Chelsea King, 17, Missing 2-25-2010 Rancho Bernadino CA (BODY FOUND)

[klaasend]

[klaasend]

10,000 Reward for finding a Hemet, California sexual assault suspect http://www.riversidesheriff.org/press/hem10-0303.htm

[klaasend]

Just copying some posts from Amber's thread over here.  We have no verification that Gardner is involved in Amber's murder YET.

[Missiontoconvict]

Thank you for all the updates everyone 

[theboyzmom]

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12162920

Gardner lived by school for 16 months
Posted: Mar 18, 2010 7:28 AM PDT Updated: Mar 18, 2010 7:31 AM PDT


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — State corrections department records show a convicted sex offender charged with murdering Chelsea King lived near a preschool for at least 16 months before parole officials forced him to move.

A top corrections official tells The Associated Press that a regional administrator let John Gardner continue living within 126 yards of the San Diego County preschool until his lease expired in 2006. But no one noticed he was still living there until a year later.

Assistant Secretary Oscar Hidalgo said Wednesday there was confusion in part because of a change in parole agents.

Gardner pleaded not guilty earlier this month to murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King. He also is under investigation in the murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois in Escondido in early 2009.

  First, I wonder if the place that leased to John Gardner ran a criminal background check on him.   And then a regional admin let him continue living there until his lease expired?     Why is that?  Thinking more of the SO then the safety of the children in the area?     It's not the regional admin's place to make the laws, but to ENFORCE them, isn't it?  So the regional admin made their own set of rules?  I need to see if I can find just how this works.  Is there something that says SO's aren't supposed to live within a certain distance from schools, the exception being at the discretion of the Regional Director?  I think the Regional Director needs their hiney fired for starters.    And "no one noticed he was still living there until a year later".  Makes me just sick.   

Sadly most landlords do not run criminal checks. Even though we do, we are prohibited from discriminating based just on the criminal convictions - I do find ways around it but it is tough and luckily we have never been taken to court over it. I do find it sad that the system did not notice him living there - in the age of computers, all you have to do is put the address in and it shows a map with everything on it. Why does the system not just use that?

[Paladine]

Hey Monkeys!    I haven't been here in years...but hearing about Chelsea and Amber drew me back...enough is enough!  It just took me 3 days to read all 91 pages of this thread! I have much more reading to do...but I just wanted to say thank you for the 91 pages which included some amazing sleuthing and interesting links. Scared Monkey's never fail to impress...

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/22893317/detail.html

Hundreds Show Up For Chelsea's Run
Event Held Saturday At 9AM At Rancho Bernardo Community Park

POSTED: 4:36 pm PDT March 19, 2010
UPDATED: 10:07 am PDT March 20, 2010

RANCHO BERNARDO, Calif. -- Hundreds of people, many dressed in blue or orange, headed out on a run/walk along the shores of Lake Hodges Saturday to symbolically complete the final act that slain Poway High School senior Chelsea King set out to do -- take a jog in the scenic park.

"Finish Chelsea's Run" was intended as a show of devotion to the memory of the 17-year-old straight-A student, and as a way for the community to "take back" the open-space area where she was allegedly raped and killed, organizers said.

Participants began gathering at 7 a.m. near the lake at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where a band played on a stage flanked by giant posters of King.

Many people caught shuttles from a nearby mall to the site of the 3-mile run/walk, which began at 9 a.m. Pets on leashes and children were welcome, according to organizers.

Searchers found King's body in a shallow grave along an arroyo above Lake Hodges on March 2, five days after the cross-country running team member went missing.

A registered sex offender has been charged with raping and murdering her and could face the death penalty if convicted. John Albert Gardner III, 30, also stands accused of attacking another young jogger in the same park in late December, where the 22-year-old victim escaped after elbowing her attacker in the face.

Investigators have described Gardner as a "focal point" of their investigation of the apparent murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois of Escondido, who vanished while walking to school in February 2009.

The high school freshman's skeletal remains were found on a hillside in the Pala area four days after King's body was found.

[Edward]

Welcome back Paladine. 

[Nut44x4]

California to keep closer watch on sex offenders

After criticism over high-profile lapses, state parole officials issue new rules that increase monitoring of sex offenders.
March 20, 2010

California parole officials issued new rules this week that increase monitoring of thousands of sex offenders already required to wear global positioning system tracking devices, a move that comes after sharp criticism of high-profile lapses by the department.

Parole agents must now track the whereabouts of the state's nearly 5,000 low-level sex offenders through ankle monitors at least four days a month. Previously, no policy mandated how often low-level offenders had to be tracked.

An additional 2,000 high-risk sex offenders, who already are supposed to be monitored daily, must be visited by a parole officer at their homes twice a month, up from one monthly visit.

"We've never claimed that GPS monitoring is a cure-all -- it can't prevent a crime from happening or tell us what a parolee is doing, " said Gordon Hinkle, press secretary for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "But it can tell us where they are."

The changes, issued in a Thursday policy memo, were spurred by a review of the parole agency in the wake of the Jaycee Lee Dugard case. The review found that parole agents for Phillip Garrido, who has been charged with Dugard's kidnapping, missed numerous clues over the course of a decade that could have led them to Dugard far sooner.

Dugard was 11 when she disappeared in 1991 from outside her South Lake Tahoe home.

She was 29 when she was found last year in Garrido's Antioch backyard, where he allegedly confined her to a ramshackle set of buildings and tents.

The new parole policies also require agents to investigate and document each time a device is unable to acquire a signal or is detected in a prohibited zone. The more stringent reporting requirements are designed to alert authorities to misbehavior that might signal a crime is in the works, officials said.

Parole agents also must notify local law enforcement when an offender is released from parole.

The supervision of sex offenders came under renewed scrutiny this month after it was reported that the man charged with killing 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway had violated parole in 2007 by living near a school. But state officials decided not to send John Albert Gardner III -- who was on parole after serving five years in prison for molesting a 13-year-old girl -- back to prison because he complied with orders to relocate.

King's body was found in a shallow grave this month, just days after Gardner was arrested in connection with her disappearance.

San Diego state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, with the backing of King's family, has said he will propose a new law in Chelsea's name, which could include extending sentences and upping parole requirements for sex offenders.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sex-offenders20-2010mar20,0,1460285.story?track=rss

[ChiChi]

Hey Monkeys!    I haven't been here in years...but hearing about Chelsea and Amber drew me back...enough is enough!  It just took me 3 days to read all 91 pages of this thread! I have much more reading to do...but I just wanted to say thank you for the 91 pages which included some amazing sleuthing and interesting links. Scared Monkey's never fail to impress...

Welcom Back Paladine 

[klaasend]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/21/3500-runners-walkers-finish-the-route-that/



3,500 finish route that Chelsea started
Slain girl’s mother cheers participants

By Kristina Davis, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

(snipped)

[Tracygirl]

What a thoughtful community. They really have shown a lot of support for Chelsea and her family.

[klaasend]

http://www.10news.com/news/22921656/detail.html

Kings Back Assemblyman's 'Chelsea's Law' Plan

POSTED: 12:00 pm PDT March 23, 2010
UPDATED: 1:28 pm PDT March 23, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- The parents of slain Poway High senior Chelsea King called Tuesday for swift changes in the law to strengthen protections for children against violent sexual predators.

The 17-year-old honors student disappeared Feb. 25 during a run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Her body was discovered five days later in a tributary of Lake Hodges.

Convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III is charged with her rape and murder.

"If our laws were smarter and bolder, Chelsea might still be here," said her father, Brent King. "If there was greater accountability for enforcement of existing laws, Chelsea might still be here.

"If our elected officials ... Republicans, Democrats, assemblymen and congressmen, judges and governors ... made decisions based on how that decision would affect their own daughter or their own son, there'd be swift and decisive reform for all of our children now," he said.

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, whose 75th District includes Rancho Bernardo and Poway, said a proposed new law designed to better protect children against sexual predators -- called Chelsea's Law -- will be introduced early next month.

"This heartbreaking case has left a lot of unanswered questions about how our criminal justice system failed, about how it failed Chelsea and unfortunately about how it continues to leave all of our children at risk," Fletcher said.

Questions remain about what changes need to be made to better protect children against violent sexual predators, the assemblyman said.

"Primary among these is what policy changes can we take to best protect our children to honor the memory of Chelsea King and to ensure that no family has to go through what the King family is experiencing every single day," Fletcher said.

Chelsea's mother said she is committed to bringing about changes in the law that will better protect children from violent sexual predators.

"I promise to do all I can to protect other daughters and other mothers from the incomprehensible nightmare I'm walking through," Kelly King said. "I need every parent, every lawmaker, every citizen to stand with me.

"I'm strong, but the weight of this task ahead will take every single one of us," she said. "I beg everyone to be relentless and join a new group of warriors -- warriors for change, and for Chelsea's light."

The reform effort will initially focus on three areas -- the need to enact an effective "one-strike" sex offender provision, parole reform and better GPS tracking, Fletcher said.

Brent and Kelly King have established the Chelsea's Light Foundation, designed to support legislative, educational and other viable remedies to support sexual predators from harming children.

The "Chelsea's Law Forum" will be held March 30 at Maranatha Chapel in Rancho Bernardo to offer the community a chance to learn about the existing sex offender laws and to give input into what can be done to better protect children, Fletcher said.

[Northern Rose]

Lawmakers Slam Prison System for Destroying Parole Records

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California lawmakers are criticizing a corrections department policy of destroying parole agents' field notes a year after ex-convicts are released from supervision.
   
The policy caused a public uproar after a convicted sex molester was arrested in February in the death of a 17-year-old Chelsea King. The suspect, John Albert Gardner III, has pleaded not guilty.
   
A corrections official initially said Gardner's entire parole file had been destroyed under the policy, but key portions were found later. Another official apologized for the misinformation Wednesday during a legislative committee hearing.

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher of San Diego asked for the hearing after learning the parole file for convicted sex offender and murder suspect, John Albert Gardner, had been destroyed in accordance with Corrections' own internal policy.
               
Governor Schwarzenegger ordered the agency to end this practice immediately.   

Gardner is suspected of murdering Chelsea King in Rancho Bernardo and attacking another jogger who survived.

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Lawmakers-Slam-Prison-System-for-Destroying/glXHOKwLz0KgaUUX1RYtsA.cspx

[Northern Rose]

Prison officials grilled over Gardner, records (video)

SACRAMENTO (KABC) -- California's corrections department was in the hot seat Wednesday about dumping parole records too quickly. A hearing was held Wednesday just weeks after convicted sex offender John Gardner was charged with the murder of Chelsea King. Gardner's parole records were destroyed not long after his release.

The case involving John Gardner, the sex offender who served time for molesting a 13-year-old and is now accused of killing 17-year-old Chelsea King in the San Diego area, revealed serious problems in the California parole system. Gardner is also the focus of another teen's disappearance.

State lawmakers slammed prison administrators for the practice of destroying field parole records one year after parolees are discharged; but corrections defended the policy of dumping files that contain parole agents' notes.

"I think it's hard to explain why we would destroy any records of a sex offender, especially in an instance like this where you have somebody who had done something so awful and been warned he is a danger: he will re-offend. He will hurt young girls again," said state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego).

"Those field notes by the agent have a ton of information that's not really, has any investigative value, would be no value to law enforcement," said Scott Kernan, Calif. Department of Corrections.

Destroying field parole records has been the state's practice for decades because there's not enough space to store all that paper.

"What do you need? Do you need a scanner? Do you need a hard drive?" said Fletcher.

"We do not have the ability to have our systems automated," said Kernan.

"The fact that we have an agency in 2010 that doesn't have the ability to scan and retain documents electronically is kind of shocking," said Fletcher.

"The Legislature approved the funding for that. And it's a multi-year project," said Kernan.


"When will that be done?" said Fletcher.

"Well, it's going to take several years," said Kernan.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the Corrections Department earlier this month to start keeping parole records of sex offenders in the hopes of improving public safety.

"It's outrageous that that happened and something like this fell through the cracks because a life was lost because of that," said Schwarzenegger. "That is, you know, devastating."

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=7349270

[Northern Rose]

King Family: Case Against Gardner 'Air Tight'

SAN DIEGO -- Chelsea King's parents tell 10News' Steve Fiorina about the support they have received from the community and the punishment they want for their daughter's accused killer.

Brent and Kelly King, the parents of slain Poway teen Chelsea King, spoke to 10News' Steve Fiorina Wednesday about the man accused of killing their daughter and the support they are receiving from the community.

It's been almost a month and the Kings' pain has not eased. The Kings wanted to share their thoughts and chose a park in Rancho Bernardo, away from the place where Chelsea disappeared.

Brent and Kelly King are somehow holding it together.

"We're still getting by, moment by moment," said Kelly King.

Chelsea's death devastated the family, and convicted sex offender John Gardner was charged with her death. Several sources told 10News that DNA found on Chelsea's discarded clothing linked Gardner to the crime.

"I would tell you that, in my opinion, it's an air-tight case. They haven't shared those words with me. It's my trust of law enforcement that makes me feel they have an air-tight case. That's my hope," said Brent King.

"What do you think is the right punishment?" asked Fiorina.

"Death penalty," said Kelly King

Brent King added, "Yep, absolutely."

Brent King said, "I've said it before and I'll say it again: the death penalty isn't enough. I can't wait for the death penalty … so he can have his pain.

Chelsea had a big decision ahead of her: which college to go to. She has received a large number of acceptance letters, including letters from Washington, Colorado, British Columbia, Denver, Emerson and UC Davis.

"So when these acceptance letters are coming in, I'm excited they're coming ... (but) it's so hard," said Kelly King.

Kelly King continues to wear blue and orange bracelets to honor her daughter and is working to keep Chelsea's spirit alive in many ways, including a Web site and foundation called Chelsea's Light.

Last Saturday, there was a tribute run near Lake Hodges as 3,500 people finished the run Chelsea was unable to complete last month. Kelly King was there at the finish line.

"I can't go back to the spot where she was found. I don't know how I'll ever be able to do that. But the run last week, it was one of the most uplifting things I've encountered since this whole thing began. It was overwhelming and exactly what Chelsea would have loved," said Kelly King.

"We'd take her to visit grandma, at a care facility in Palm Desert, she'd light up the rooms there, just being Chelsea. That's who she is," said Brent King.

"How can you … her whole life was special, and for me to sit here and pick out one ... they're all precious, they're all priceless, so I can't," said Kelly King.

The family is busy trying to tighten laws aimed at stopping violent sexual predators.

"How many more young girls, young children, have to give their name to try and get something done right? Give their life ... how many more?" said Brent King.

"When this keeps happening, people become more enraged and disgusted. It gets to point where you collectively go, 'No more. Enough is enough,'" said Kelly King.

Kindness toward the Kings has come in many ways from sometimes unexpected sources. Brent King and his son, Tyler, were in Peoria, Ariz., for San Diego Padres' spring training games last weekend.

Padres Manager Buddy Black invited the Kings as his guests, and Brent King said the team treated them to a wonderful time and were very gracious hosts.

On Friday, it'll be one month since Chelsea disappeared.

"You can't track time. Don't know if it's been a day or 20 years. So I will do nothing different except try to remember my daughter in a positive way," said Brent King.

"And keep moving forward like she'd want us to do," said Kelly King.

http://www.10news.com/news/22948021/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Chelsea's Parents Speak

Chelsea King's parents said thank you on Wednesday for the love and support from thousands of San Diegans.

The body of Brent and Kelly King's daughter was found early in March in Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Convicted sex offender John Gardner III has been charged with her murder and is also being investigated in connection to the death of Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, who was last seen in February 2009. Her body was found a short time after searchers located Chelsea.

The Kings said Wednesday that they get strength and energy from the cards and letters that have filled their mailbox everyday since their daughter was slain.

"It's stuffed every day," Kelly said. "We have people --  they don't know our address or the P.O. Box. They're sending it to 'Care of Chelsea's Light in Poway, CA,' and it's all reaching us."

"We received one from a group of runners in Connecticut, and they said, 'Every day we're going to run, for the month, and we're going to think about your daughter," Brent said.

In their first local interview since thousands of people honored Chelsea at a memorial service in Poway, her parents said the days since Chelsea's murder are a nonstop journey of pain that is softened only by gestures of love and support from friends and strangers.

"We're holding up, through the strength and guidance of our daughter and this community and the changes we want to make," Brent said. "In our private moments, we don't hold up."

"I get asked a lot, you know, 'When you wake up in the morning,' you know, 'what's it like?' " Kelly said. "It's not changed. It's the same, waking up to the same nightmare, time after time, so when Brent said there's really no idea of time passing, it's because this is a never-ending heartache, and we can't measure it in days, months."

The Kings have gotten cards and e-mails from  across the country, and from Australia, England and Guam, and from U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.


http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Chelseas-Parents-Speak-89072972.html

[Northern Rose]

Community reacts to violent death of Poway jogger

Chelsea King, a 17-year-old senior at Poway High School, disappeared during a run on Feb. 25. Police officials, volunteers and fans from her Facebook page gathered around the clock to search for her. They found her remains five days later in a shallow grave near Lake Hodges.
Through her Facebook fan pages, MySpace and text messages, friends, teammates, classmates and strangers drew together to mourn the loss of the cross country runner and French horn player. Students at Poway High School wore orange shirts, King’s favorite color, and bracelets with her quotes to support King and each other. Her memorial celebration was held March 13 in Poway High School’s football stadium. eight thousand sunflowers were handed out.
This past weekend, more than three thousand San Diegans walked, jogged or ran the three-mile route that King never finished. The group grieved together, saying it was what King would have wanted. Kelly King, Chelsea’s mother, cheered everyone on as they finished their run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park, “taking back the park as their own.”
During the symbolic run, organizers collected over $5,100 in donations for the Chelsea’s Light Foundation, the non-profit organization created by her parents, which is working to strengthen laws pertaining to sex offenders.
John Gardner III, 30, is the prime suspect for the murder of King. Officials arrested Gardner on Feb. 28 outside of a Mexican restaurant in Escondido. Gardner, who was living with his mother in Rancho Bernardo at the time of the arrest, a mile from the park where King went running, is a registered sex offender with a history of abusing young women.
Last December, Gardner was accused of attacking another young jogger in the same park. In 2000, Gardner lured a 13-year-old girl into his home and molested her. For these offences he was sentenced to six years in prison. He served only five years before going on parole for three years, which he violated seven times.
The story is starting to look and sound painfully familiar. Amber Dubois, 14 years old at the time, disappeared on her way to school just over a year ago. school just over a year ago. Her body was discovered shortly after King’s. Both King and Dubois were 5’5’’, young, blue-eyed and beautiful with strikingly similar facial features. When Amber’s father heard about the arrest he “strongly suspected” that Gardner was also responsible for his daughter’s abduction. Gardner remains a suspect in the Dubois case.
If convicted for the murder of King, Gardner could face the death penalty. A preliminary hearing will occur on Aug. 4.
As new information continues to be uncovered and laws against sex predators are re-examined, the public continues to remember and support these two young women and their families. As their Facebook fan page says, “You will never be forgotten, you have inspired us all over the nation.”

http://www.theusdvista.com/news/community-reacts-to-violent-death-of-poway-jogger-1.1279043

[Northern Rose]

Relative of Gardner’s mom comes to her defense
Nurse described as ‘kind,’ ‘generous,’ ‘levelheaded’

In the early hours before John Albert Gardner III was arraigned on March 3, someone painted in red on his mother’s Rancho Bernardo townhouse, “Chelsea’s blood is on you move out.”

Catherine Osborn, Gardner’s mother, didn’t attend court that morning when her son pleaded not guilty to charges of raping and killing 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway.

Bloggers and talk radio hosts have skewered Osborn for allowing her 30-year-old son, a convicted sex offender, to visit her home. Osborn lives less than a mile from where Chelsea’s body was found five days after the Poway High School senior went missing Feb. 25 while going for a run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

Others have slammed Osborn for her membership in a running group partial to beer, crass jokes and nicknames of a sexual nature. They say it raises questions about her judgment, especially because she is a registered nurse involved in the psychiatric profession.

Osborn has not responded to the criticisms or acknowledged requests for interviews. Her friends and family followed her lead until Friday, when a close relative said Osborn has been the subject of outrageously unfair attacks.

“She is the backbone of this family,” said the relative, who asked that her name not be used because she didn’t want to anger Osborn or the family’s attorney. “She’s kind, levelheaded and a generous, nurturing person, extraordinarily good in a crisis. She not only gives good advice, she follows up.

“John was there to get into rehab, and she was trying to help him find a location. At the same time, he’s an adult and he was a little resistant.”

Asked whether the rehab would be for drug, alcohol or psychiatric treatment, the relative said, “probably all three.”

Osborn is active professionally in helping the mentally ill. Last year, she chaired the legislative committee of the state’s American Psychiatric Nurses Association chapter. She authored an article in the group’s May newsletter, which included a photo of her in the annual walk hosted by the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

After Gardner’s arrest, Osborn went on leave from her job in a behavioral health unit at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest.

“She has not been at work for about two weeks, but she is still employed. She has gone through a lot and she’s been on leave,” said Don Stanziano, spokesman for the Scripps Health system.

Osborn is on leave for an indefinite period, Stanziano said.

Some hospital workers said administrators scheduled and then canceled a March 11 meeting with employees who had called for Osborn’s ouster.

As for the running club, the relative said Osborn was a “moral, ethical” person, and the accusations against her are ludicrous. The group has a Web site with photos and newsletters detailing their runs.

“You won’t see any pictures of her holding a beer or not fully clothed,” the relative said.

A former relative defended Osborn on Friday in a brief telephone interview. The niece of one of Osborn’s three former husbands said she knew the family well and has stayed in touch with them.

“She’s a very good person,” the niece said.

Osborn, 54, grew up in Lawndale, a suburb of Los Angeles, the oldest of four children.

As a teenager, she had two daughters. Then, in 1980, at age 25, Osborn married Gardner’s father. She became licensed as a registered nurse in 1985 and divorced in 1989, when John Gardner III was 10.

The father lived in Palmdale when Osborn moved back to Lawndale and received full physical custody of her son. She worked as a nurse at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute earning about $36,000 a year at the time of the divorce.

Osborn remarried in 1990, lived in Running Springs near Lake Arrowhead and worked as a nurse at Community Hospital of San Bernardino. In 1996, she returned to court seeking back payment for the $70 a month in child support payments her son’s father had failed to pay. By that time, she was earning about $48,000 a year.

In her filings, Osborn said her son had been hospitalized three times for emotional problems. Other documents say Gardner was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was prescribed lithium, although it was discontinued because of side effects. He also was treated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Osborn listed the usual childhood expenses for Gardner that included braces, school supplies, bus passes, ski team, baseball and transportation for a law enforcement job-training program.

She said she was seeking the back child support because her son had been asking whether his father sent any money.

Osborn wrote to the court that if she did not pursue child support, “the messages I give to my son are: (1) He is not that important; (2) That responsibility is not that great of a commitment if you decide it’s too much or if the consequence is not that bad.”

At Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, Gardner got involved in sports and sang in the choir. He had girlfriends. Some who knew him said he was moody and got teased for being unpopular.

Gardner said later in a court document that his stepfather was an “awesome dad,” unlike his father, who had beaten him with a belt when he misbehaved.

By 1997, Osborn and Gardner had moved to a new home in Running Springs and she filed for divorce again. Gardner was 18 and had graduated from high school. Five days before Christmas, Osborn sent her son to serve the divorce papers on his stepfather.

The next year, she and her son moved to Rancho Bernardo.

In 2000, at age 21, Gardner pleaded guilty to molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in his mother’s townhouse. He had beaten and fondled the girl before she escaped and ran to a neighbor.

Gardner could have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. His former psychiatrist in San Bernardino, Dr. Divy J. Kikani, wrote to the sentencing judge, saying Gardner had been treated for bipolar disorder but had not been in therapy for five years. Kikani re-evaluated Gardner in August 2000 and recommended probation so that Gardner could receive inpatient psychiatric treatment and medication for 90 days, followed by outpatient therapy. Gardner also needed counseling related to anger management and impulse control, Kikani said.

Osborn also wrote to the judge to support Kikani’s recommendation.

“All of the research that I have done regarding persons who have engaged in this type of activity indicates that intense therapy is the best solution,” Osborn wrote. “I love my son, he is a good person. I also realize that accepting the consequences is an important part of learning. I hope that this tragedy can be one from which a positive outcome is possible. Through treatment, my son can be rehabilitated and contribute something meaningful back to society.”

The county’s psychiatrist, Dr. Matthew Carroll, made no reference to the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but said Gardner showed no evidence of a psychotic disorder.

Carroll said Gardner had shown no remorse for the assault, was not a good candidate for therapy and should receive the maximum sentence because he would remain a danger to underage girls in the community.

Gardner was sentenced to six years in prison and was released after five. He was on parole for three years.

In 2004, while her son was in prison, Osborn remarried and the couple lived in her Rancho Bernardo townhouse. According to the résumé Osborn posted on her LinkedIn Web page, she earned a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and began working at Scripps Mercy in August 2005.

When Gardner got out of prison in September 2005, he was required to register where he lived. Records show he moved between San Diego and Riverside counties, most recently listing his residence as his grandmother’s house in Lake Elsinore.

Osborn has been criticized for allowing Gardner to stay at times at her Rancho Bernardo home. It’s unclear how long his visits there were and whether he would be required to register at that address as a sex offender.

Former San Diego County District Attorney Paul Pfingst, who is now in private practice, rejected the notion that Osborn shouldn’t have allowed her son to visit or that she was responsible for ensuring he had followed the state’s registry law.

“It’s his responsibility, and it’s not expected that she would know what the law requires,” Pfingst said. “Why would the mother of someone who is 30 years old be expected to research that?”

When Gardner was released, the law required sex offenders to register with the local law enforcement agency within five days of moving their residence.

In 2007, the law was changed so that more than one address could be listed.

As for whether Osborn should have recognized Gardner could be a continuing danger, that’s a complex issue, said licensed clinical psychologist Jonathan Gale, who specializes in men’s issues and adolescents.

“Certainly, if she saw signs that indicated someone’s life was in danger, she should have done something, particularly if she’s in the (medical) field,” said Gale, who is in private practice in La Jolla.

Typically, parents invoke self-defense mechanisms because it can be so painful to believe their child is capable of a violent crime, Gale said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/22/relative-of-gardners-mother-comes-to-her-defense/

[no rose colored glasses]

Osborn also wrote to the judge to support Kikani’s recommendation.

“All of the research that I have done regarding persons who have engaged in this type of activity indicates that intense therapy is the best solution,” Osborn wrote. “I love my son, he is a good person. I also realize that accepting the consequences is an important part of learning. I hope that this tragedy can be one from which a positive outcome is possible. Through treatment, my son can be rehabilitated and contribute something meaningful back to society.”    ::MonkeyNoNo::And we all saw how good that worked.