Sheriff Asks For Community’s Help After State Mulls Plans To Release Violent Rapist Near Girl Scout Camp
By Christine Sellers
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff in California has asked residents to protest state authorities’ plans to release a rapist near a Girl Scout camp, even though the rapist had raped again after a prior release.
Sheriff Chris Clark urged residents to submit written comments ahead of an Oct. 30 court hearing for Michael Cheek, according to a Facebook post on the official page for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. In the same post, Clark raised concerns about Cheek’s proposed placement at a residence in the Santa Cruz Mountains due to “remote terrain, limited road access, unreliable cell service and GPS, and proximity to schools, a Girl Scout camp, a church, a public park, and family neighborhoods.”
“Our community deserves to be informed, and every voice deserves to be heard,” the post read.
Clark previously discussed Cheek’s proposed placement in a Sept. 23 press release shared on Facebook.
“As sheriff, I have a responsibility to inform our community and the Court when a proposed placement raises foreseeable public safety concerns. As someone who calls Santa Cruz County home and [is] raising my family here, I understand how deeply this news affects all of us throughout the county,” Clark said.
Clark added that the victims of Cheek’s crimes, which occurred in Santa Cruz County, should not have to “carry the risk of his placement.”
Cheek was convicted of kidnapping, rape, and forcible oral copulation in 1980 and was sentenced to jail, according to a 2024 press release from the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office. Cheek escaped from jail and then raped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint, for which he was sentenced to additional time in prison. The district attorney’s office had Cheek declared a sexually violent predator in 1997 under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. (RELATED: Man Who Allegedly Attacked Seattle Bus With Machete Escapes From ‘Home Detention’)
Cheek completed a sex offender program and was moved to a psychiatric hospital in 2019, according to KRON 4. He was deemed fit for conditional release the same year, and a judge ordered his release, according to the district attorney’s office. In 2024, Liberty Healthcare of California, Inc. and the Department of State Hospitals proposed Cheek be released to a residence in Aptos, the district attorney’s office said. Both the district attorney’s office and local residents opposed the measure, according to CBS News.
In 2021, proposed placements to house Cheek in Bonny Doon and Redwood City also failed, according to KRON 4 and KTVU, respectively.
“His crimes are heinous, absolutely heinous; why would someone like that get to leave prison?” one Redwood City resident told KTVU at the time.
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This was a refreshing read compared with the usual articles I find online. I am curious whether you have covered any related topics elsewhere on the blog.