Angry Galt residents battle bid to place sexually violent predator in their town
A Humboldt County man branded a sexually violent predator and rejected by counties across California since his 2018 release from a state hospital could soon head to Galt where angry residents are demanding that he be turned away from their community.
A Humboldt Superior Court judge will soon decide whether convicted child rapist Joshua Bryan Cooley will be placed at the home on Harvey Road on the southern edge of Sacramento County.
A hearing slated for Jan. 29 in Humboldt County is but the latest attempt by the Department of State Hospitals to relocate Cooley after previous attempts to house him in Humboldt, Tehama and San Diego counties were rejected. The Galt Herald first reported the story.
Cooley’s criminal history dates back to a 2001 charge of sexual battery and criminal threats, unpublished state appellate court filings from 2011 and 2015 provided to The Sacramento Bee show. Cooley was 21 in 2002 when he kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old girl in Humboldt County. He was sentenced to four years, eight months in state prison in the attack.
Cooley was on parole in 2007 at age 27 when he took two 12-year-old girls and a 17-year-old girl to his home in Eureka, plied them with alcohol and tried to lure them into his hot tub, the court records showed.
Police officers responding to a noise complaint at Cooley’s home found the 17-year-old unconscious in a pool of vomit and one of the 12-year-olds visibly intoxicated. The younger girl was able to tell officers that Cooley fled with the other 12-year-old when police arrived. Officers tracked down the paroled Cooley using the GPS device he was wearing, and he was jailed again.
Cooley was later declared a sexually violent predator and confined to Coalinga State Hospital until his release. Cooley appealed the violent predator declaration but state appellate judges rejected his challenges.
Sacramento County authorities do not play a part in selecting the site, but they and state officials are being lobbied hard by Galt residents and city leaders to convince state hospital officials to reconsider the proposed move. The home is approximately a mile from the Galt city limits and close to the city’s Vernon Greer Middle School, Valley Oaks Elementary School and Galt High School.
“He has reoffended, he’s likely to reoffend and that’s of great concern. The real thing is, he’s not from Galt. He has no ties here. We are just next on the hit list where they’re trying to dump this guy, said Galt Mayor Shawn Farmer. “He’s less than a mile from five schools — there’s a lot of opportunity. There are a lot of different fronts opposed to this.”
Earlier in January, residents in Wilton, near Elk Grove, protested the placement of convicted sexually violent predator Dariel Shazier in their community.
A Santa Clara Superior Court judge placed Shazier in Sacramento County in 2019 though he, like Cooley, had no ties to the area. A Sacramento Superior Court judge in early January denied the motion to move Shazier to Wilton.
In Cooley’s home county, a Humboldt County judge in 2019 rejected three potential sites after residents’ protests, according to news reports.
Opposition in Tehama County turned Cooley away from a Red Bluff home in July 2019, the Corning Observer reported. San Diego County was the latest to deny Cooley last September, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Some violent sex offenders are committed to state hospitals after completing their sentences. Once they are evaluated and cleared to be released, the Department of State Hospitals finds housing away from populated areas.
In Galt, “general outrage” is the reaction to Cooley’s possible placement along rural Harvey Road near schools, senior residents, a park and a daycare, said resident Mike Alexander.
Sheriff’s deputies handed out fliers in recent days notifying residents of Cooley’s proposed placement, but some complained that fliers did not go to everyone and said the notice had taken residents by surprise.
But residents’ response has been swift.
The online petition Alexander helped to organize has collected 1,600 signatures in little more than three days.
“To go into town, he has to go by the school, he has to go by soccer fields, he has to go by parks,” Alexander said. “There’s complete outrage that they’d put him that close to seniors and people with small children. The property they want to place him on — it’s got outbuildings, barns — he’s a bad individual.”
Signs posted near the Harvey Road home with Cooley’s prison mug shot alert to the man who would live there and the 2002 rape and urge residents to email their opposition to Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.
Schubert’s office on Thursday issued a warning with direction on how residents can comment and how to view the virtual Humboldt hearing. District Attorney’s officials in the warning say if approved, Cooley would live at the Galt-area residence where he would be monitored for one year. After that, DA’s officials say he would then be eligible to be fully released without supervision.
“He has a propensity for violence and he’s proved it. There are so many reasons he’s not fit to live near children. There’s a daycare nearby. It’s a horrible location. The neighbors are in an uproar,” said Barbara Greer, who lives near the home where Cooley could be placed and helped organize the petition drive against the potential move.
“It’s not fair to the community. He raped a 12-year-old girl and was convicted, but he can disrupt our lives, he can affect our safety and well being?” Greer said. “I have two grandchildren. My feeling of well being for them is at heart.”
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