LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has written to the Los Angeles Superior Court to formally oppose the placement of a sexually violent predator in the Antelope Valley community of Juniper Hills, her office said Tuesday.
“I submitted this letter to formally add my voice to the scores of others urgently asking the L.A. Superior Court to not place Christopher Hubbart in the Antelope Valley,” Barger said in a statement. “Our desert communities should not disproportionately shoulder the burden of housing sexually violent predators because of their rural nature. It’s unfair and unjust.”
Barger listed several reasons why the Juniper Hills community, which will be evaluated by the court for its suitability to house Hubbart on Oct. 1, is not appropriate. They include spotty internet and cell phone coverage, long emergency response times by law enforcement, the ongoing burdens experienced by a community still recovering from the 2020 Bobcat Fire, and the fact that 25 homes are located within a square mile of the nominated site—many which Barger said house single women and women with children.
“They are law-abiding citizens who will be subjected to living in fear at no fault of their own,” she said.
Barger also emphasized her general opposition to Hubbart being released at all.
“A man who has admitted to raping over 40 women and suspected of raping dozens more is not fit for release or community reintegration at any level,” she said in the letter. “Christopher Hubbart belongs in a locked facility where there is no chance of him ever again harming another human being.”
Hubbart was convicted in 1973, 1982, and 1990 in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties for a series of rapes and other sex crimes.
In March, against the objections of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a Santa Clara County judge granted him conditional release. The court determined that Los Angeles County was to be Hubbart’s place of residence, setting the stage for his potential release to Juniper Hills, south of Pearblossom, in the Antelope Valley.
The decision transfers the responsibility of housing Hubbart to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, which will make the final decision as to where he is placed. Once the judge granted conditional release, a search for appropriate housing began.
Prior to his release, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office sought his civil commitment as a sexually violent predator under the Sexually Violent Predator Act, resulting in his commitment to a state mental hospital four years ago.
The hearing to determine Hubbart’s placement location is set for Oct. 1 at the Hollywood Courthouse.
