised, this story covers violent sexual assaults and may be disturbing to readers.
During a standing-room-only town hall at the Manila Community Resource Center on Monday, residents voiced fears and frustrations about a proposal to house a man legally deemed a sexually violent predator at a single-family residence in the small town while he’s on conditional release from a state hospital.
Dubbed the “Ski Mask Rapist,” Richard Stobaugh was convicted of a series of rapes, home invasions and assaults in the region during the 1980s, and suspected in others, including one case never prosecuted because the victim was too traumatized to testify and later died by suicide, according to court documents.
“I think it’s important to recognize this would never happen in a neighborhood where there was more money,” one resident said.
Several others pointed to Manila’s relatively isolated setting, with narrow roads and no streetlights, noting how the proposed location on the 2100 block of Peninsula Drive has easy access not only to the bay, but a vast expanse of dune and forested areas, and by extension the homes of people who live there.
Residents also raised questions about how quickly law enforcement could respond if there was an issue with compliance and how Stobaugh would be monitored.
“I’m just trying to imagine riding by there with my kids,” said one person who lives nearby. “Are we just taking it into our own hands? ‘Hey, he’s walking down the street, neighbor.'”
At the onset, Humboldt County Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson, who facilitated the discussion with a panel including Sheriff William Honsal, District Attorney Stacey Eads and District Attorney’s Office Chief Investigator Kyla Baxley, noted the meeting was about giving local residents information on “how to best advocate for yourselves as individuals and as a community in this process.”
Repeatedly, they urged those attending to officially voice their concerns by sending emails or letters to the sheriff’s office and the DA’s office, saying the messages will be submitted to the court as part of the case record.
In those correspondences, Eads said it would be “really helpful” for people to include details about why they believe the proposed placement isn’t appropriate and how they would be personally impacted if it’s approved.
“The judge can really hold onto those when making their deliberations,” she said.
Wilson echoed those remarks, saying, “sharing those anxieties that are real are a part of it, part of the story, and that’s important to share.”
“Go straight to the heart of how you feel … and do it sooner rather than later,” he said.
The panelists also encouraged those concerned to attend Stobaugh’s upcoming community placement hearing scheduled for May 7 at 10:15 a.m. in Courtroom One of the Humboldt County Courthouse.
While local residents have been given the opportunity to speak during similar hearings in the past, Eads said that will be up to the judge in this case. However, her office “will advocate to the court that you have that opportunity.”
This issue at hand that day, the officials stressed, will not be the question of whether Stobaugh should be released — that decision was made by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Caleb Kockrum Dec. 4 — but whether the proposal to place him at the home in Manila is appropriate.
“What’s on the table right now is his relocation to this community and we need to focus on that,” said Honsal, who publicly opposed Stobaugh’s release in a recent letter to the community, noting his diagnosis as “someone who derives sexual gratification from inflicting pain and psychological suffering on his victims” and echoing state psychologists’ description of him as a “sexually sadistic” predator.
Honsal reiterated that stance during the meeting, saying, “This is a bad, bad guy. This is the boogeyman.”
For reasons that aren’t explained in the public record, Cockrum granted Stobaugh’s petition for a conditional release back to Humboldt County from Coalinga State Hospital, where he had been involuntarily committed more than a decade ago after being deemed a sexually violent predator under a civil process dictated by state law.
Court minutes from the three-hour hearing indicate the petition was granted “for reasons as stated on the record” but do not specify what those reasons were.
Eads told attendees the decision was made over objections from her office but was not appealable, saying her concern was Stobaugh’s offense history and number of victims, noting how he almost always wore a mask and almost always used weapons in committing his crimes.
“These were very, very heinous rapes,” she said.
Before being transferred to the state hospital, Stobaugh served 24 years in prison after pleading guilty in 1988 to six felony counts of kidnapping and rape by force, including the rape by force of a woman who was seven months pregnant on Jan. 27, 1988, and the rape by force of a 71-year-old woman Feb. 20, 1988, as well as three special allegations.
Eads emphasized those crimes were committed following his parole in 1987 after he served five years in prison for the rape of an 18-year-old Humboldt State University student in her dorm room at knifepoint in 1981.
Attorneys for Stobaugh argued in the petition for his release that the rapes he committed were not premeditated but rather crimes of opportunity driven by his methamphetamine addiction. Now sober and entering in his 70s, they said, he poses minimal risk of reoffending.
Regardless of his age, Eads said she’s very concerned about Stobaugh’s risk of committing crimes if he’s released.
“When he is outside of a controlled environment, this is what he does,” she said. “My worry is he will have another victim.”
Cockrum’s order requires that Stobaugh be placed in a one-year conditional release program that will include monitoring.
In response to a question about what Stobaugh’s conditional release would entail, Eads said that was largely dependent on the plan Liberty Healthcare Co. puts in place. So far, she said, the company, which has a state contract to supervise placements like Stobaugh’s, has offered little in the way of specifics about many of the concerns being raised that night, including how Stobaugh would be monitored and the issue of response times.
What Liberty has provided to her office, Eads said, provides only “vague terms” regarding what guidelines Stobaugh would be required to follow and no real information about what treatment or programs he would need to participate in following a release.
“One of the challenges we have right now … is there really isn’t a good plan,” she said, adding later that, in theory, conditional release is “supposed to be a higher level of supervision.”
Baxley said she was part of the team of investigators that went door-to- door to talk with residents in Manila during the DA’s Office preparation for the hearing after Liberty proposed the Peninsula Drive location. The chief investigator said she believes the site assessment done by the company was not an “accurate representation of the community,” including the home’s proximity to daycares, parks and the miniature golf course.
She said the proposed placement site is “not appropriate,” in her opinion.
“I’m going to work my hardest to show the court … he does not belong in our community,” Baxley said.
On the issue of law enforcement response times, Honsal noted it is an important one for residents to point out to the judge, along with the area’s spotty cell phone service and vulnerability to power outages, all of which could impact any monitoring efforts.
“If he’s out of compliance, if he’s doing something suspicious, if he’s out prowling around, it might take us time to get there,” Honsal said, noting the average response time for calls in Manila is 16 minutes with deputies stretched thin across the region.
If Stobaugh is placed in Manila, Honsal said the area will “become one of our patrol locations” and a “number one problem house to look at, as deputies have time to check.”
One of the residents at the meeting said the house in question has three bedrooms and asked if that meant other offenders could be placed there, as well, “creating a bigger picture problem.”
“I don’t think that concern of yours is without merit,” Eads said, noting she’s seen cases where a previous placement was used as premise for proposing additional ones at the same location or in its vicinity.
Honsal agreed. “Once they have something established, it’s game on,” he said. “That’s another reason to oppose this.”
Residents also noted the home in question is owned by people who live in Southern California and wondered if it would be worthwhile to lobby them to change their minds about leasing to Liberty.
“We can’t advocate for you to do anything” in that vein, Honsal answered, cautioning anyone considering trying to reach out to the owners not to make threats and not to take any action against the property itself.
He noted that there is a lot of money behind the programs that house sexually violent predators and people who rent their properties to placement services like Liberty “can ask three to four times the rent.”
An April 30 trial readiness conference was set to take place after this edition of the Journal went to print, with Eads saying at the meeting there was a possibility the May 7 court date could change. She also said she would bring up the suggestion of allowing residents to express their concerns to the court remotely, if they are unable to attend in person.
“I’m not sure the court will allow it but we’ll ask,” she said.
Honsal noted that if anything were to change on the hearing’s schedule, officials will do their best to keep the community informed.
To date, he said, his office has already forwarded more than 130 letters and emails to the DA’s Office, which has also received its own share to present to the court. Honsal and Eads both said there is still time for people to add to that number.
“On May 6th, we will print them out that evening and walk them into court” the next day, Eads said.
Wilson said the board of supervisors was slated to consider a letter of opposition to Stobaugh’s placement in Manila at its May 6 meeting, but emphasized that what really matters is the stories of the residents whose lives will be directly impacted, noting, “it’s just more moving to the judge.”
“The gist of this is get your letters in and show up if you can [at the court hearing],” Wilson said. “It’s important to have your voices in there.”
Editor’s note: The North Coast Rape Crisis Team, a local nonprofit dedicated to ending sexualized violence, operates a 24-hour hotline, (707) 445-2881 in Humboldt County and (707) 465-2851 in Trinity County], and offers a variety of support, counseling and advocacy services.
Kimberly Wear is the Journal’s digital editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, or kim@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in From Garden to Table in the Hall.
