PAUMA VALLEY HOUSE PULLED AS POTENTIAL HOME FOR PREDATOR

State officials withdrew a bid to place a sexually violent predator in a Pauma Valley home because officials had recommended the site in error, the District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

The Adams Drive home was suggested earlier this month as a potential spot to house a Humboldt man, Joshua Cooley, marking the first time an out-ofcounty SVP would have been housed in San Diego County. The request was especially surprising because the recommendation to house 39-year-old Cooley there came just a few weeks after a San Diego Superior Court judge nixed the site as placement for 75-yearold sexually violent predator Joseph Bocklett.

In finding the home unsuitable for Bocklett, Judge Howard Shore cited the home’s close proximity to children, including a nearby bus stop and business.

So when the bid to place Cooley in the home emerged a few weeks later, it drew sharp opposition from San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, who called it “reckless and irresponsible.”

To be classified by the state as a sexually violent predator, a person has to have been convicted of a violent sex crime against at least one victim and be diagnosed with a condition that makes that person likely to re-offend.

California law allows certain sex offenders to be sent to a state hospital indefinitely after they’ve served their time in prison. They can undergo therapy at the hospital with the goal that doctors and a judge may find them safe enough to be released and continue treatment under supervision in the community.

If that happens, California Department of State Hospitals and Liberty Healthcare Inc., which contracts to supervise sexual predators on conditional release, are tasked with finding them residences away from schools and large populations.

Liberty Healthcare said the address had been listed as potential placement for Cooley in error, and that it was not recommending that he live there, according to Stephan’s office.

The Department of State Hospitals also clarified that it no longer sees the site as suitable for Cooley, the DA’S Office said.

With those clarifications, the Humboldt County judge overseeing Cooley’s placement canceled an Oct. 9 hearing, which had been set to discuss whether the site would be suitable for Cooley.

The state has been having a tough time finding a home for Cooley, who in 2002 was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-yearold girl, according to an unpublished appellate court opinion issued in 2011.

As a result of the incident, he was convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under age 14 and sexual battery. While on parole, he was accused of providing alcohol to two 12-year-old girls.

The state also is still trying to find placement for Bocklett, who has a history of molesting children as young as age 4 in crimes dating from 1976 to 1994.