Rapist back in state after alleged parole violations in California

BOULDER» Christopher Lawyer, the convicted Boulder rapist and court-designated “sexually violent predator,” is back in Colorado after being accused of violating the terms of his parole by asking a Sacramento woman for nude photos.

Lawyer, 43, was extradited to Colorado in early July and is being held in the Washington County Jail in Akron while he awaits a parole revocation hearing on July 23, according to officials in California and Colorado.

Mark Fairbairn, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, said he did not know how much time in prison Lawyer could face if he is found to have violated his parole.

Lawyer moved to California in October through an interstate compact between the two states so he could live with a relative after his repeated attempts to reside in Boulder County were met with resistance.

But in February, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported that the family of Yinshan “Michelle” Wong said she and Lawyer had been texting shortly before Wong disappeared Dec. 3.

Wong, 33, was found three days later a mile away from her car in Auburn, Calif., with her body partially eaten by a mountain lion, according to the Bee.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office cleared Lawyer of any wrongdoing in Wong’s death, but while investigating that case, discovered that his ankle-monitor information indicated Lawyer had missed curfew.

According to the Bee, further investigation also indicated Lawyer asked Wong for sexually explicit photographs in November. Lawyer is not allowed to possess pornographic or nude material. California officials also accused Lawyer of looking at pornography online and failing to disclose his status to two employers, according to the Bee.

Lawyer already was found guilty in 2016 of violating his parole in Colorado for similar allegations, after his parole officer found pornographic material at his mother’s home in Boulder County, where he was staying at the time.

He was sentenced to 180 days in prison for that violation.

After his release from that prison stay, Lawyer tried to live in several parts of Boulder County — including Jamestown, Longmont and Boulder — but his arrival was met with community resistance every step of the way.

Because Lawyer was deemed a “sexually violent predator” by the courts — a label given by a judge or the parole board to sex offenders convicted of certain crimes and believed to be prone to re-offend — officials must notify residents when he moves into a new town.

Lawyer was deemed a sexually violent predator after he pleaded guilty in 2001 to first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault and misdemeanor menacing in connection with the rape of a newspaper carrier.

He was sentenced to 12 years to life in prison, and paroled in 2016.

Police in 2000 said Lawyer kidnapped a woman who was delivering newspapers at the Gold Run apartments in Boulder, forced her into her vehicle and taped her eyes and mouth shut.

Lawyer drove the woman to another location, raped her for more than an hour at gunpoint and attempted to make casual conversation afterward.

The day before the rape, Lawyer forced his way into a University Hill home and attempted to rape a different woman. That woman was injured, but managed to escape.