Calif. Child Molester Ordered Released

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By Associated Press

Published: 07/11/2003

A man who molested at least nine boys was ordered freed from a mental hospital over state objections Thursday, becoming the first person to win release from a California program that keeps sexual predators locked up for treatment after they have served their prison time.
Superior Court Judge Robert Baines ruled that 44-year-old Brian DeVries will be released as early as July 26 and will be allowed to live alone in Washington state, under close supervision.
The court ruling became necessary after the state objected to DeVries' release, arguing that he was still a danger to society even though he had completed the treatment program.
About 400 people currently are committed under California's 1994 law, and about 20 states have similar laws. Kansas' law was challenged as unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it in 1997.
In a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press, DeVries said he will live a 'kid-free' life.
'I never, ever want to harm another kid, harm another family,' he said.
To help demonstrate his intent to reform himself, DeVries had himself castrated in 2001.
'I take my future very, very seriously,' he said. 'I can only go out and live a life respectful of those afraid of my getting out. I will do everything I can to allay their fears.'
Gov. Gray Davis called upon California legislators to enact laws that would make such a release much more unlikely, and offered his assistance to Washington Gov. Gary Locke in monitoring DeVries.
'I strongly oppose this release, as I have from the very beginning,' Davis said. 'I don't want another person harmed.'
DeVries was charged with molesting the 5-year-old son of his landlord in New Hampshire in 1978. While on probation, he sexually assaulted at least three other boys, ages 8, 10 and 12. He molested four more boys in Florida and an 8-year-old boy in San Jose.
DeVries has spent more than five years at Atascadero State Hospital after completing his last prison sentence in 1997. The treatment program is meant to rehabilitate the state's most dangerous, repeat sex offenders.
California's Department of Mental Health had objected to his release under any conditions. But DeVries had met the requirements under the law, and the judge said the department's search for a place for DeVries to live had dragged on long enough.
'Unless the statute is to become subterfuge for holding people incarcerated ... I'm simply at the point where I can't give the state more time,' the judge said.
Because the department could not find permanent housing in the area, the judge decided that DeVries could live alone in a small house owned by DeVries' father in Washington.
DeVries' lawyer, Brian Matthews, would not say where the house is, but he said it was in the countryside several miles from the nearest known child or elementary school.
DeVries must agree to random searches of his home and vehicle, and must register as a sex offender. He must also report by phone every day to Santa Clara County, and DeVries' father must phone in every other day. DeVries' movements will be monitored by a global positioning satellite system.
'Logistically, this is going to be an incredibly difficult process,' complained Susan King, the attorney for the Mental Health Department. 'Frankly, it's almost tantamount to letting him out without conditions.'
Santa Clara County prosecutor Dana Overstreet did not object to the terms but said DeVries is still a danger and people in Washington should be on the lookout.
'There's a convicted child molester being released in their community, and they should know what he looks like,' Overstreet said.

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