Why this matters
The state CONREP program places and supervises sex predators. San Diego's backcountry communities have been the landing spot for more predators than likely any other part of the state.
The head of a program that finds housing and monitors sexual predators in local communities has been replaced, months after a court hearing revealed what a lawyer contended was an effort to frame one of the program participants.
Melissa Bagwell had served as the statewide community program director for the Conditional Release Program for sexually violent predators. The CONREP program is overseen by the Department of State Hospitals but the agency has long contracted out the program to Liberty Healthcare of Pennsylvania.
A May 19 letter that DSH sent to public defender offices around the state stated Robert Horon is the new statewide director of the CONREP Sexually Violent Predator program.
The letter sent by Mark Grabau, the chief psychologist for community forensic programs at the agency, did not give any reason for the change. A spokesperson for Liberty referred questions to DSH.
Bagwell, whose LinkedIn profile says she has been in the position for nearly three years, did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.
Ralph Montano, the assistant director for the DSH communications office, said that Bagwell “remains employed in a leadership role with Liberty Healthcare and continues to support the CONREP SVP program.”
In March, inewsource published a story detailing allegations that William Stafford, a sexually violent predator who was living in Jacumba under CONREP supervision, had been falsely accused by Liberty of stealing money. Attorney Alexandra Knudson contended that the charge was a setup aimed at sending Stafford back to Coalinga State Hospital, saving the company tens of thousands of dollars in security costs it was obligated to provide.
Bagwell was at the center of the plan, Knudson contended. During a court hearing last August, she showed Bagwell had written at 4:08 a.m. on March 19 to three others, including Liberty workers overseeing Stafford’s case.
“I have a plan to get rid of security and to take back control of the situation with wsta,” she wrote, using the shorthand for Stafford. “Do you have time to meet briefly this morning to discuss.”
Ultimately the move to send him back to Coalinga was dropped by Liberty, and Stafford returned to live in Jacumba.
Both the state and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office have said they are reviewing the allegations against Liberty that surfaced in the hearing.
The CONREP program supervises sexually violent predators when they are released from the state hospital in Coalinga to local communities. It is one of the final steps in a treatment program for convicted sex offenders.
Liberty has contracted with the state since the program’s inception more than two decades ago to oversee the placement and monitoring of the offenders when they are placed in the community. The state recently signed a three-year, $37 million extension of the contract, which would bring the total paid to the private, Pennsylvania-based company to $130 million since 2003.
The inewsource report showed that of the 60 total individuals released to CONREP in the history of the program, 21 have been released to San Diego County. That is largely a result of how the county handles these cases, moving them through the court and hospital system quicker than nearly every other county.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
