A violent sexual predator is set to be released and could move to Los Angeles County.
The proposal to house the man once known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” in the Antelope Valley town of Juniper Hills has prompted calls from Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and District Attorney George Gascón for residents to voice their concerns.
Local authorities were notified Tuesday that the Antelope Valley had again been chosen as a home for Christopher Evans Hubbart, who targeted young women in their homes across the San Gabriel Valley in 1972 and years later resumed raping in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gascón, who opposed Hubbart’s release, said his firm’s attorneys would seek to block his placement in Antelope Valley. The decision now rests with the Los Angeles Superior Court, which has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 1.
“Continuing to release violent sexual predators into underserved communities like the Antelope Valley is both irresponsible and unjust,” Gascón said in a statement. “We must demand more from our justice system, ensuring that decisions serve the best interests of our communities while exploring alternative locations for these placements.”
Barger issued a statement Wednesday night opposing the plan.
“We cannot allow our rural communities in the Antelope Valley to become magnets for violent sexual predators,” Barger said. “That is simply unacceptable.”
She cited patchy mobile phone coverage, spotty internet service, landline interruptions and long wait times for law enforcement to respond as “a clear recipe for failure.”
A representative from Gascón’s office was scheduled to attend a Juniper Hills City Council meeting Wednesday to explain the sexually violent predator parole program.
Hubbart, known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” for his habit of covering his victims’ heads with pillowcases, was charged in Los Angeles with rape, sodomy and attempted rape, accused of breaking into the homes of 10 women. He pleaded guilty to some of the charges and was sent to a state hospital as a mentally ill sex offender.
After his release in 1979, Hubbart moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and began attacking again. Two years later, he was arrested and convicted of rape, burglary and other crimes. He spent nearly eight years behind bars. In total, court documents show that Hubbart admitted to committing at least 44 sexual assaults over an 18-year period.
Before his release, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office asked a court to commit him to a state mental hospital under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. The law allows violent sex offenders to be committed to hospitals if they are considered likely to reoffend. Hubbart was committed to Department of State Hospitals hospitals in 2000, according to Gascón’s statement.
In 2014, then-lawyer Jackie Lacey opposed his initial placement in the Antelope Valley. After briefly living near Palmdale, Hubbart was sent back to Coalinga State Hospital for violating his release conditions.
In March 2023, the Santa Clara County Superior Court granted his parole and ruled that he should be placed in Los Angeles County.
The California Department of State Hospitals informed the Los Angeles County sheriff on Tuesday that it had recommended he be placed in Juniper Hills, a community near Pearblossom in the southern Antelope Valley.
The committal hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Department 113 of the Hollywood Courthouse. Members of the public can attend remotely using this link.
