Boulevard, a remote mountain community of roughly 750 residents about an hour east of downtown San Diego, could soon become home to two men classified by the state as sexually violent predators — a designation reserved for sex offenders considered at high risk of reoffending.
Reynaldo Delrosario, 71, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 10. Michael Poulsom, 67, served 15 years in a California state prison after committing similar offenses against victims under 14 in both Georgia and San Diego. Both men were diagnosed with pedophilic disorder and, after completing their sentences, were committed to a state hospital for treatment.
On Thursday, a San Diego judge is expected to decide whether to grant the two men conditional release and place them in state-funded housing in Boulevard. If approved, they would join seven other sexually violent predators already living in rural pockets of San Diego County — a region that already accounts for more than half of all such placements statewide.
San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson, a Republican who represents the county’s rural southeast, is pushing for a different approach. He wants the county to adopt a model used in Washington state, where violent sex offenders are housed together in secure group facilities with round-the-clock supervision. Anderson argues that clustering offenders in more isolated settings, under tighter oversight, would improve monitoring and treatment while reducing risk to nearby neighborhoods.
Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers is scheduled to rule Thursday on whether to release Poulsom and Delrosario. Anderson hopes to persuade the court to consider a pilot version of the group-housing model as an alternative.
“The security is much greater,” Anderson said. “But there’s also more freedom for these offenders, because they’re living somewhere no one objects to them being.”
**A concentration of cases in San Diego**
The term “sexually violent predator” applies to someone convicted of a violent sex crime — such as rape or child sexual assault — who has also been diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes future offenses more likely. In California, these offenders serve their prison terms and are then typically committed to a state hospital for continued treatment.
If they meet certain benchmarks, they can eventually petition for conditional release. The state’s contracted vendor, Liberty Healthcare, searches for housing — usually in the county where the offender originally committed crimes or has ties — and arranges a rental. Local sheriffs and prosecutors weigh in on potential sites, and prosecutors solicit community input. A judge then reviews safety conditions such as GPS monitoring, surprise checks, polygraph and drug testing before approving or denying release.
This process has become increasingly common in San Diego County, which hosts roughly half of the state’s sexually violent predator placements. Six currently live in rural desert communities — Borrego Springs, population about 2,700, and Jacumba, population roughly 740 — according to a list maintained by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. A seventh has also been cleared for placement in Borrego Springs.
Another offender, Merle Wakefield, cut off his ankle monitor while working at an Amazon warehouse in Rancho Bernardo and fled on Sept. 25. He was later found dead in a San Diego riverbed, the sheriff’s department announced Oct. 20.
Statewide, 14 sexually violent predators are currently living under conditional release, according to the California Department of State Hospitals. If Poulsom and Delrosario are approved for release, nine of the 14 will be in San Diego County.
The San Diego County Public Defender’s Office will represent both men at their upcoming hearings, according to Alexandra Knudson, who supervises civil commitment cases for the office. She said attorneys there will review Anderson’s housing proposal but declined to comment on specific placement locations.
**Communities push back**
Residents of these small, often lower-income rural towns have repeatedly voiced frustration over having little say in where offenders are placed.
“These are rural communities,” Anderson said. “They don’t have the resources to fight back or defend themselves.”
In 2021, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to oppose placing sexually violent predators anywhere in the county unless local officials had a say in the process. That vote, however, carried no legal weight over state placement policy.
Outgoing state Sen. Brian Jones has spent years trying to reform the system. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed one of his bills requiring the Department of State Hospitals to study transitional housing alternatives for conditionally released predators. A separate Jones bill — which would have required the department’s director to approve offender rental agreements to prevent unsafe or inappropriate placements — passed the Senate but stalled in the Assembly after opposition from the ACLU and the California Public Defenders Association, who argued it could effectively block eligible offenders from being released at all.
That’s part of why Anderson is looking to Washington state for an alternative model.
**Looking to Washington state for solutions**
In Washington, sexually violent predators are first sent to a secure facility on McNeil Island for intensive treatment. Each year, they’re evaluated to determine whether they qualify for a “less restrictive alternative” placement. The state operates two secure, staffed transitional facilities that can house between 12 and 24 residents, along with privately run community homes that often include supervision and staff escorts for outside activities.
Anderson believes a similar structure would provide more stability and accountability than California’s current system of placing individual offenders in standalone rental homes scattered across small towns.
“We need to give them that constant structure and positive reinforcement to keep them on the right path, while also protecting the community,” he said.
Washington’s approach hasn’t been free of controversy, either. A 2022 plan to house up to five sex offenders on a large property in Tenino, Washington, was abandoned amid rising costs and fierce community opposition. Cynthia Shipley, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, said the agency works closely with local officials, law enforcement and private providers to address community concerns as they arise.
Anderson’s chief of staff, Matthew Phy, said the supervisor is aware of Washington’s past issues and plans to address them directly in his proposal. Anderson remains optimistic that a group-housing model — potentially using large private ranches or resort-style properties in his district, far from residential neighborhoods — could improve both offender outcomes and community safety, while also saving taxpayer money.
A 2024 California State Auditor report found the state spent $93 million over two decades to place 56 high-risk sex offenders under conditional release. Costs climbed sharply, from $5.3 million in 2018-19 to $9.4 million in 2022-23, driven largely by rising housing prices and payments to Liberty Healthcare.
Anderson believes consolidating housing could cut those costs while improving supervision and treatment quality. He plans to present his proposal to the Superior Court on Thursday and bring it before the Board of Supervisors next month.
“The community benefits,” he said. “The cost goes down. And the quality of care for these individuals goes up. Statistically, Washington’s model has been far more successful. I don’t see a downside.”
Original source: CalMatters
