Hearing Begins To Keep Parole-Eligible Sexually Violent Predator Civilly Committed

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — A sexually violent predator in San Mateo County is reaching the end of his sentence for crimes committed in the 1970s and 80s prosecutors are holding a hearing to have him involuntarily committed to keep him away from the public, District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe's office said Friday.

Former mill worker Cameron Hooker, 71, was convicted in 1985 of kidnapping and then keeping captive a woman who was hitchhiking near Red Bluff in 1977, holding her for several years in bondage. The victim was gagged, blindfolded, handcuffed and her head was encased in a box, according to prosecutors. She was kept in a box under his bed and hung from the rafters in a basement, where she was whipped, tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted for over seven years. Eventually Hooker's wife helped the woman get away, despite being part of the kidnapping.

Hooker was convicted and given six to 35 years in prison plus another 69 years. He was set to be paroled in 2020, but a prison psychiatrist said he was a sexual sadist and a sexually violent predator, or SVP, according to prosecutors.

Hooker's case has been referred to the District Attorney's Office, which is spearheading what is called a SVP proceeding, which is a hearing to petition to keep Hooker locked up in a state hospital on a civil commitment.

The hearing on trial motions began last week and will continue, and then a jury will be chosen in May, Wagstaffe said.

By Katy St. Clair / Bay City News

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