SANTA ANA (CNS) - Seven sex offenders arrested for alleged parole violations were released from custody, apparently as part of the state Supreme Court's efforts to keep jail populations lower than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
The sex offenders were released months ahead of schedule, despite alleged violations such as cutting off their GPS monitors and tampering with their tracking devices, according to Kimberly Edds of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
California law requires sex offenders who commit such violations serve six months in jail, but many of the sex offenders who have been released during the pandemic served just days before being granted release in court, Edds said.
According to the District Attorney's Office, the sex offenders who have been released since April 7 are:
-- Luis Joel Ramirez, 27, of Costa Mesa, who has a history of sexual battery, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer, burglary and possessing a leaded cane, a deadly weapon, and who prosecutors say has violated his parole four times since 2019;
-- James Franklin Bowling, 50, of Orange, who has a history of lewd conduct in a public place, repeated convictions for failing to register as a sex offender, repeated convictions for being a sex offender on school grounds, possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, and has allegedly violated parole twice since February;
-- Rudy William Grajeda Magdaleno, 39, of Anaheim, who has a history of child molestation, indecent exposure, assault, battery, criminal threats, and inflicting injury on an elder adult, and who prosecutors say has violated parole five times since 2017;
-- Calvin Curtis Coleman, 52, of Santa Ana, who has a history of lewd conduct in a public place and has allegedly violated parole three times since 2019;
-- Kyle Albert Winton, 40, of Mission Viejo, who has a history of child molestation, criminal threats to cause great bodily injury or death, resisting a peace officer, DUI and hit and run with property damage, and has allegedly violated parole once;
-- Jose Adrian Oregel, 46, of Santa Ana, who has a history of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation of a person under the age of 18, great bodily injury, and being a second striker, and who prosecutors claim has violated parole six times since June of 2019; and
-- Mario Ernesto Sandoval, 45, of Stanton, who has a history of sexual battery, touching for sexual arousal, indecent exposure, assault on a peace officer and assault, and allegedly violated parole once this year.
All seven sex offenders were released between April 7 and April 22, according to the District Attorney's Office.
“These kinds of high-risk sex offenders are the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to re-offend. They are doing everything they can to avoid detection by the parole officers assigned to monitor them so they can potentially commit additional sex offenses. These are not the kind of people who should be getting a break,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
“As a state legislator, I was the author and founder of the State of California Sex Offender Management Board and the author of Megan's Law on the Internet, which allows the public to see where these sex offenders are so that they can protect themselves and their families.”
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes announced Tuesday that he had reduced the Orange County jail system's population by about 45% since March 7, so there's plenty of room available in the jails to handle high-risk offenders such as these seven, Spitzer said.
Photo: Orange County District Attorney's Office