State authorities suggest Poway as sex offender

For the third time in recent years, authorities are considering placing sex offender Merle Wakefield in a community in San Diego County – this time in Poway.

Placing Wakefield was challenging: a proposed site in Mount Helix was quickly and loudly criticized by local residents in 2021, and another was withdrawn later that year so the man could receive further treatment.

This week, a new home for the 67-year-old man was proposed at 15720 Sycamore Canyon Road, north of the Goodan Ranch Nature Preserve, and opposition is already building.

If approved, Wakefield would be the eighth sex offender to be housed in the San Diego County community.

A hearing to discuss the proposed placement is scheduled for August 9 at 9 a.m. in Department 1704 with Judge Yvonne Campos of the San Diego Superior Court. Public comments will be accepted through July 22 via email to [email protected], by phone at (858) 583-7238, or by mail to SVP Release/SAFE Task Force, 9425 Chesapeake Drive, San Diego, CA, 92123.

Depending on the court’s decision, comments may also be accepted during the August hearing.

Community members and elected officials immediately voiced their opposition to this placement.

Poway Mayor Steve Vaus said placing the home in Wakefield would be a “ticking time bomb” because the proposed home is near several equestrian facilities where women and girls often train.

“Poway will stand together and say: Not here, not now, not ever!” he said of the site.

Resident Amanda Corona, who lives on a street not far from the proposed site, said in an email that an elementary school, popular hiking trails and parks are all within a mile or two of Wakefield’s proposed address. She said the placement would pose risks “to the safety of our community, especially our children and families who frequent these areas.”

The proposal was also criticized by County Executive Joel Anderson and Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, whose district includes Poway.

“The California state government continues to force these offenders to move into neighborhoods where parents, children and seniors live,” Issa said. “There is a far better solution than the current broken system that seeks to force communities to accept the relocation of dozens of these violent offenders.”

In November, the congressman introduced the Stopping Sexually Violent Predators Act.

The bill makes changes to an existing law, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. If passed, it would effectively ban the confinement of sexually violent offenders by prohibiting states from spending federal tax dollars to confine people with that classification outside of reformatory or closed medical facilities.

Most (if not all) sex offenders receive state-funded medical care, and by restricting the places where states can provide this care, community placement becomes much less likely, if not impossible.

According to prosecutors, Wakefield was convicted in 1981 of lewd acts with a minor under the age of 14. In 1990, Wakefield was convicted of rape by force or fear. He went to prison on both counts.

In 1998, he was classified by the state as a sexually violent offender and placed in a state clinic where he was given the opportunity to participate in a treatment program designed to curb his criminal tendencies.

For a person to be classified by the state as a sexually violent offender (SVP), they must have been convicted of a violent sex crime against at least one victim and must have been diagnosed with a medical condition that increases the likelihood of reoffending. This designation is reserved for less than one percent of the state’s sex offenders and means these individuals can be committed to state hospitals long after they have completed their prison sentence.

In December 2020, a judge granted Wakefield’s request for a conditional release under strict supervision. Shortly thereafter, Liberty Healthcare, the company that oversees Wakefield and other IBOs, proposed a home in Mount Helix. A judge rejected the proposal, saying at the time that the location was not suitable given the area’s population density and the home’s proximity to children.

A second location was proposed in Borrego Springs, but before Wakefield could be placed there, Liberty required him to perform additional treatments and the location was abandoned.

In March 2022, prosecutors applied to revoke Wakefield’s conditional release. This application was denied.