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

[Nut44x4]

[Tracygirl]

And just how do they think that a 'no computer/internet contact rule' for a RSO on parole can possibly be enforced??? They don't even know where they are 1/2 the time, let alone what they have in their homes. What about internet cafes and libraries?? It is too easy for the offenders to use a computer there even if they do not have one at home. It is a rule that cannot possibly be enforced.

There isn't a way to monitor this. I think it is one of the many "rules" that are in place to make the public feel safe but LE could never follow through with.
I have to say, given everything we have learned about the lack of supervision he had, it makes me ever more convinced they need to keep these people in prison for life. There in no way to ensure the public will be safe.

[Missiontoconvict]

And just how do they think that a 'no computer/internet contact rule' for a RSO on parole can possibly be enforced??? They don't even know where they are 1/2 the time, let alone what they have in their homes. What about internet cafes and libraries?? It is too easy for the offenders to use a computer there even if they do not have one at home. It is a rule that cannot possibly be enforced.

There isn't a way to monitor this. I think it is one of the many "rules" that are in place to make the public feel safe but LE could never follow through with.
I have to say, given everything we have learned about the lack of supervision he had, it makes me ever more convinced they need to keep these people in prison for life. There in no way to ensure the public will be safe.

Yep.......if they are dangerous enough to be monitored then they are dangerous enough to be locked up forever.

[piwannaberookie]

I don't think all sex offenders are dangerous but a lot are, there should be more scientific experiments done on them, just like they do on lab rats to check their brain out, there is some kind of chemical imbalance in their brain maybe that is why they are not thinking enoughabout their actions/feelings/reactions, if that makes any sense at all, they have a disease so shouldn't they be treated as such? Maybe the more serious ones should be locked up in a mental asylum, something that didn't happen to Gardner, however for the criminal part, that is why they have parole officers so they can make a pre-sentencing report (PST) which contains the history of the offender, crimes, behaviors, characteristics, tendency to violence..., but when I took a corrections class last year I remember the teacher said there is only 1 parole officer per 1,000 offenders/criminals and PST's are important in handling an offender's terms of parole is part of what I remembered in class. I agree with Nut, some are so dangerous they need to be locked up forever, the problem with that is who is going to pay. Parents pay for their minor children who are in juvenile hall, some parents bail their adult children in jail, some parents even pay for their adult children's court payments or fines. I wonder if scientists could get involved and together with religious, or lay persons combined would help, maybe money wouldn't be a problem after all, maybe there could be a nonprofit organization to fund this, I don't think relying on cops and correctional officers is the way to go in the long run but useful for crime prevention, but it has been done I remember in the movie "Dead Man Walking", maybe if they can make at least one hardened sex offender remorseful for his/her actions, maybe that could be a start, who knows for sure.

[piwannaberookie]

 the death penalty is another alternative, although that is more expensive. ACLU would have a problem with it as well as the Pope and the Catholic Church. LWOP (life without parole) is cheaper and doesn't give criminals an easy way out like that Sister Helen Prejean said. Arnold Schwarzenegger should listen to Susan Sarandon on the death penalty. Or maybe the families of the victim's should be able to help make that decision, that is to keep  the criminal(s) in jail/prison longer, Gardner's victim in 2000 was not notified that he had been released from prison, maybe there should be more communication about this... victim's especially that young of an age should not be expected to keep an eye out on someone who attacked them and go through all that just to keep a bigger eye on a offender.

[Northern Rose]

More Gardner parole issues found
Sex offender lived near school longer than previously known

Convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III lived for just under two years in a Mira Mesa apartment complex, 700 yards from Walker Elementary School.

That’s seven months longer than previously known — a timeline now acknowledged by state parole officials, though not apparent from incomplete records previously released. Gardner’s special conditions of parole barred him from living within 880 yards of such a school.

A review by The San Diego Union-Tribune shows the violation was apparently unrecognized for seven months, excused for three more, then ignored or forgotten for 13 more — until a new parole agent took over Gardner’s supervision.

While on parole, records show, Gardner committed seven violations that could have been used to send him back to prison and subjected him to tougher post-release monitoring under Jessica’s Law, which passed in 2006. The most serious was the residency issue.

Parole official Margarita Perez was asked about it at a legislative hearing in Poway last week.

“It’s important to understand he was approximately 2,100 feet away,” Perez said. “It’s not like he was across the street.”

Still, the distance was too close for Martha Mattson, a parent who says so many children cluster on city streets near Miramar College, Wangenheim Middle School and Walker Elementary that it’s a predator’s paradise.

“That they allowed him to be there is just unbelievable,” said Mattson, whose sons, now grown, went to the area’s public schools. “It seems unconscionable that he was there, steps away from vulnerable girls.”

Gardner, 30, who has pleaded not guilty in the Chelsea case, is also a focus of an investigation into the slaying of Amber Dubois, 14, of Escondido.

He was released from prison Sept. 26, 2005, and lived first at the scene of his 2000 assault, his mother’s townhouse in Rancho Bernardo. It was 437 feet from Westwood Elementary School, a parole violation that his agent did not let stand.

After 11 days, he moved into the Mira Monte apartments on Maya Linda Road. It’s unclear whether he moved with approval — and housing assistance — from parole officials. A public records request with the agency is pending.

Parole records released so far show a district administrator gave him approval in May 2006 to remain in his apartment for three more months until his lease expired, but he stayed 16 more.

Riverside County parole agent Tifani LaDuke said it was not uncommon at the time for an administrator to use discretion because state law on sex offender residency was undergoing a series of changes.

Ryken Grattet, a sociology professor at University of California Davis who has studied state parole violations, said sex offender residency issues aren’t as simple as the public might expect.

MORE.....

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/08/more-gardner-parole-issues-found/

[Northern Rose]

GARDNER TIMELINE

May 31, 2000:Pleaded guilty to molesting and beating a 13-year-old girl in Rancho Bernardo.

Sept. 26, 2005: Released from prison.

Oct. 7, 2005: Moved to Mira Mesa apartment

after a parole agent said he was living too close to an elementary school near his mother’s townhouse in Rancho Bernardo.

May 2, 2006: Received district administrator approval to stay in Mira Mesa until Aug. 1, 2006, end of lease.

Aug. 1, 2006: Date of lease renewal passes without action.

Aug. 24, 2007: Status report notes that he has “maintained a stable residence” and is clear of violations.

Aug. 30, 2007: Received a new parole agent.

Sept. 6, 2007: Discovered by agent to be out of compliance with state law and department policy related to sex offender residency restrictions.

Sept. 13, 2007: Informed he must move within three days and given $250 to assist with placement.

Sept. 15, 2007: Moved to TLM Sober Living in Vista.

May 20, 2008: Wrote on his MySpace page, “I’m poor, homeless and living in my truck.”

March 3, 2010:Pleads not guilty in the slaying of Chelsea King, 17, of Poway.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/08/more-gardner-parole-issues-found/

[Northern Rose]

New Sex Offender Notification Program Approved

Riverside County residents will soon have a new high-tech way to track sex offenders who move into their neighborhoods.

Currently, people can track registered offenders via the Megan's Law website, but the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved Tuesday a new way to alert residents when offenders relocate via a County website and notification system.

Supervisor Jeff Stone and District Attorney Rod Pacheco sponsored the S.P.I.R.I.T program-- which stands for sexual predator identification in Riverside County via internet tracking.

"The program is a proactive approach to monitoring sex offenders in Riverside County through a new mapping and tracking system, viewable by the general public, via the District Attorney's Web site," said D.A. spokesman Ryan Hightower.

The main purpose of the program is to let people know when a sex offender moves into a new neighborhood through the D.A.'s website-- while also utilizing both e-mail and traditional mail notifications.

"This program will give Riverside County an additional tool to more closely monitor and track the whereabouts of all sexual registrants located within the county. The loss of even one person to the appetite of these sexual perverts is unacceptable," Supervisor Jeff Stone said. "By this action and the good work of some of the county's public safety agencies such as the District Attorney, Probation, Sheriff, County Counsel, and the Board of Supervisors, the safety of the county's residents will be further protected."

Stone said the County has already done a lot to track sex offenders and make sure they're complying with the law. He said 95% of offenders living in Riverside County are in compliance with state laws-- the other 5% are dead, homeless, or living in other states.

The supervisor added that in light of the recent tragic deaths of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois in the San Diego area, "we can always do more" to protect the public. A convicted child molester, John Gardner, has been charged with killing Chelsea King.

The D.A.'s office tells KPSP Local 2 that this new program will be up and running within the next several weeks.

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/Content/Top-Stories/story/New-Sex-Offender-Notification-Program-Approved/0Ll5_FLFsUyvuFB2zIxiTg.cspx

[Bearlyhere]

the death penalty is another alternative, although that is more expensive. ACLU would have a problem with it as well as the Pope and the Catholic Church. LWOP (life without parole) is cheaper and doesn't give criminals an easy way out like that Sister Helen Prejean said. Arnold Schwarzenegger should listen to Susan Sarandon on the death penalty. Or maybe the families of the victim's should be able to help make that decision, that is to keep  the criminal(s) in jail/prison longer, Gardner's victim in 2000 was not notified that he had been released from prison, maybe there should be more communication about this... victim's especially that young of an age should not be expected to keep an eye out on someone who attacked them and go through all that just to keep a bigger eye on a offender.

I like the way you think.  I don't agree with the DP part, though.  You see what happens when it is introduced, you get sympathizers and suddenly the perp has too much defense (like CA).  I personally don't think the DP is the answer, and I see what happens when it is introduced, lawyers come out of the woodwork to defend them.  This is not fair to the victims of the crime, they are not afforded the same legal team.  I have never seen where good lawyers offer to help the victim out.

[Bearlyhere]

I do understand that JAG was an adult and therefore should monitor himself.  How is the fact that anyone he lived with is not responsible also, we blame Aja's step-father's relatives for not reporting him to authorities, how is this any different?  The results were the same, an innocent life was taken.  In JAG's case, more than one innocent life was taken and others suffered at his hands.  The fact that he was a RSO was known by those he lived with.

[piwannaberookie]

I find that to be true too, Bearlyhere--the death penalty gives more focus on the defendant even more so than when the victim when he/she was victimized, and in the end the families of the victim are the ones who bear the memory of the whole situation not the defendant. It's not like the ACLU was there when the victim was victimized, if that makes sense, but the ACLU is there when the defendant is given the penalty to die.

[klaasend]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/12/kelly-king-cant-keep-happening-over-and-over-again/



Kelly King: 'This can’t keep happening over and over again'
Family comes to Sacramento to fight for Chelsea's Law

By Michael Gardner, U-T SACRAMENTO BUREAU

Monday, April 12, 2010 at 4:48 p.m.

SACRAMENTO — Aware of the challenge but committed to their cause, Kelly and Brent King vow to pursue “Chelsea’s Law” every step of the legislative process.

And if that means taking it all the way to the ballot box, so be it.

“We have to — for Chelsea,” Brent King said.

In an interview after unveiling Chelsea’s Law in collaboration with Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, the Kings talked about how they plan to win over potentially skeptical lawmakers unsure of the cost and unconvinced of the need to adopt new laws.

Tuesday they will try to sway influential Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who chairs the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Chelsea’s Law faces its first test before his panel on April 20.

“We want him to have a very clear understanding of the focused position we’ve taken that sexually violent predators are incurable and shouldn’t be in our communities,” Brent King said.

Their biggest hurdle may be finances, given the state’s deep budget crisis.

“There’s no price you can put on a child’s life,” Kelly King said.

Their child, Poway teenager Chelsea King, was raped and killed after going for a run at Rancho Bernardo Community Park on Feb. 25. Convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III, 31, pleaded not guilty on March 3.

Chelsea’s Law would increase penalties for sexual predators who attack children, including life sentences for the worst crimes and a ban on entering parks where children gather without prior permission of authorities. There would also be lifetime parole for those predators, which would include having the state manage and pay for lifetime GPS tracking.

“The more we know about the movement of those sexually violent predators the safer our society becomes,” Brent King said.

He said they have consulted with experts and advisers and are confident the crackdown would work — given a chance.

“If we didn’t think it would work we wouldn’t be sitting here wasting our time. This will work and it needs an opportunity to pass,” Brent King said.

“We have been waiting for this day since we began this process,” Kelly King added. “It’s important for Brent and I to let people know this can’t keep happening over and over again.”

Both said they plan to stick with the fight and if the legislation fails in Sacramento they will champion a ballot initiative, such as the 2006 initiative Jessica’s Law.

Reminded that it takes a lot to commit to a statewide campaign, Brent King said, “We have a lot. We have a lot of support. We have a lot of focus.”

Interjected Kelly King: “We’re Chelsea’s parents.”

There will be a rally Tuesday morning with supporters of the King family. The Capitol will be lined with a thousand sunflowers, Chelsea’s favorite bloom.

[Nut44x4]

BLOCKED WEBSITE

[Northern Rose]

Status hearing for John Gardner scheduled for Friday

A status hearing is scheduled Friday afternoon for a sex offender charged with raping and killing a 17-year-old Poway High School senior. Court officials declined comment on the focus of the status conference for John Albert Gardner III, 31.

He was charged last month with sexually assaulting and murdering Chelsea King, who disappeared after going for a run Feb. 25 at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

The avid runner and straight-A student's body was discovered five days later in a shallow grave near a tributary of nearby Lake Hodges.

Gardner is also charged with sexually assaulting a woman in the same park last Dec. 27.

The defendant was sentenced to six years in prison in 2000 after pleading guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl in the same area.

At the time of Gardner's arrest, authorities said he was a focus of the investigation into the apparent murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, whose skeletal remains were found last month in Pala.

The Escondido High School freshman vanished while walking to campus in February 2009.

Gardner could face the death penalty if convicted of King's murder. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 4.

http://www.delmartimes.net/news/268451-status-hearing-for-john-gardner-scheduled-for-friday

[Northern Rose]

Details of search warrants for John Gardner's home

News 8 is learning more about what FBI agents found in the home of John Gardner just days after Chelsea King was murdered. Search warrants show agents were looking for digging tools, rope and blood stained clothing.

When the FBI serves a search warrant on a home, agents are required by law to give the homeowner a list of the items they take. That's exactly happened at the Lake Elsinore home of John Gardner.

FBI agents have searched the Lake Elsinore home of Gardner at least two times, looking for evidence that might link him to the murders of Poway high senior Chelsea King and Escondido teenager Amber Dubois.

A search warrant, given to Los Angeles radio station KFI by a relative of Gardner, shows what agents were hoping to find: digging tools, rope, zip ties, handcuffs, blood stained clothing and human hairs.

A hand written evidence list shows exactly what agents took from the home: three pick axes, 11 shovels, five pairs of blue jeans a pair of Reebok tennis shoes and a white, Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt.

The records show agents were specifically looking for that Hard Rock T-shirt, suggesting they may have a witness who saw Gardner wearing it.

A Lake Elsinore neighbor remembers the home being searched.

"There was a couple vans parked on the street. They showed us a picture and said they were FBI agents," said one neighbor.

Gardner's relative told News 8 that agents searched the Lake Elsinore home on February 28, two days before Chelsea's body was found by Lake Hodge and again on March 9 - right after the body of Amber Dubois was found near Pala.

The relative spoke on the radio about the search:

"I'm sitting in a room with FBI agents and the FBI was telling me what happened."

Other documents turned over, include an undated letter written by Gardner to his ex-girlfriend Jariah Baker:

"I am not a good person to be around at this moment."

Gardner also wrote:

"I'll just ruin your life... I'm too depressed to do much of anything anymore."

"I only can relate to crazy people in a conversation because it seems theirs is the only one w/ correct decisions."

Other records obtained by KFI Radio show Gardner and his girlfriend were having severe financial problems. The couple had missed rent payments at their Escondido apartment, right before Chelsea King was murdered.

The records also include a letter Gardner wrote to his mother while he was in prison. In the letter, Gardner talks about his legal problems, and he closes by writing "I love you" to his mom.

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12321252

[Northern Rose]

REGION: Gardner case unexpectedly back in court Friday

The case facing accused murderer John Albert Gardner III will be in court Friday afternoon, but officials are mum about why hearing has been scheduled.

Gardner's case has a status conference set for 2 p.m., according the Web site of the San Diego Superior Court, and will be in the same downtown courtroom where he was arraigned March 3 in the slaying of Poway teenager Chelsea King.

It is unclear if Gardner will attend the hearing.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Web site on Thurdsay afternoon also listed Gardner as scheduled to be in the courtroom Friday afternoon. The web site, however, was later changed to say Gardner's next court appearance is August.

The hearing set for Friday comes as a surprise. Gardner, who is in jail, was not due back in court until Aug. 4, for a preliminary hearing, a key pretrial proceeding.

Details about the case against Gardner have remained closely held by officials. Superior Court Judge David Danielsen issued a gag order in March barring prosecutors, defense attorneys and their agents and representatives from discussing the case.

Gardner was arrested Feb. 28 in connection with the killing and possible rape of Chelsea King, 17, who disappeared Feb. 25 while running near Lake Hodges.

Her body was found in a shallow grave near a lake tributary March 2.

Gardner, 31, also is charged with attacking a female jogger at the same park in December, and is a suspect in the February 2009 disappearance and death of Amber Dubois, a 14-year-old Escondido girl whose remains were found in Pala on March 6.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_56bb1cc4-48f7-11df-b38a-001cc4c002e0.html

[Northern Rose]

Gardner search warrant leaked
Documents posted on radio Web site

A stash of shovels and pickaxes, a T-shirt and jeans were among the items seized from the Lake Elsinore home of John Albert Gardner III more than a week after he was arrested in the slaying of Poway teenager Chelsea King, according to search-warrant records.

The documents were obtained by Los Angeles radio station KFI-AM 640 and posted on the station’s Web site Thursday. The warrant is one of at least four that have been filed in the case. All are under court-ordered seal.

“I saw that it was posted on KFI, and other than that I can’t comment on it,” Deputy Public Defender Mel Epley, one of Gardner’s attorneys, said Thursday.

The District Attorney’s Office also declined to comment, citing a gag order in the case.

Steve Gregory, the reporter who obtained the documents, said in an interview that the warrant was not illegally obtained but was leaked to him. He said he had not been contacted by authorities about the leak as of 3 p.m. Thursday.

Gardner was arrested Feb. 28 at a restaurant near Lake Hodges. He has been linked to the crime through DNA evidence found on a piece of Chelsea’s clothing. He has pleaded not guilty to rape and murder charges.

Gardner is also a focus of an investigation into the 2009 death of 14-year-old Amber Dubois of Escondido, whose remains were found north of Pala on March 6.

In the search warrant filed March 9 in El Cajon Superior Court, sheriff’s investigators listed several items they were hoping to find, including specific pieces of clothing; rope, tape or handcuffs; human hairs, tissues or fluids; clothing or other objects with blood on them; and personal documents.

One of the pieces of clothing investigators hoped to find was a blue sweater with a horizontal stripe across the chest, according to the warrant.

In addition to Chelsea’s death, Gardner has been charged in a Dec. 27 attack on a jogger near Lake Hodges. Police at the time said the attacker was wearing a blue-and-white sweater and jeans. The victim, Candice Moncayo, declined to speak about the case Thursday.

In the March 9 search of Gardner’s home, authorities seized a shovel and pickax from near the front door, as well as 10 shovels and two pickaxes from a backyard shed, according to the documents.

Lake Elsinore neighbor Mary Cook said in an earlier interview that she saw sheriff’s investigators at the home the night of Gardner’s arrest, and that they appeared to be interested in the shed.

Also seized were five pairs of jeans, a white “Hard Iraq Cafe — Baghdad” T-shirt and a pair of size-12 Reebok sneakers from his bedroom. The blue sweater was not listed as seized.

The full address of the home was redacted in the search warrant, but the house number on the document coincides with that of Gardner’s home on Gillette Street in Lake Elsinore. The affidavit, which typically argues why investigators have probable cause to search a property, was not included with the warrant.

The warrant number on the radio station’s documents matches the number listed at Superior Court for the Lake Elsinore address.

The talk-radio station also posted letters purportedly written by Gardner — a handwritten one to a girlfriend that is not signed and a typed note to his mother that appears to have been sent from prison. Gregory, the reporter, declined to divulge the source of the letters.

Gardner, 31, was registered with police as living at the Lake Elsinore home, but he often stayed with his mother and stepfather in Rancho Bernardo, about a mile from Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where Chelsea went missing after a jog Feb. 25. Her body was found in a shallow grave on the shore of Lake Hodges five days later.

Authorities also searched Gardner’s mother’s home in Rancho Bernardo, a storage unit in Escondido and a car belonging to Gardner’s girlfriend, according to a search warrant log.

Defense lawyer Christopher Plourd, who is not working on the case, said that if the documents were leaked, a judge or the attorneys could launch an investigation to find out the source. Ultimately, the violator could be jailed or fined.

A status hearing in the case was scheduled for today. It is unclear what will be discussed.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/15/gardner-search-warrant-leaked/

[no rose colored glasses]

Oh my, thank-you for those updates 

[Northern Rose]

A Look Inside The Mind Of John Gardner

LISTEN: John Gardner Project Part I
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/24935/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/24935/616/richmedia/STEVE_-_Gardner_Series_PART_1_AMD.mp3

LISTEN: John Gardner Project Part II
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/24935/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/24935/616/richmedia/STEVE_-_Gardner_Series_PART_2_AMD.mp3

LISTEN: John Gardner Project Part III
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/24935/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/24935/616/richmedia/STEVE_-_Gardner_Series_PART_3_AMD.mp3

[Northern Rose]

A typed letter from Gardner to his mother while in prison. One name was redacted for protection.

http://www.kfiam640.com/cc-common/mlib/616/04/616_12708433252.jpg