APTOS — The owner of an Aptos property selected as a housing site for a twice-convicted rapist due for release has taken the location out of the running, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Alex Byers told the Sentinel his office received an emailed letter Wednesday from Liberty Healthcare Corp., an organization contracted by the Department of State Hospitals to find a home for 72-year-old sexually violent predator Michael Cheek, announcing that the owner of the home off of Spreckels Drive wanted out of a previously established agreement.
“On Aug. 28, 2024, the homeowner contacted Liberty staff requesting to rescind her agreement to rent to Mr. Cheek; subsequently rendering the property unavailable for placement,” read an excerpt from Liberty’s letter, also shared with the Santa Cruz County Superior Court. “Liberty followed internal procedures for property withdrawal and the homeowner has returned the holding money paid for the property. Liberty respectfully requests to withdraw the aforementioned property from consideration by the Court.”
The letter, penned by Assistant Program Director of Liberty Healthcare Corp. Isamar Mayol, according to Byers, arrived days after the address for Cheek’s placement was made public on Aug. 26. The notice prompted an outcry from members of the local community familiar with Cheek’s history as a sexually violent predator who has served 43 years of combined prison time and mental health treatment.
Byers said his office agreed with the community feedback and has for some time.
“We had great concerns about him being placed there in the first place,” said Byers, noting that the home is about a mile from Seacliff State Beach. Cheek had been previously sentenced to a 20-year prison term in the early 1980s after he kidnapped and raped a 21-year-old Los Gatos woman at gunpoint from Seabright State Beach.
Byers also said his office continued to take issue with the home’s proximity to what he referred to as a “school” serving 35 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. However, whether the facility constituted a school was previously litigated in court, with Judge Nancy de la Peña ultimately denying the label and ruling it was not an obstacle to Cheek’s placement.
This latest attempt by the state to find a suitable living quarters for Cheek came after assessing more than 4,000 locations and more than a year of consulting with a local committee that included representatives from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, Santa Cruz Public Defender’s Office, Santa Cruz County Counsel’s Office and the state.
But Byers took issue with this as well, claiming that while his office and the sheriff’s team were at the meetings, Liberty failed to adequately collaborate with the local authorities and pursued the Aptos location despite the voiced concerns.
“Liberty is not from Santa Cruz County; Liberty doesn’t know much about Santa Cruz County,” said Byers. “Liberty finds a renter that wants to rent and rents.”
Byers said Liberty disclosed the property address to his office and other parties to the proceedings April 12, but it was barred from public release under court order, at Liberty’s request, until August.
The Sentinel reached out to Liberty for a comment, but its representatives only shared contact information for the communications office at the Department of State Hospitals, which did not provide a comment before the Sentinel’s print deadline. The Sentinel also contacted the county Public Defender’s Office for a comment, but did not receive a response before deadline Wednesday.
In a statement shared with the Sentinel after its Wednesday deadline, the Department of State Hospitals wrote that it was “committed to providing effective treatment in a safe environment, in a fiscally responsible manner and to assuring public safety,” and that federal and state patient privacy laws prevent it from releasing specific information about any current or former patients.
It went on to share online links to resources about its process of placing sexually violent predators into outpatient conditional release programs.
The Sentinel did receive an email last week from an individual named Gina Harrington who purported to be speaking on behalf of the partners that own the property in Aptos. Harrington, who declined to share identifying information or an interview with the Sentinel, wrote that, “The property does not have a lease with Michael Cheek and never will,” adding that the court would be notified as soon as possible.
After the Seabright State Beach abduction and subsequent conviction, Cheek temporarily escaped from a Contra Costa County jail facility and raped a 15-year-old girl in Lake County before he was recaptured and convicted again.
After serving his prison sentence, he waived his right to a trial, choosing instead to be sent to a mental hospital after being deemed a sexually violent predator under state law in 1997. After 22 years of psychiatric care in a state hospital, Judge Stephen Siegel granted Cheek a conditional release for supervised outpatient treatment in 2019.
This kicked off what has now become multiple failed attempts across at least three counties to find a home for Cheek. In 2021, a home in rural Bonny Doon was deemed appropriate for Cheek, but that determination was overruled about 14 months later at the appellate level due to the formation of a home school near the proposed home.
According to the county release, there are currently no proposed placement locations for Cheek pending court approval.