Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, is encouraging people to speak out against the potential placement of a serial rapist and resident of Orange County in Lancaster after he was convicted of sexually assaulting several teens.
Wilk is calling on citizens of the Antelope Valley to speak out during an Orange County Superior Court hearing on Nov. 5, when the placement of predator Lawtis Donald Rhoden in Lancaster is set to be discussed.
“The Antelope Valley is not the state’s dumping ground for convicted sex offenders, yet the Administration is considering placement of yet another one into our community,” Wilk said. “Last month it was Calvin Grassmier and now it is Lawtis Rhoden. When is enough, enough?”
Grassmier, another convicted sexual predator, was placed in the Antelope Valley recently after being released from prison.
See Related: Local Officials React To Violent Sexual Predator Placed In Antelope Valley Community
The address where officials are considering placing Rhoden would be on the 48000 block of 25th Street East in Lancaster.
Rhoden has been convicted of raping five teenage girls across three different states.
The predator posed as a photographer, offering each of his female victims modeling photoshoots to lure them in.
Attempts to place the sexual predator in a permanent residence, including in Twentynine Palms and Newberry Springs in San Bernardino County, have been unsuccessful as residents have been resistant to Rhoden’s arrival.
Now, officials are turning to Lancaster as a possible home for the offender.
“No community wants to roll out the welcome mat for sex offenders, but it is fundamentally unfair to expect the AV to do bear the brunt of the state’s problem,” Wilk said. “Keep them in prison if you can’t find a community that wants them in close proximity to its families, women and children.”
See Related: Barger Urges Public To Denounce ‘Sexually Violent Predator’ That May Be Released In L.A. County
The earliest crimes Rhoden was convicted of were three instances of rape of a 13-year-old victim in Florida back in 1969, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
While on parole after serving a 12-year prison sentence for the first crime, Rhoden sexually assaulted four minors in two states and was convicted of rape by force, forceful sexual penetration and sexual battery, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office said.
He also faced two counts of rape by force from crimes committed in Orange and Los Angeles Counties in 1984, according to the district attorney’s office.
As the crimes were being investigated that year, Rhoden sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in Tennessee and was later convicted of rape in the incident, according to the San Bernardino district attorney’s office.
He was sentenced to a combined 38 years in prison and was released in Orange County in 2004. However, he was soon detained again because of his status as a sexually violent predator (SVP) and committed to the Department of State Hospitals to be treated, the district attorney’s office said.
In 2019, Rhoden was conditionally released under the supervision of Liberty Healthcare, the district attorney’s office said.
In 2021, the Orange County Superior Court cited “extraordinary circumstances” justifying the relocation of Rhoden outside of Orange County, according to the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office.
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