OC Child Molester Who Vowed To Attack Again Trailed To Santa Ana

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A convicted sex offender recently released from a state mental institution is under watch by much of Southern California this week because he has repeatedly vowed to molest children again, openly fantasizing about torturing and killing little boys.

On Wednesday, the Santa Ana Police Department announced that Cary Jay Smith, 59, is now within their borders at an undisclosed healthcare center in Santa Ana. Police tweeted that they are monitoring his whereabouts. The case concerning Smith has raised questions both from the District Attorney's Office, police departments, and residents across the southland. How does a convicted sex offender not have to register for the offense?

Smith 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, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. "However, in 2005, that requirement was lifted for an unknown reason."

Before his rehabilitation, he called himself Mr. RTK," which stands for Rape, Torture, Kill," Spitzer said. "That's what I think has kept him in. He says, 'If you don't cut off my penis and hands, I will molest again."

"We need to look into this and know why he is no longer a lifetime 290," Spitzer said, referring to the code in the law that requires sex offenders to register with authorities so they can be tracked. "We believe he is a lifetime registrant," Spitzer said.

According to Smith's attorney, Staycie Sena, he has "received decades of treatment," she wrote in an email. "We must trust the rehabilitative process."

Smith was released from Coalinga State Hospital last week after spending 21 years at that facility. Since his release, he has sought refuge in the City of Orange, Corona, Lake Elsinore, San Diego, and Garden Grove.

On Tuesday, Smith left a Garden Grove motel, and "was taken to appointments in the area by Orange County mental health officials," police said. As of Wednesday, Santa Ana police confirmed that he was now at a healthcare center within their borders.

His attorney, Staycie Sena, released a statement saying that "by not renewing his commitment" to the hospital, they determined that he was "no longer a danger to others."

Local officials disagree.

Both Spitzer and Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for assistance. They want answers as to why Smith was no longer required to register as a sex offender despite a conviction and requirement to do so in 1985.

Newsom's office referred questions to the Department of State Hospitals.

Ken August of the Department of State Hospitals said state and federal privacy laws prohibited the department from commenting.

According to OC Assistant District Attorney Shawn Nelson, Smith received a letter from the state Department of Justice informing him that Smith "no longer had to register as a sex offender."

Smith appeared to be "very mild and passive" when the Orange police department officers spoke with him Thursday night.

Smith was committed to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino in 1999 on a psychological hold when his wife gave a psychiatrist a letter her husband wrote that described sex acts he fantasized about on 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, prosecutors say. Under that law, he had the opportunity to seek release in a trial every six months.

However, during the hearings, he testified that he continues to fantasize about sexually assaulting and killing young boys, prosecutors said.
The civil commitment has ended, and Smith is free to come and go as he pleases. He does not need to report to anyone, according to his attorney. Sena has asked that the public to 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.