Los Angeles

“We Don't Want Him Here”: “Pillowcase Rapist” Released to Lake Los Angeles

Video from his arrival shows him walking to the door as neighbors yell, "Be afraid! Be very afraid! Because we won't let you scare us! We want you out! Get out!"

A convicted serial rapist whose pending release spurred protests across a Southern California community arrived in Lake Los Angeles on Wednesday to live in his court-assigned home, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, 63, admitted to raping more than three dozen women between 1971 and 1982. He was dubbed the "Pillowcase Rapist" because he muffled the screams of his victims with pillowcases.

He will now live in a home in the 20300 block of East Avenue R, east of Palmdale, officials said.

Video from his arrival about 1:40 p.m. shows him walking to the door as neighbors yell, "Be afraid! Be very afraid! Because we won't let you scare us! We want you out! Get out!"

Protestors were still outside the home as of 11 p.m. Wednesday, upset that Hubbart was living in the area and that the state was paying for him to live there.

Residents, some of a group called the Ladies of Lake LA, said they would try to force Hubbart out of the area.

"I will stay until he wants to leave. I will stay here until he asks the judge that he wants to leave," resident Norma Valenti. "We don't want him here. We don't want him in this community. We don't want him wandering around our town, our children, our mothers, our grandmothers, our wives. We don't want him around."

Hubbart's release was postponed last week from July 7 to July 21 by a judge after a norovirus outbreak at the state hospital where he was in custody.

It was not immediately clear why he was released before the postponed date.

"The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has been extremely persistent in its advocacy for the community and has exhausted every possible legal recourse to prevent the release of this predator," LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said in a statement.

"Once again, the State’s criminal justice system failed to uphold its responsibility to protect the public’s safety," the statement read. "The Santa Clara County Judge’s decision to dump a convicted serial rapist in our community is dangerous and reckless."

Hubbart will be released under a program that contracts with the state to place and supervise sexually violent criminals. Hubbart must wear a GPS ankle monitor and will be transported to individual therapy sessions twice per week.

He will be accompanied by a supervisor when he goes out in public for the first six months to a year, according to terms of his release.

"He's optimistic and hopes he can reintegrate back into society and live a normal life," said John Perry, the owner of Sunset Protective Services, the security guards hired to protect Hubbart.

According to an NBC4 report, one of his security guards could face misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly shoving a photographer who was standing in the driveway of the home Wednesday.

NBC4 reporter Kate Larsen spoke with someone at the LA County Sheriff's Department who told her that Hubbart's security guards have received death threats online and that they're now concerned about their own safety.

As of Wednesday night, no one had left the home except a few security guards. Hubbart has a curfew and cannot leave the home between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Still, neighbors are concerned.

"I know for me it's a litte personal, being a rape victim myself," said mother of four Misty Vivirito. "My kids, I'm gonna put them in independent study because I'm not going to send them to school or a bus stop, have them sitting there waiting for the bus and him come and try anything."

Assemblyman Steve Fox, who represents the 36th District which includes Antelope Valley communities as well as Lancaster and Palmdale, said he was not pleased with the decision to release Hubbart.

"Words cannot express my frustration at Christopher Evans Hubbart’s release to Lake Los Angeles. In the last year I’ve heard a great deal about Mr. Hubbart’s Constitutional rights," Fox said in a statement.

"However, I believe the court that ordered his release has put the rights of this one rapist above the rights of the families of the Antelope Valley -- especially women and children. This fight is not over. Serial rapists and pedophiles belong in prison, not next door."

Hubbart was ordered to Los Angeles County because of a state law that states a judge can send a sexually violent predator back to his "alleged county of domicile."

Michelle Valles, Kate Larsen and Samia Khan contributed to this report.

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