Sex Offender Who Vowed To Molest Again In Violation Of Registry

COSTA MESA, CA — Cary Jay Smith, a convicted sex offender who repeatedly vowed to keep molesting children and openly fantasized about torturing and killing little boys, is in violation of the state's sex offender registration requirements for failing to update his whereabouts with local law enforcement, according to the California Attorney General's Office.

Since his release from a state hospital last year, Smith has spent time in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties. Smith's last known address was in Costa Mesa, according to the Megan's Law database. However, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department, Smith is not under the department's jurisdiction.

"He is not our 290 registrant," said Costa Mesa Police Department Public Affairs Manager Roxi Fyad, referring to the California penal code governing sex offender registration. "We know he's not in our city."

Similarly, spokespersons for the Orange County Sheriff's and Probation departments said Smith does not report to their agencies and offered no knowledge of his whereabouts. A spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's office said no law enforcement agency has referred Smith for prosecution for violating the sex offender registry law.

Patch was unable to verify if any law enforcement agency knows of Smith's whereabouts.

An individual who is required to register as a sex offender may be in violation of the law if they have failed to update their information with local law enforcement, according to a spokesperson for the California Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General's Office referred Patch to the Costa Mesa Police Department for information about oversight of Smith though the police department disavowed jurisdiction over him.

His controversial release from a state mental hospital in 2020 prompted protests in several cities, and multiple police agencies vowed to monitor his whereabouts. Smith was released from Coalinga State Hospital in July 2020 after spending 21 years at that facility under a civil commitment. Upon his release, he sought refuge in the cities of Orange, Corona, Lake Elsinore, San Diego, Garden Grove, Los Angeles and Costa Mesa.

Though he was eligible for release every six months, he remained institutionalized for decades because he told review boards that he would molest again, according to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

In fighting Smith's release last year, Spitzer quoted Smith saying, "If you don't cut off my penis and hands, I will molest again." Smith referred to himself as Mr. RTK — Mr. Rape, Torture, Kill— and pleaded guilty in 1985 to a misdemeanor sex offense against a child, requiring him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. That requirement was lifted in 2005 "for an unknown reason," according to Spitzer.

The state Attorney General's Office and Spitzer agreed that Smith must register as a sex offender after a lengthy discussion that went to the highest office in the state last summer.

"They could recommit him or release him," Spitzer said last year. "But at least now we'll know where he is."

Smith was evaluated at a mental health facility in Costa Mesa in 2020 after moving around four Southern California counties since his release. Costa Mesa was his eighth and final stop after being released from Coalinga State Hospital. He was confronted with protesters wherever he landed, which his attorney, Staycie Sena, battled at every turn.

"In not renewing the commitment, the state hospital determined that Mr. Smith was no longer a danger to others," Sena said at the time in a news release. "He has received decades of treatment. We must trust the rehabilitative process."

She promised that Smith would be under "constant police surveillance" and that he was cooperating fully with various law enforcement agencies and is working with mental health professionals to ensure the safety of the community."

Sena did not respond to emailed requests for comment Thursday.

Smith's decades-long civil commitment began in 1999 with a stay at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino. He was placed on a psychological hold after his wife had given a psychiatrist a letter he wrote that described sex acts in which he fantasized about a 7-year-old boy in his neighborhood in Costa Mesa, according to prosecutors.

The state kept him locked up in a state hospital under a civil commitment that concluded he was a danger to children because he openly fantasized about raping, torturing and killing little boys.

With his civil commitment ended, Smith is free to come and go as he pleases because he was not on parole nor probation.

At the time of his release, his attorney asked that the public refrain from seeking him out.

"Please understand that by continuing to chase him down, you are contributing to a potential community disaster," Sena said. "He is being monitored closely by law enforcement officials and working closely with mental health professionals. Releasing his whereabouts so that angry crowds appear is not beneficial to anyone and only increases the risk of community harm."

City News Service contributed to this report.