Santa Rita Inmate Charged With Child Sex Abuse Seeks Lower Bail

DUBLIN, CA — A man facing multiple child sex abuse charges will seek a bail reduction Friday, jail records show.

Walid S. Hamze, 60, has been in Santa Rita Jail for a year, as KPIX first reported. He was arrested in Dublin last May and now faces eight felony charges related to child sex abuse and 15 special allegations, which can be tacked onto charges to enhance a punishment, according to court and jail records.

Prosecutors allege multiple victims were involved, court records show.

Hamze pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all special allegations last June, court records show.

Hamze is scheduled to appear in court 9 a.m. Friday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, where a judge is to hear his motion for a bail reduction.

"As Mayor public safety is my highest priority," said Dublin Mayor David Haubert in an email. "I’m genuinely concerned for my community and I’m shocked that this person’s release is even up for consideration."

Hamze is one of many inmates who have sought release on zero bail amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

Inmate advocates say decreasing jail populations is a matter of ensuring inmates are healthy and safe, and are not subjected to a potential spread of the coronavirus. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office opposes the release of Hamze and other inmates seeking a bail reduction, and said high-risk inmates are segregated from the rest of the Santa Rita jail population.

Santa Rita Jail's population has decreased from 2,597 on March 1 to 1,763 as of Thursday, the sheriff's office said.

Earlier this month Livermore Mayor John Marchand decried an Alameda County judge's decision to release Gregory P. Vien, who was charged in connection with two Bay Area rapes, including one in Livermore. Vien's attorneys argued he was at high risk to have serious complications from COVID-19.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office said Waseen H. Abuhwaidi has been arrested seven times during the shelter-in-place order, including one instance in which Dublin police officers arrived to find him beating a person, deputies say.

The sheriff's office also said Rocky Music carjacked someone at the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station 37 minutes after he was released from jail. Music was arrested earlier that day in a stolen car in Oakland, deputies say.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated Hamze's incarceration status.