SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — UPDATE: As of 8 a.m. Friday, CBS 8 learned from the Superior Court of California that the decision for Douglas Badger is "still under submission by Judge Weathers"
Original story below:
A judge could finally decide on the placement of a sexually violent predator Friday. State hospital officials want to place Douglas Badger into a home in Borrego Springs, but residents have been fighting back.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers, who presided over the August 5 placement hearing, did not make an official decision regarding the placement and told residents that he has already driven out to the area and viewed the home and surrounding neighborhood.
At the end of that three-hour hearing, Weathers said the main issues brought up were:
- Frequent power outages in Borrego Springs could affect the GPS monitoring system or geo fencing;
- Some children live within a quarter mile of the home and some are home-schooled
- Lack of public transportation and lack of sidewalks
Residents of the rural community of Borrego Springs urged the judge to reject placing the 79-year-old man classified as a sexually violent predator into a home in their neighborhood.
The proposal by state hospital officials is to place Badger into a home at 1619 Zuni Trail, where he would undergo treatment, be monitored by GPS and prohibited from leaving the residence without supervision.
Badger is classified as a sexually violent predator, a designation for those convicted of sexually violent offenses and diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes them likely to re-offend. After serving their prison sentences, SVPs undergo treatment at state hospitals, but may also petition courts to continue treatment in supervised outpatient locations.
Badger was convicted of offenses including child molestation, kidnapping and forcible oral copulation, with his victims predominately being male strangers, many of them hitchhikers, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
He has been housed at state hospitals since his release from prison in 1997.
If Badger's placement at the Zuni Trail home is approved, he would be the second such offender to be placed in Borrego Springs within the last year. In July, a judge approved placing SVP Michael Martinez into a home on Running M Road.
Weathers previously rejected a proposal to place Badger at a home in the Mount Helix neighborhood, citing its close proximity to children and childcare facilities.
Another placement was proposed for Badger last year at a home in Rancho Bernardo, but the owners of the home later withdrew their agreement to allow their property to house SVPs.
County Supervisor Jim Desmond said "Borrego Springs is becoming a de facto dumping ground" for sexually violent predators.
The supervisor said moving another SVP into Borrego Springs hurts an already "historically disadvantaged" neighborhood and said the community's lack of rapid law enforcement response and frequent electrical outages make adequate monitoring of an SVP untenable.
Desmond said the average law enforcement response time is 28 minutes during the daytime and longer at night, while medical and behavioral health services are located 73 miles away from the remote desert community.
Alexandra Knudson, an attorney appearing on Badger's behalf, said that while GPS monitoring would be in place to monitor Badger, the judge could modify the terms of Badger's housing as deemed necessary, including by adding fencing around the home or 24-hour video surveillance.
WATCH RELATED: Residents urge judge to reject sexually violent predator placement in Borrego Springs (August 5, 2022)