A man known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” for his brutal attacks on women in the 1980s and 1990s has been released in the Antelope Valley despite protests from hundreds of nearby residents who say their area has become a dumping ground for sex offenders.
Christopher Hubbart has been confined in a state hospital for much of the past 24 years after admitting to 44 sexual assaults over an 18-year period. He covered his victims’ heads with pillowcases while raping and assaulting them.
His release into the rural Antelope Valley community of Juniper Hills sparked outrage Tuesday, particularly because two other sexually violent predators have been placed in the community in 2021.
“I am outraged and extremely frustrated to learn that a third sexually violent predator will be harbored in the Antelope Valley. The Los Angeles Superior Court’s decision regarding the placement of the ‘pillowcase rapist’ is simply appalling,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Hubbart was previously placed in this region in 2014, only to be deported for violating release conditions. Ultimately, his place is in a secure, locked facility. Community integration should never have been on the table.
But one judge saw things differently. A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ruled in 2023 that Hubbart was suitable for parole, sparking a search for a possible home for the convicted felon.
The judge overseeing Hubbart’s placement said the area’s two other sex offenders could not be factored into his decision.
“The fact that two other sexually violent predators were released into neighboring areas is not relevant to the evaluation of the proposed property and no alternative placement has been suggested by any agency,” the court judge wrote Los Angeles Superior Court Robert Harrison in a Monday ruling freeing Hubbart.
Antelope Valley residents were shocked.
“I think we’re all just in shock right now. Some of us who have experienced this before are not surprised but still heartbroken,” said Mary Jeters, who runs the Facebook group. No SVP in Antelope Valley. “I really thought, with the public officials here speaking out against his release, that we might have had a chance this time, but it seems pretty clear that that wasn’t the plan.”
Jeters said Juniper Creek neighbors told him they were making contingency plans, like more fencing and security cameras.
There is no recent data on the percentage of sex offenders released in the Antelope Valley, but the Antelope Valley Times called the area a “sex offender dump” in 2014, documenting 876 registered offenders in the area. California’s Megan’s Law database listed 673 offenders, which represented approximately 6 percent of Los Angeles County’s total sex offender population.
