SOLEDAD – Serial child molester Brian DeVries says he
understands the outrage among his new neighbors and promises to lay
low in his first home as a free man
– a small, white trailer tucked between a medium-security prison
and busy Highway 101.
SOLEDAD – Serial child molester Brian DeVries says he understands the outrage among his new neighbors and promises to lay low in his first home as a free man – a small, white trailer tucked between a medium-security prison and busy Highway 101.
DeVries, the state’s first sexually violent predator to graduate from a seven-year-old treatment program, promised on Wednesday not to interact with residents who fought his surprise placement in this small Monterey County town.
“I’m going to do my best not to interfere with their community,” DeVries told The Associated Press in his first interview since his release Tuesday evening. “They’re not going to see me in their theaters. They’re not going to see me in their coffee shops. They’re not going to see me in their town.”
DeVries did make one stop in town Wednesday – registering as a sex offender at the Soledad Police Department. Television news crews trailed him, and police officers stood watch outside.
His face is already familiar to local residents – on mug shot posters in downtown shops.
DeVries said he hopes to complete the outpatient part of his treatment and return home to Washington state.
“I’m just using their piece of land as a place to lay my head down,” he said.
DeVries, 44, molested at least nine young boys in New Hampshire, Florida and San Jose before serving his last, four-year prison term. He was castrated in August 2001 – a surgery DeVries said took away his ability to become sexually aroused.
He completed the sexually violent predator program more than a year ago at Atascadero State Hospital, where he had been locked up for treatment since 1997. In February, a judge agreed that DeVries was ready for the program’s final phase – treatment in the community.
On Tuesday evening, officials at Atascadero gave him about 15 minutes to prepare for his release after a Santa Clara County judge ordered his freed by week’s end.
“I was just buzzing,” he said by telephone.
Corrections Department officials won’t let reporters visit his trailer and the access road was blocked.
Atascadero doctors promise DeVries is not a threat and officials will monitor his movements with an ankle bracelet tracked by a global positioning satellite.
But Soledad area residents aren’t buying it. They don’t want DeVries here and news of his arrival was splashed across the front pages of local newspapers and the talk of this town about 90 miles south of San Jose.
Local school officials said there are 6,500 students within a 5-mile radius of the trailer, many of whom live within walking distance at a farm labor camp where parents may work late in the fields, leaving their kids unsupervised.
Jim Denman, his treatment supervisor, brought his client those newspapers early Wednesday so DeVries could better prepare for the community’s hostile reaction.
Protesters greeted the car that delivered DeVries.
Fliers with his picture and a petition urging his removal were featured at gas stations and other stores.
Soledad City Attorney Alan Cohen said that with emotions running so high, there is a real concern that DeVries might become a target.
“They have this trailer located 100 yards from this chain link fence, and they might as well put a bulls-eye on it,” he said.
An emergency City Council meeting was scheduled for Wednesday night and more protests were planned as the city attorney’s office explored its options for appealing the decision that set DeVries free.
Meanwhile, DeVries described his new home as spacious and equipped with a three-burner stove, refrigerator, built-in microwave oven and a cozy bed.
The former truck driver said the traffic noise from Highway 101 helped lull him to sleep around 2 a.m. Wednesday and he was thrilled to get up and boil his own water for instant coffee.
His father spent several hours with him Tuesday before returning to Washington.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “But my heart goes out to the people who are angry with me.”
DeVries’ release had originally been planned for Aug. 10 but was held up when Soledad officials objected. A judge ordered DeVries released again, despite arguments from city officials that Soledad didn’t have adequate time to prepare.
“Once they get him in there, it’s going to be hard to get him out of there,” a visibly frustrated Mayor Richard Ortiz said late Tuesday, hours after DeVries arrival.
After more than 100 potential landlords refused to house DeVries and facing a court-imposed deadline, the Department of Mental Health last week decided to place him in Soledad.
