Case of Sidney Nathaniel Landau
(AKA: Sid Landau, Sid Landall, Sidney Landall, Sidney Landau)
Anaheim, CA
Placentia, CA
Santa Ana, CA
San Francisco, CA
Queens, NY
In 1982, Landau was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy and served two years in prison. After a 1988 conviction for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy, he served eight more years. He was paroled in 1996, the year California introduced Megan's Law, which alerted residents to sex offenders in their midst.
Landau was the first sexual registrant to be "outed" under Megan's Law and has spent a dozen years in mental hospitals after being labeled a "violent sexual predator" by the State of California.
Landau was the first sexual registrant to be "outed" under Megan's Law and has spent a dozen years in mental hospitals after being labeled a "violent sexual predator" by the State of California.
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Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.
Table of Contents:
1998
- Protesters Again Force Sex Offender From Motel (09/15/1998)
2000
2006
- Convicted Rapist Fights to Be Freed From Hospital (11/17/2000)
2006
- Repeat molester seeks freedom (06/14/2006)
- O.C. Jury Deadlocks on Molester's Release (06/22/2006)
- Sympathy for the Molester (06/22/2006)
- Orange County jury deadlocks on releasing notorious molester (06/22/2006)
- California Sex Offender Registry (06/22/2006)
- What Came and Went While I Was Gone? (06/24/2006)
- Landau Comes to Town (06/29/2006)
- Office of the District Attorney (06/30/2006)
2012
- Sid Landau, Pedophile Hounded into State Mental Hospital, Wants Out (04/20/2012)
- CA pedophile wants out of state mental hospital (04/20/2012)
- OC child molester Sid Landau gets new trial for possible release (04/20/2012)
- Sid Landau gets new trial (04/21/2012)
2013
- Mistrial declared in molester case (02/06/2013)
- Sid Landau Suffers Another Setback in Bid to End Sexually Violent Predator Status (02/15/2013)
- Child Sex Offender’s Bid For Freedom Rejected By OC Jury (12/18/2013)
- Department of Justice - Sex Offender Registry (12/30/2013)
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National News Briefs
Protesters Again Force Sex Offender From Motel
New York Times - September 15, 1998
A man hounded by neighbors after he was revealed to be a convicted child molester was asked to leave a motel on Sunday after a protest by two dozen picketers.
In 1988, the man, 59-year-old Sid Landau, was convicted of three counts of molesting boys younger than 14, and served eight years in prison. He recently returned to prison after attacking a television cameraman, but was released on Sept. 2. His name was revealed under California's law on sex offenders.
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Convicted Rapist Fights to Be Freed From Hospital
By Tracy Wilson
Los Angeles Times - November 17, 2000
A Ventura County Superior Court judge is expected to rule today on whether authorities can continue to hold a convicted rapist in a state mental hospital until a jury decides whether he is likely to offend again. Ronald Steven Herrera, 55, became one of the state's first parolees to be held under a controversial 1996 law that allows sex offenders to be locked up in psychiatric wards after they've served their prison sentences.
Repeat molester seeks freedom
By Tracy Wilson
Los Angeles Times - November 17, 2000
A Ventura County Superior Court judge is expected to rule today on whether authorities can continue to hold a convicted rapist in a state mental hospital until a jury decides whether he is likely to offend again. Ronald Steven Herrera, 55, became one of the state's first parolees to be held under a controversial 1996 law that allows sex offenders to be locked up in psychiatric wards after they've served their prison sentences.
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Repeat molester seeks freedom
The original poster boy for "Megan's Law" disclosure of child molesters wants out of custody again, claiming he is no longer a threat to children.
By Larry Welborn
The Orange County Register - Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Nobody wanted Sid Landau as a neighbor in the late 1990s.
He was chased from one home to the next after Orange County police - for the first time using the newly enacted "Megan's Law" - passed out fliers revealing that he was a twice-convicted child molester.
Protesters picketed, waved signs and wore T-shirts that read, "Get rid of Sid."
Hate mail and death threats landed in Landau's mailbox and on his phone. He moved from place to place, eventually ending up back in prison after failing to meet with his parole officer.
Then, in 2000, the Orange County District Attorney's Office filed a petition declaring Landau a chronic repeat offender, who would molest again if released back to the streets. He's been in state mental hospitals ever since, under the state Sexually Violent Predator Statute.
Now, Landau wants out again, claiming his sexual urges are under control. He is 67, in poor health and recently underwent surgery for prostate cancer.
He's hoping to live out his days with his older brother in New York, working in the construction industry.
"I just stopped thinking about having sex completely," Landau testified before a nine-man, three-woman Superior Court jury on Monday. "The desires I had before are pretty much nonexistent."
The testimony came during a hearing to determine if he is a sexually violent predator or a reformed molester who is no longer a danger.
California law allows for prosecutors to seek to keep potential repeat sexual offenders locked up in a mental facility after they have served their prison sentences – if a jury is convinced they remain dangerous.
His hearing is scheduled to resume today before Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald.
Deputy District Attorney Andrea Burke contends that Landau belongs in custody. She said he is a lifelong pedophile with an extensive history of molesting children that began when he was 20.
If released, Burke contends, there is a likelihood that Landau will find other children to molest.
But Landau and his attorneys claim he should be released to live with his older brother because he has served a maximum sentence on his latest conviction in 1988, and is no longer a danger to others.
Michael J. Aye, a Sacramento attorney who specializes in defending offenders targeted under the Sexually Violent Predator Statute, said that research shows men older than 60 are far less likely to re-offend than younger men.
He said Landau also would experience severe pain if he were to re-offend because of his prostate problem, further reducing the likelihood that he would molest again.
"It's common sense," Aye said.
He has other issues with the statute.
"Constitutionally and intellectually, this is possibly the most dishonest thing I have ever seen in my life," Aye said.
He says sexual offenders are imprisoned without treatment programs, serve their time, and then are told they will not be released.
"What's fair about that?" Aye asked.
Landau was convicted of lewd acts with a 9-year-old boy in 1982, and child perversion of an 11-year-old boy in 1988.
This week, he told the jury he feels terrible about all the children he molested.
"I took away their innocence, their trust and undoubtedly gave some of them psychological problems for life," he testified. "I led a horrible, horrible life.
"And I am sorry about it," Landau said.
Timeline
- 1982: Sid Landau is convicted of lewd acts upon a 9-year-old boy and is sentenced to six years in prison.
- 1988: He is convicted on three counts of child molestation involving an 11-year-old boy and is sentenced to 17 years in prison.
- 1995: California enacts the Sexually Violent Predator Statute, allowing offenders to remain incarcerated after they have served their terms.
- 1996: After serving eight years before being paroled, Landau moves into a Placentia house.
- 1996: California enacts Megan's Law, giving the public access to previously confidential sexoffender information.
- 1997:Under Megan's Law, police notify neighbors of Landau's past. Plagued by picketing and death threats, Landau moves to a new residence in Placentia and gets the same community response. He moves several more times under continuing pressure and threats before being imprisoned on a parole violation after he shoves a TV photographer.
- 1998: After his next release, Landau is chased out of residences in Anaheim after neighborhood protests when police disclose his whereabouts.
- 1999: Landau is sent back to prison for violating his parole after state officials determine that he violated curfew and failed to meet with a parole officer.
- 2000: Landau is transferred to Atascadero State Mental Hospital, after serving maximum time in prison, when Orange County District Attorney's Office files a sexually violent predator petition against him.
- 2006: A hearing begins and will determine whether Landau should be kept locked up in a mental hospital as dangerous, or be set free.
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O.C. Jury Deadlocks on Molester's Release
Judge declares a mistrial after all jurors but one vote to free Sid Landau. He was one of the first to endure the wrath of Megan's Law.
By Christopher Goffard
Los Angeles Times, CA - June 22, 2006
At 67, Sid Landau has had quadruple-bypass surgery and prostate cancer. He wears a pacemaker. His teeth are mostly gone, as is his hearing. He did terrible things as a younger man, his lawyers say, but age has curtailed his sexual appetites, and illness has made it unlikely he could ever act on them again.
Still, prosecutors say, the serial pedophile who became the public face of Megan's Law in the 1990s remains a menace. Ailments or no, they say, his grandfatherly appearance might fool people into thinking he is harmless.
On Wednesday, an Orange County jury deadlocked on whether Landau should remain in custody, where he has been held in mental hospitals for the last six years, or be released to relatives in Queens, N.Y. After jurors announced they were deadlocked, 11 to 1, with most voting to release Landau, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald declared a mistrial.
The district attorney's office said it would retry the case. "Our position is steadfast, that he's a danger to the community," said spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder.
Landau became one of Southern California's most recognizable pedophiles in the 1990s when police, enforcing Megan's Law for the first time, distributed fliers in his Placentia neighborhood identifying him as a convicted sex offender. Death threats and protesters chased him from his home, and then from motel to motel around Orange County, until he was arrested on parole violations in 1997.
During Landau's three-week trial in Santa Ana, his sister-in-law, Linda, testified that he could live with her and her husband in Queens, where she said they would supervise him closely. She said Landau would do volunteer work at a local synagogue, do repairs on property that the family owns, and visit relatives in Israel.
"Wherever we go, we would take him with us," she said.
She said she was comfortable with Landau as a housemate, no matter how many children he molested, because she believed he had changed. She acknowledged that there were young children in her family who would be visiting her.
"This family in general doesn't realize the risk," prosecutor Andrea Burke told jurors. "People's guards are going to be down when they see someone of his age, not knowing what his past is."
Though Landau has been convicted of molesting two boys, he has admitted to abusing 10. Authorities said they believed the actual number to be still higher. The prosecutor said he victimized lonely boys, luring them to his home with a pool table, pingpong table and video games.
Prosecutors said Landau failed to understand his problem.
In 2000, Burke said, Landau refused sex-offender treatment at Atascadero State Hospital. Burke said Landau was not comfortable around women, or peers in general, which steered him toward children. "That's who he bonds with — that's who he communicates with," she said.
Defense attorney Leonard B. Levine said that with Landau's ailments and age, the chances of him preying on children were "so unlikely as to not meet the standard of the law." With radioactive seeds implanted in his body to fight his prostate cancer, the defense said, sex was painful for Landau.
"Your oath was not to punish him for what he's done in the past," Levine told jurors, but rather to determine whether he was likely to molest again. "At the age of 67 they do not re-offend — very rarely.
"It's time for Sid Landau to go home."
In 1982, Landau was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy and served two years in prison. After a 1988 conviction for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy, he served eight more years. He was paroled in 1996, the year California introduced Megan's Law, which alerted residents to sex offenders in their midst.
Soon, Landau became the first to face the wrath generated by the law. When Placentia police told his neighbors of his presence, protesters drove him out of the neighborhood and hounded him from place to place around Orange County.
In 1997, he was jailed again for violating his parole by striking a TV photographer and yet again in 1998 after authorities found family photographs of him with his young grandnephews in his San Francisco hotel room. As a condition of his parole, he was to avoid children. Also in his possession were stuffed bears with yarmulkes, which authorities called a lure for children.
In 2000, his time served, Orange County prosecutors filed a petition under the state's Sexually Violent Predator Statute, which allows sexually violent offenders who are deemed a continual threat to remain in state custody after their sentences are completed.
For most of the last six years, Landau has been held at Atascadero while awaiting trial to determine whether he should be released. Much of the delay was caused by attorneys on both sides being replaced several times. Since March, he has been held at Coalinga State Hospital. Under the statute, the state must renew its petition to keep him in custody every two years, and Landau has the right to petition the court annually for release.
"We think it's a waste to spend $140,000 a year to care for an old man who's no longer a danger," Levine said. "He's already done his time. It's been 18 years since he molested anyone."
Sympathy for the Molester
By Alex Brant-Zawadzki
OC Weekly - June 22, 2006
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By Alex Brant-Zawadzki
OC Weekly - June 22, 2006
Sid Landau is guilty of plenty of things. But now his crime is his harmless appearance.
Landau became the face of Megan's Law when he was driven from his Placentia home after police posted fliers in the neighborhood announcing his past crimes. The year was 1996; Landau had just been paroled from jail for a case of alleged boy-molestation in 1988, and Megan's Law had just gone into effect.
Shortly thereafter, Landau was jailed for various probation violations: he struck a TV reporter (after the press hounded him from hotel to hotel); though ordered to avoid children, authorities discovered a family photograph with him and (gasp) his grand-nephews; worst of all, the sick bastard had stuffed bears. With yarmulkes. Do you have any idea what an experienced molester can do with a yarmulked Teddy Ruxpinstein? Neither do I.
Our position is steadfast, that he's a danger to the community," said spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder to the LA Times. Yes, but is he dangerous enough to warrant $140,000 a year in care costs? Probably not, especially when he's got radioactive seeds in his body (it's all the rage in prostate treatment) that makes sexual activity painful. Sexual thoughts will quickly be associated with penis pain. A Clockwork Cock, if you will. If conditioning works on lab rats, maybe it'll work on Sid Landau.
Though it's possible Landau suffers pain from arousal, it's unlikely. Males in their twenties/thirties have 20-30% more difficulty getting an erection after those radioactive seeds are implanted, but there's not usually pain. The erectile dysfunction increases with age; Landau thus has all the difficulties in getting it up that any 67-year old would, compounded with the ever-increasing complications of his procedure. Still, this wouldn't stop him from traumatizing yet more victims if he got creative, but if he were out his family says they won't let him.
There's a standing offer to take him away to Queens, where Sid Landau would really be the least of their problems. Landau's sister-in-law Linda is willing to let Sid live with her and her husband in Queens, but prosecutor Andrea Burke thinks they're a coupla pig-ignorant rednecks. The couple "doesn't realize the risk," said Burke, alleging that "people's guards are going to be down" when dealing with the old man.
Come on Andrea, loosen up a bit. Linda and hubbie (in addition to welcoming a tarnished human with open arms) volunteer their at the local synagogue; not only are they likely to be decent people, but they should have no shortage of humanitarian friends willing to share the burden of monitoring this incredibly dangerous (if toothless) Machiavellian 67-year old with prostate cancer. I'm sure if any kids come to visit, there's a 70-80% chance that Linda will not lock them in the pantry with Sid, some candles and lots of Boy Scout porn.
But at the end of the day, Landau's been incarcerated for the better part of the last 15 years, at great cost to taxpayers. What's the result of a jail system designed to keep from society everyone even potentially dangerous? Not justice, that's for sure. Not rehabilitation. It's sad to say, but if I were a betting man I'd wager that the District Attorney's office is terrified of the bad press that might come from letting off the Megan's Law poster boy. That's all. There's a slight chance that clever, unscrupulous journalists would needle them for it, so they're covering their asses. Now THAT'S justice.
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Orange County jury deadlocks on releasing notorious molester
Associated Press - June 22, 2006
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of releasing child molester Sid Landau, who became the public face of Megan's Law in the 1990s.
The deadlock announced Wednesday prompted Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald to declare a mistrial.
Landau, who has been held in mental hospitals for the last six years, was seeking to be released to relatives in Queens, N.Y. Prosecutors want him to remain locked up, saying the 67-year-old remains a threat despite poor health.
The Orange County district attorney's office will retry the case, said spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder.
"Our position is steadfast, that he's a danger to the community," she said.
Landau was convicted of molesting two boys in the 1980s but has admitted to abusing 10. He served a total of 10 years in prison on those convictions.
He became one of Southern California's most recognizable pedophiles in the 1990s when police, who were enforcing Megan's Law for the first time, distributed fliers in his Placentia neighborhood identifying him as a convicted sex offender.
He was chased from a series of homes and motels by death threats and protesters until he was arrested on parole violations in 1997.
He was scheduled to be released in 2000, but Orange County prosecutors used the state's Sexually Violent Predator Statute to keep him locked up. The law allows sexually violent offenders who are deemed a continual threat to remain in state custody after their sentences are completed.
Landau's attorney, Leonard B. Levine, said his client is now harmless.
"We think it's a waste to spend $140,000 a year to care for an old man who's no longer a danger," Levine said.
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Child Sex Offender’s Bid For Freedom Rejected By OC Jury
CBS News Los Angeles - December 18, 2013
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California Sex Offender Registry
http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov
June 22, 2006
Last Name: LANDAU First Name: SID Middle Name:
INCARCERATED
Description
Last Known Address:
County:
Zip Code
Date of Birth: 06-21-1936
Sex: MALE
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 167
Eye Color: BROWN
Hair Color: BROWN
Ethnicity: WHITE
Offenses
Offense Code
Description
288(a) LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS
288a ORAL COPULATION
288a(c) ORAL COPULATION WITH PERSON UNDER 14/ETC OR BY FORCE/ETC
Scars/Marks/Tattoos
SCAR CHEST SURGICAL
SCAR CHEST
SCAR RIGHT LEG
Known Aliases
LANDALL, SID
LANDALL, SIDNEY
LANDAU, SID NATHANIEL
LANDAU, SIDNEY NATHANIEL
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What Came and Went While I Was Gone?
By Dana Parsons
By Dana Parsons
Los Angeles Times - June 24, 2006
Just like going through the mail, it's always fun to catch up on the local news after a vacation. (I know, I need to get a life.)
In scanning some of the bigger stories in my recent absence, I'm feeling a definite "yeah ... but" vibe.
So, in no particular order ...
Yeah, I understand why Irvine wants the final say-so in what gets spent to build the Great Park. After all, the park lies within the city, and the city spent plenty of brainpower and money to keep the park idea alive. It's a city that, in many ways, has shown it knows what it's doing ...
But it's impossible to argue with numbers. And the numbers are that a mere three members of the Irvine City Council can control park expenditures. That's a pretty low number for such an immense ongoing project, not to mention that city elections roll around and council members come and go.
Yeah, Irvine has a pretty good track record of getting things done. And, yeah, sometimes a smaller governing body can do things more efficiently than an unwieldy larger group of bureaucrats ...
But running a city is different than running a world-class park, which is what Irvine and Orange County residents are expecting. And despite what Irvine keeps telling itself, most residents probably envisioned a representative, countywide governing body making key decisions for the park. The recent Orange County grand jury says it sees potential conflicts of interest and various other possible pitfalls. It also found that the arrangement is "incompatible" with the intent of Measure W, the countywide vote in 2002 that finally killed the international airport idea and forwarded the park plan.
Yeah, I understand why Sheriff Mike Carona, flush with election victory, quickly cashiered the lieutenant who had challenged him and discredited his leadership. That's what corporate execs do when they win power struggles, and Carona is a corporate exec with a badge. Not a lot of CEOs would listen to an underling trash them for months and then embrace them ...
But we're talking about a public office, not private business. Lt. Bill Hunt was the police chief in San Clemente — hardly a throwaway assignment within the department. If Hunt was qualified to handle the job before the campaign, it's pretty lame to argue that he became unqualified just because he trashed his boss. If someone from within the ranks can't challenge an incumbent sheriff without fear of losing his job, who can run — only those with no inside knowledge of how the department operates?
Yeah, I understand completely why people don't want to take a chance and release convicted pedophile Sid Landau from a California state hospital, even though he's 67. He's served two separate sentences, the last for a conviction in 1988, but has admitted to abusing 10 boys in his younger days. His attorney says he's so medically infirm and aged that he no longer poses a threat, but prosecutors fighting his release can cite recidivism rates for pedophiles and argue that he's still dangerous ...
But they have no way of knowing for sure that Landau still is a threat. And he has done his time. And he does have a sister-in-law in New York who says she and her husband would not only house him but monitor his behavior. And an Orange County jury deciding his fate voted 11 to 1 to release him. I think we can reasonably assume that a jury of our peers isn't particularly inclined to let dangerous child abusers roam free.
Yeah, Westminster school board members have every right to hire or not hire whomever they want. They can be as backward or forward in their thinking as they want, because they've been fairly elected and someday will face voters again ...
But why are they so adamant about acting like the most dysfunctional public family around? Nothing wrong with a school board with spirit, but when you've got a board member withdrawing support of a prospective superintendent because another board member called yet another board member a racist ... well, you wonder what goes into the decision-making process over there.
Yeah, it's good to be back from vacation ...
But couldn't you people have straightened out all these problems while I was gone?
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Landau Comes To Town?
Child Molester Sid Landau
Child Molester Sid Landau
- June 29, 2006
Sid Landau, the California child molesting creep who stood as the first highly publicized Megan's Law case, is looking to get out of prison and move in with family – in Queens.
Megan's Law was established to give the public access to sexual predator information so that you can know if your neighbor is a convicted pedophile. Landau, who admitted to molesting at least 10 children, was run out of town after his release from jail, chased out of hotels he stayed in and eventually locked up on a probation violation.
And now he wants to come here.
A jury hearing a plea for the 67-year-old man to be able to relocate to Queens deadlocked last week, causing the judge to declare a mistrial. Keep your eyes open, your kids close and if some seemingly nice old man comes to move in next door – be sure to Google him before letting him baby sit.
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Office of the District Attorney - Tony Rackauckas, Orange County DA
MEDIA ADVISORY - LANDAU HEARING
June 30, 2006
http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=8&recordid=369
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Sid Landau, Pedophile Hounded into State Mental Hospital, Wants Out
By Matt Coker
OC Weekly - April 20, 2012
Back in March 2008, Alex Brant-Zawadzki, a colleague whose name I forever misspelled, gazed navally at Sid Landau, who was convicted in 1982 and 1988 of molesting two boys under age 14 and became one of the first sex offenders targeted in California under Megan's Law. After Landau did his time and tried to blend back into Orange County society, he was hounded back into lock up for violating parole by pushing a cameraman, failing to keep a date with his parole officer and possessing a photo of his grand-nephews and teddy bears with yarmulkes. On the eve of his release in 2000, he was sent to a state mental hospital as a violent sexual predator. Now the 70-year-old wants out.
Public defender Sara Ross, telling the Associated Press Landau's advancing age and health make him eligible for for release into the community:
Public defender Sara Ross, telling the Associated Press Landau's advancing age and health make him eligible for for release into the community:
"Ultimately, when it comes down to it, Mr. Landau served all of his time. He served each and every minute that the government asked of him and paid his dues and he's no longer a danger to society. He hasn't done anything in 20 or 30 years and he really wants to go home."
Last arrested in 1999, Landau served the maximum time for his parole violation, but was transferred to Atascadero State Mental Hospital rather than released when the Orange County District Attorney's office petitioned to qualify Landau as "an SVP"--sexually violent predator.
After serving seven years of his initial 15-year sentence, Landau was released. That's when he became the Meghan's Law Poster Boy. The Placentia Police Department released his name and address, and he was then hounded from residence to residence. He sued in federal court, claiming Placentia cops violated his right to privacy. He lost.
The parole violations sparked a trial to send Landau back inside. The first jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of his release. And second knotted 8-4, again in Landau's favor. That prompted a third trial in March 2008 and this from the Orange County Register's gung-ho columnist Gordon Dillow:
After serving seven years of his initial 15-year sentence, Landau was released. That's when he became the Meghan's Law Poster Boy. The Placentia Police Department released his name and address, and he was then hounded from residence to residence. He sued in federal court, claiming Placentia cops violated his right to privacy. He lost.
The parole violations sparked a trial to send Landau back inside. The first jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of his release. And second knotted 8-4, again in Landau's favor. That prompted a third trial in March 2008 and this from the Orange County Register's gung-ho columnist Gordon Dillow:
It's a cycle that could be repeated for years and years. And yet, as D.A. spokeswoman Susan Schroeder puts it, "What alternative do we have? We can't just let a dangerous child molester get out. We can't take that chance."
So yes, maybe in some situations it wouldn't be fair to keep a guy locked up after he has served his time.But when it comes to sexually violent predators, it wouldn't be fair to their potential victims to do anything else.
On the philosophical flip side came this from the Times Orange County's Dana Parsons:
When a person pays his debt to society, it's supposed to mean something. And as long as juries keep deadlocking--even 11 to 1 to release him--Landau could remain in the hospital forever. Ideally, I'd settle for something like this: If one or two or three juries can't decide unanimously on a person's fate in cases like this, an "expert" panel would then be brought in.
Ain't gonna happen, so we live with what we've got.Landau in 2009 was committed to the Coalinga State Hospital for an indefinite period as a SVP.
In 2010, a state psychologist concluded Landau could be safely released under supervision because of his age and Landau petitioned for his release. Coalinga's director disagreed with the doctor's assessment, and the judge rejected Landau's request as frivolous.
Last year, Landau appealed, and the state appellate court found that the judge erred and remanded the case. Orange County Superior Court Judge W. Michael Hayes indicated Landau had done as much as he could to show probable cause to deserve a hearing, scheduling it for October.
He'll once again face spirited opposition, Orange County Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner confirms to the AP:
Last year, Landau appealed, and the state appellate court found that the judge erred and remanded the case. Orange County Superior Court Judge W. Michael Hayes indicated Landau had done as much as he could to show probable cause to deserve a hearing, scheduling it for October.
He'll once again face spirited opposition, Orange County Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner confirms to the AP:
"Through the years he's even by his own admission molested at least 10 children and we think the number is quite higher than that. The amount of damage this man has done is just staggering."
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CA pedophile wants out of state mental hospital
By Gillian Glaccus
Associated Press - April 20, 2012
Instead, a firestorm erupted, fueled by freshly enacted legislation targeting molesters. Within months, Landau found himself relentlessly harangued by outraged parents and saddled with unique notoriety: one of the first sex offenders in California targeted by the full force of Megan's Law.
Police in Placentia, Calif., made sure Landau's name and face were widely known and seen. Parents picketed his house with signs and bullhorns. Neighbors called 911 each time he walked out his door. Soon, Landau lost his job at a thrift store and found himself on the run, chased from various Orange County addresses by angry crowds.
After his subsequent arrest for assaulting a cameraman and serving more time for parole violations, Landau was about to be released in 2000 — but was flagged by authorities as a sexually violent predator under a little-known law and later committed to a mental hospital for treatment.
Now 70 years old, Landau is fighting to reverse that designation and get out of the mental hospital where he has remained for the past dozen years. A judge will decide Friday whether Landau is entitled to a jury trial to challenge his sexual predator status, a label that is given to just 1 percent of all sex offenders in California.
Landau's public defender, Sara Ross, says his advancing age and health makes him a candidate for release into the community.
"Ultimately, when it comes down to it, Mr. Landau served all of his time. He served each and every minute that the government asked of him and paid his dues and he's no longer a danger to society. He is in his seventies," she said. "He hasn't done anything in 20 or 30 years and he really wants to go home."
Experts who study California's statutes on sexually violent predators, however, say Landau faces an extremely difficult fight to regain his freedom.
Under a law enacted in 1996, offenders who are convicted of a sexually violent offense, have at least one victim and are diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes them likely to reoffend can be committed to a mental hospital for treatment after a rigorous legal process that involves findings by doctors, a judge and a jury. Inmates convicted of sex offenses are evaluated by prison staff starting six months before their scheduled release and those who are flagged are forwarded to the state's Department of Mental Health for further assessment.
There are currently 533 people statewide who have been formally committed to a mental hospital for an indeterminate time because they are sexually violent predators and another 321 who are housed at Coalinga State Hospital awaiting a determination, said Deborah Ireland, a spokeswoman for the hospital about 200 miles north of Los Angeles.
Ninety-one sexually violent predators have been released since 2006, Ireland said, but it wasn't immediately clear whether those individuals gained release through a jury trial or other avenue.
Offenders are re-evaluated each year and can request a hearing to determine if there is cause to challenge the findings.
At each step, convicted molesters like Landau face significant hurdles because the district attorneys and judges handling their cases are elected officials. And if a case does get in front of a jury, it's unlikely convicted molesters will find much sympathy, said David Ramirez, a defense attorney who specializes in representing sexually violent predators.
"You've got to understand, if you let this person out in the community, there's a lot of political pressure and the heat could come down for them. If he goes out in the community and kills and rapes an 8-year-old girl walking to school, there's going to be consequences," Ramirez said. "And at trial, the prosecutors usually go over it piece by piece. 'How did you pick your victim? Was it her hair color? Her height?' The jury is obviously repulsed by that. It's an ugly process."
Landau — convicted in 1982 and 1988 for molesting two boys under age 14 — was one of the first sex offenders to be targeted in California by Megan's Law. The law derives its name from Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994 by a previously convicted sex offender; the crime led to the creation of state and federal Megan's Laws that allow police to provide notification when high-risk sex offenders move into neighborhoods.
After Placentia police disclosed Landau's name and address, Landau was shuffled from city to city in Orange County and evicted from a number of addresses, including motels.
Landau later sued the Placentia police in federal court, saying they violated his privacy rights, but he lost and went on to serve more time on three parole violations.
On the eve of his final release in 2000, prison officials referred him for evaluation as a sexually violent predator.
Landau was housed for six years in the state mental hospital while he awaited a jury trial to determine whether he should be civilly committed. Two trials resulted in hung juries but Landau was committed for an indefinite period in 2009 after a third jury found him to be a sexually violent predator.
In 2010, a state psychologist concluded he could be safely released under supervision because of his age and Landau petitioned for his release. The director of the Coalinga State Hospital, however, disagreed with the doctor's assessment and the judge rejected Landau's request as frivolous, according to court papers.
Landau appealed and last year, a state appellate court found that the judge erred and remanded the case.
Despite his age, Landau remains a danger to society and has refused treatment while at Coalinga, said Dan Wagner, the Orange County deputy district attorney handling the case.
"Through the years he's even by his own admission molested at least 10 children and we think the number is quite higher than that. The amount of damage this man has done is just staggering," Wagner said. "He's unchanged, he still is attracted to little boys and we're convinced that ... if he were to be released he'd be molesting again in a short amount of time."
Even if Landau wins his freedom, experts say, it's unlikely he will fare well.
A sexually violent predator released in 2009 was forced to live in a mobile home in the desert that was paid for by the state. His presence in the tiny town of Desert Center raised the ire of residents and Steven Willett was required to wear a monitoring bracelet, take only supervised trips and submit to regular lie detector tests.
Less than a year later, he violated his parole by following an undercover female sheriff's deputy onto a bus and inviting her back to his home. Willett was sent back to the state mental hospital.
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OC child molester Sid Landau gets new trial for possible release
KABC - April 20, 2012
SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A convicted child molester designated as a sexually violent predator is being given the chance to regain his freedom.
An Orange County judge has ruled that 70-year-old Sid Landau will get a trial to determine whether he should remain in a California mental hospital, where he has spent the last 12 years.
In 2010, a state doctor found Landau could be freed under supervision with no risk to the public because of his age.
Landau was convicted of molesting boys in the 1980s and was paroled in 1996. He was one of the first sex offenders targeted in California following the passage of Megan's Law.
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Sid Landau gets new trial
Man classified as violent predator wants his freedom
By Vikki Vargas
NBC4 - April 21, 2012
Defense attorneys will ask a jury to see Sid Landau as he is now, a frail, aging man who may not have that many years left.
They will try to make a disconnect between that man and the violent predator who was considered too much of a risk to remain free.
Landau, 72, has spent a dozen years in mental hospitals after being labeled a "violent sexual predator" by the State of California.
Now, the former Orange County parolee wants his freedom.
"Based on my review of the psychologists' reports, he's how he's always been," says Deputy Orange County District Attorney Dan Wagner.
Wagner says he will fight to keep Landau confined.
"We’re very concerned about the prospect of Landau’s release," says Wagner. "He’s very much a pedophile and very much a danger to molest little boys if he’s let out of custody."
Landau's history of seeking freedom goes back to 1996, when near-mobs would follow his every move, forcing him to move from city to city.
He was the first sexual registrant to be "outed" under Megan's Law.
"He became the lightning rod for sexual predators," said Detective Corrine Loomis of the Placentia Police Department. "All the focus was on him, even if there were others within a 50 mile radius of Placentia."
Derek Lewis still lives in the neighborhood where Landau was paroled.
"People need to be aware of the things he did," says Lewis. "They should not let him go."
Defense attorneys say all that was long ago, and Landau is unlikely to offend again. But former neighbors are not buying it.
Asked if he thinks Landau is a changed man, Lewis says, flatly, "no."
Mistrial declared in molester case
Twice-convicted child molester Sid Landau will likely remain in mental hospitals as a sexual predator.
By Larry Welborn
OC Weekly - February 6, 2013
SANTA ANA - A mistrial was declared Wednesday afternoon when an Orange County jury deadlocked at 8-4 against releasing a twice-convicted child molester from his civil commitment to state mental hospitals.
The hung jury means Sid Landau will likely remain locked up even though he has served the prison sentence handed down after his last conviction in Orange County for molestation.
Landau, 68, has been housed in mental hospitals since 2000 when the Orange County District Attorney's Office filed a sexually violent predator petition against him, alleging that he remains a danger to children.
His attorneys claimed during a four-week trial that Landau is too old and too ill to continue to have the sexual urges that led him to commit molestations.
Leonard Levine, one of Landau's attorneys, said Wednesday that he will ask Superior Court Judge Richard King on Friday to declare that Landau is not longer a sexually violent predator despite the hung jury.
Jury foreman Myron Morper, 64, of Lake Forest said most members of the seven-man, five-woman jury believed there was a likelihood that Landau would molest again because of evidence of his prior convictions, his admissions to molesting numerous boys over his lifetime, and his refusal to get psychiatric treatment.
Landau was convicted of lewd acts with a 9-year-old boy in 1982, and child perversion of an 11-year-old boy in 1988. He completed prison sentences for both crimes and was twice paroled.
He was living in relative anonymity in Placentia in 1996 until local police departments started using the newly enacted “Megan's Law” to notify communities that they had a child molester living in their midst.
Landau instantly became a headline-making pariah.
He was chased from one temporary home to the next by protesters who picketed, waved signs and wore T-shirts that read “Get Rid of Sid.” He received hate mail and death threats. Television and newspaper photographers followed his daily movements.
Landau was sent back to prison in 1997 for a few months on a parole violation when he shoved a television cameraman. He was returned to prison in 1998 on a second violation for failing to meet with his parole officer.
He was about to be released - meaning that he would be paroled without any strings - when the Orange County District Attorney's Office filed the petition against him.
Sex offenders designated as sexually violent predators can apply for release from incarceration in mental hospitals if they can convince a jury that they are no longer dangerous.
A Superior Court jury in Santa Ana deadlocked at 11-1 for his release in his first bid for such a release last year.
SID LANDAU CASE TIME LINE
1982: Sid Landau, then 41, convicted of lewd acts upon a 9-year-old boy, sentenced to six years in prison.
1988: Convicted of molesting an 11-year-old boy, sentenced to 17 years in prison.
1995: California enacts the Sexually Violent Predator Statute.
1996: Landau paroled, moves to Placentia house.
1996: California enacts Megan's Law.
1997: Under Megan's Law, police notify neighbors of Landau's past, and he is chased from one temporary home to the next by protesters and the media until he violates his parole by shoving a TV cameraman.
1998: After his next release, Landau is again chased out of homes by people alerted by "Megan's Law" warning. He is sent back to prison for violating his parole after state officials determine that he violated curfew and failed to meet with a parole officer.
2000: Landau is transferred to Atascadero State Mental Hospital after serving maximum time in prison when Orange County District Attorney's Office files a sexually violent predator petition against him.
2006: His first attempt for release from the SVP hold comes up one vote short when a jury deadlocks at 11-1 in favor of letting him go.
Feb. 6, 2008: A second jury deadlocked at 8-4 for keeping him locked up as a danger.
Feb, 8, 2008: Landau's attorney will ask a judge to release Landau to his brother's case despite the mistrial.
CRITERIA FOR SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR
1. Has the offender been convicted of at least two sexually violent acts for which he has received prison terms?
2. Does he have a diagnosed mental disorder?
3, As a result of that mental disorder, is it likely he will continue to commit sexually violent crimes?
Sid Landau Suffers Another Setback in Bid to End Sexually Violent Predator Status
By Matt Coker
OC Weekly - February 15, 2013
Sexual predator Sid Landau tried for years through the courts to be freed from a state mental institution on grounds he had not committed a crime against children in three decades, but at every turn the Orange County District Attorney's office thwarted the 71-year-old. Now, a three-justice panel at the California Court of Appeals in Santa Ana has rejected Landau's latest bid for freedom.
Landau won a three-year prison sentence after being convicted in 1982 of molesting a 10-year-old Anaheim boy. In 1988, he pleaded guilty to molesting a 9-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in the joint. He served eight years before being paroled in 1996, but he was back in and out of lockup through 1999 for parole violations. Prosecutors in 2000 got Landau declared a sexually violent predator (SVP), which sent him to Atascadero State Mental Hospital.
By that time, Landau had long served as Orange County's poster boy for Megan's Law, the name for laws around the country that provide details about sex offenders in the wake of the 1994 rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey. While Landau was out of custody, the Placentia Police Department released his name and address, and he was then hounded from residence to residence.
Landau sued in federal court, claiming Placentia cops violated his right to privacy. He lost. At two parole violation trials, juries deadlocked in favor of his release, voting 11-1 and 8-4 respectively. That prompted a third trial in March 2008 previewed by formerWeekly contributor Alex Brant-Zawadzki:
Landau won a three-year prison sentence after being convicted in 1982 of molesting a 10-year-old Anaheim boy. In 1988, he pleaded guilty to molesting a 9-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in the joint. He served eight years before being paroled in 1996, but he was back in and out of lockup through 1999 for parole violations. Prosecutors in 2000 got Landau declared a sexually violent predator (SVP), which sent him to Atascadero State Mental Hospital.
By that time, Landau had long served as Orange County's poster boy for Megan's Law, the name for laws around the country that provide details about sex offenders in the wake of the 1994 rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey. While Landau was out of custody, the Placentia Police Department released his name and address, and he was then hounded from residence to residence.
Landau sued in federal court, claiming Placentia cops violated his right to privacy. He lost. At two parole violation trials, juries deadlocked in favor of his release, voting 11-1 and 8-4 respectively. That prompted a third trial in March 2008 previewed by formerWeekly contributor Alex Brant-Zawadzki:
Landau was committed the following year to the Coalinga State Hospital for an indefinite period as a SVP. In 2010, a state psychologist concluded Landau could be safely returned to society under supervision because of his age and Landau petitioned for his release. Coalinga's director disagreed with the doctor's assessment, and a judge rejected Landau's request as frivolous.
Landau appealed in 2011, and the state appellate court found that the judge erred and remanded the case. Last year, Orange County Superior Court Judge W. Michael Hayes ruled Landau deserved a new hearing.
Landau petitioned the appeals court again because of delays in a new trial court hearing, but in a ruling dated Feb. 7, the panel of justices in part blamed his own attorneys, who'd repeatedly rescheduled proceedings.
Part of the panel's basis for finding reason for Landau's SVP status is something he sent in December 2003 to the brother and sister-in-law he wants to live with in New York if released: a box of belongings containing pornography. Then there are the 18 boxes he mailed to a relative from 2003-2006 that included pictures of a boy on a bed in underwear and actor Russell Crowe kissing a boy on the forehead, articles about a boy who exposed himself online and children getting lost at water parks and pamphlets on daycare centers, babysitting businesses, Walt Disney World and wholesale toy stores. The justices believe Landau mistakenly included these, wanting to keep them as currency to trade with fellow patients.
But the justices also found Landau has claimed his sex drive ground to a stop because of health issues, which include heart problems and Asperger's syndrome, and that he has vowed to always remain under adult supervision to keep him away from children. His defense has also noted Landau's sister-in-law has pledged a "zero tolerance policy" that would have her immediately contacting authorities should he stray. She and Landau's brother also say they will not allow him to have a dog, as he in the past used pets to lure children, according to the justices.
Another Superior Court hearing on Landau's SVP status is scheduled next Friday, Feb. 22. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court has been asked to overturn a separate appellate court ruling clearing the way for prosecutors to have a psychological expert interview Landau yet again.
Part of the panel's basis for finding reason for Landau's SVP status is something he sent in December 2003 to the brother and sister-in-law he wants to live with in New York if released: a box of belongings containing pornography. Then there are the 18 boxes he mailed to a relative from 2003-2006 that included pictures of a boy on a bed in underwear and actor Russell Crowe kissing a boy on the forehead, articles about a boy who exposed himself online and children getting lost at water parks and pamphlets on daycare centers, babysitting businesses, Walt Disney World and wholesale toy stores. The justices believe Landau mistakenly included these, wanting to keep them as currency to trade with fellow patients.
But the justices also found Landau has claimed his sex drive ground to a stop because of health issues, which include heart problems and Asperger's syndrome, and that he has vowed to always remain under adult supervision to keep him away from children. His defense has also noted Landau's sister-in-law has pledged a "zero tolerance policy" that would have her immediately contacting authorities should he stray. She and Landau's brother also say they will not allow him to have a dog, as he in the past used pets to lure children, according to the justices.
Another Superior Court hearing on Landau's SVP status is scheduled next Friday, Feb. 22. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court has been asked to overturn a separate appellate court ruling clearing the way for prosecutors to have a psychological expert interview Landau yet again.
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Department of Justice - Sex Offender Registry
December 30, 2013
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