6-30-15 California:WALNUT CREEK -- A sexually violent predator who moved into a Walnut Creek home earlier this year was back in custody for violating the terms of his parole, authorities said Tuesday.
Charles Christman returned last week to Coalinga State Hospital, a maximum-security psychiatric facility, a day after a parole violation notice was filed June 23 with Contra Costa County, Deputy District Attorney Andrea Tavenier said Tuesday.
Liberty Health Care, which oversees the release of the state's sexually violent predators, filed the notice.
Tavenier would not say exactly how Christman, 71, violated terms of his parole, but said his conduct did not involve a minor and it did not occur within Walnut Creek.
"None of the allegations that we are investigating have anything to do with a minor," she said. According to Tavenier, Christman's parole contains "many, many, many conditions" and any report of a violation requires a return to state custody until the matter is investigated and resolved.
Some residents in the quiet neighborhood where Christman moved in February were concerned earlier this year when they found out he was living on Walnut Boulevard near Shell Ridge Open Space. A judge had ruled that Christman had to leave his previous residence, a Bay Point cottage, because it was too close to an elementary school.
Christman was convicted of sexually assaulting young boys in the 1980s.
Judge Patricia M. Scanlon ruled June 9 that Liberty Healthcare had complied with legal requirements in placing Christman on Walnut Boulevard, but that the community could present viable alternatives by July 9.
Some residents on Tuesday said they were relieved Christman was back in custody and said they had been keeping abreast of the situation through the online social network Nextdoor, and through Neighborhood Watch e-mails.
"I think it would be safe to say that residents here ... are breathing a collective sigh of relief that Mr. Christman is gone," said resident Elizabeth Clemente-House. "Whether you have kids or not, people considered him a threat."
Said another resident who didn't want to give her name, "We spent all this effort to build a walkway (along Walnut Boulevard) to make it safer for kids to walk to school here, and then this man comes here and makes it unsafe."
Several neighborhood residents described the people who took Christman in as "very caring persons" who were trying help a man with problems.
No one answered the door Tuesday morning at the house where Christman had been staying.
In 1989, Christman was an El Cerrito resident when he was charged with committing a lewd act with a young boy under the age of 14. He was later convicted of molesting young boys at San Francisco public parks in the 1980s.
He received his conditional release in February 2013, but a judge could not find a suitable residence in San Francisco that met the tight restrictions. The judge next looked at Contra Costa County, where Christman last lived. ..Source.. by Rick Hurd and Sam Richards Staff writers
