Congressman LaMalfa and Assemblyman Gallagher: Keep Sex Predator Out of Butte County
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R – Richvale) and Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R – Yuba City) called on the Santa Cruz County Superior Court to deny placement of Michael Cheek, a sexually violent predator with multiple rape and kidnapping convictions and a previous escape from custody, in the Town of Paradise.
In their letter to the Court, Congressman LaMalfa and Assemblyman Gallagher noted that California state law requires offenders such as Cheek to be placed either in their last county of residence or a county they have family, residential or employment ties. Cheek, a resident of Santa Cruz County, has never lived in Butte County and has no current familiar, residential, or employment ties to the area. Full text of the letter can be found here.
"Our home is not his hunting ground, and Cheek's record proves he is a risk to the entire Town of Paradise and Butte County. This violent sexual predator has no familial, residential, or employment connections in Butte County. There is no logical reason to place Cheek over 400 miles away from his legal place of residence, other than using rural California as a dumping ground for light-on-crime urban policies. This is still an area reeling from a destructive wildfire and struggling to rebuild. I urge the Court to keep Cheek in his area of last legal residence under stringent security - or better yet, in prison," said Congressman LaMalfa.
"The Town of Paradise has been through enough. I'm not going to stand by while an out-of-county judge tries to turn it into a dumping ground for dangerous sex offenders,"said Assemblyman Gallagher."Michael Cheek lived in Santa Cruz County, committed his crimes in Santa Cruz County, and should live in Santa Cruz County once he's released."
Cheek was first convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman at gunpoint in Santa Cruz in 1980. One year later he escaped from custody, kidnapped a 15-year-old girl in Lake County, and raped her at gunpoint. In 1997, when Cheek was scheduled to be released, he was declared a sexually violent predator and confined to a state hospital.
The Department of State Hospitals and its contractor, Liberty Healthcare Corp., have been trying to house Cheek in Butte County since 2020, despite objections from local law enforcement, concerned residents and elected officials. The home being proposed for Cheek, located at 1550 Gate Lane in Paradise, is less than one and a half miles from an elementary school and two churches, and 150 feet from a community bike path frequented by children and families.
A town hall meeting on the issue will be held Thursday, February 16 at the Paradise Alliance Church at 6491 Clark Road at 6:30 p.m.
The Paradise Police department also created a community questionnaire that can be accessed by clicking here.
Handwritten letters may also be submitted to the Paradise Police Department at 5595 Black Olive Drive, Paradise, CA 95969.
Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California's First Congressional District, including Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba Counties.
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