Angry Los Angeles residents say they vow to ‘scream and fight’ until convicted ‘pillowcase rapist’ Christopher Hubbart is either removed from their community or returned to prison.
Hubbart, who has admitted to raping and sexually assaulting about 40 women in California, is scheduled to be released next month in the small unincorporated town of Juniper Hills, about an hour north of Los Angeles, after a judge granted him “conditional release.”
Last year, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge found Hubbart fit for release under certain conditions and ordered the Department of State Hospitals to find housing.
According to the program, Hubbart will be released and return to the area where he committed the crimes, which in this case would be the Antelope Valley area.
Pillowcase rapist Christopher Hubbart could be released from prison next month in the Antelope Valley area of Los Angeles County.
Now shocked residents say they plan to evict the convicted rapist from their neighborhood.
“You can’t change a person like that,” said resident Cheryl Holbrook.
‘He needs to be left in the middle of the desert and 100 miles or more away from anyone because he will rape again.
“The only thing that could stop him is total isolation.”
Hubbart’s long history of predatory behavior dates back to the early 1970s. While raping and assaulting women, he used a pillow to cover their faces, prosecutors say.
In 1972, he was sent to a state hospital after being convicted of sexual assaults in the Pomona and San Gabriel valleys.
He was eventually released in 1979, but was arrested again for attacks in the Bay Area and sent to prison for eight years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Two months after his release, he was back in custody after sexually assaulting a female jogger from behind, covering her mouth with his hand and grabbing her breasts, according to court records.
In 1990 he was released on parole, but was arrested again for another attack and sentenced to prison until 1996.
Antelope Valley resident Cheryl Holbrook said she plans to protest the convicted rapist from moving into her community.
Before he was released, Santa Clara prosecutors asked a judge to confine Hubbart to a state psychiatric hospital under California’s new Sexually Violent Predator law.
The 1996 law allowed the state to confine violent sex offenders to state hospitals if they have a mental disorder that makes them likely to reoffend.
Hubbart was the first person arrested under the new law, according to the Los Angeles Times.
But in 2014, Hubbart was deemed eligible for release and ordered to stay in a small home in the Lake Los Angeles desert outside Palmdale.
He was required to attend therapy sessions twice a week and was closely supervised by Liberty’s Parole Program.
But the residents of the small desert neighborhood were determined to drive the convicted rapist out of town.
The Los Angeles Lake House where Hubbart resided during his last release in 2014
Holbook and others created a group called Ladies of Lake LA and led the fight to contact local politicians about their plight. They attended hearings and even went so far as to set up camp on a property next to the dilapidated house where Hubbart lived.
For weeks, Holbrook said she and other neighbors used megaphones to yell at Hubbart.
They put up signs demanding that he leave the area and even allegedly pressured the water company to stop delivering water to the house.
Now the group is once again mobilizing its efforts to prevent Hubbart from settling in nearby Juniper Hills.
“The last time we lived here, we made a commitment to fight it,” Holbrook said. “We plan to do it again.”
‘We’re going to find out where he lives and we’ll be outside every night, yelling at him with megaphones again to let him know that we don’t want him here.’
A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1 where a judge will decide exactly where Hubbart should live.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said he opposed Hubbart’s conditional release.
Investigators said he targeted women in their 20s and 30s and sometimes sought out children’s toys because mothers would likely be more cooperative with him for the safety of their children.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said he was against Hubbart’s release.
“Continuing to release sexually violent predators into marginalized communities like Antelope Valley is irresponsible and unjust,” Gascón said in a statement.
‘Repeatedly placing these individuals in the same community demonstrates a blatant disregard for the safety and well-being of our residents.
‘Our deputy district attorneys will continue to oppose Mr. Hubbart’s incarceration in Antelope Valley.
“We must demand more from our judicial system, ensuring that decisions serve the best interests of our communities while we explore alternative locations for these placements.”
Antelope Valley residents planned to gather Wednesday night at the Juniper Hill Community Center to voice their concerns.
“We will continue to fight against this because he does not belong in this community,” Holbook said.
