BORREGO Public can comment on proposed placement

mined he met the SVP criteria and he was sent to undergo treatment at Coalinga State Hospital in Fresno County, where he remained for nearly nine years.

While at the state hospital, SVPS have the option of taking part in a treatment program aimed at curbing their criminal urges. Eventually, they can petition the court to release them to live in the community under supervision by state authorities, where they are required to continue treatment on an outpatient basis.

The process is a civil matter and does not take place in criminal courts.

In 2018, after another judge approved Martinez’s petition to be released under supervision, Gill approved his placement in the East County community of Boulevard. The next year, his conditional release was revoked and he was sent back to Coalinga State Hospital.

In early 2021, the state again recommended Martinez be approved for supervised, conditional release through the program operated by Liberty Healthcare. At the end of a closeddoor hearing last April, Gill approved the recommendation.

Last August, the Department of State Hospitals recommended Martinez be placed at a home in Ranchita, about 13 miles west of Borrego Springs.

But before Gill could rule on whether to place Martinez in Ranchita, the home’s owner pulled out of the lease agreement with Liberty Healthcare, Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle told the Union-tribune in an email Friday.

Last year, state officials proposed placing another sexually violent predator, Merle Wade Wakefield, at a home in Borrego Springs, along a fairway of the De Anza Country Club golf course. That proposed placement was later put on hold when Liberty Healthcare requested that he complete more treatment before being released from Coalinga State Hospital.

Anyone wishing to comment on the proposed placement can do so at the July 8 hearing, or between June 1 and June 15 by contacting the Sheriff ’s Department’s Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force at (858) 4953619, sdsafe@sdsheriff.org or by mail at SVP Release/ SAFE TASK FORCE, 9425 Chesapeake Drive, San Diego, CA, 92123.

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com