Sex offender moves out after protest

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- After neighbors protested in front of his apartment

complex Sunday, a registered sex offender “voluntarily moved out” of his

home at the Newport Senior Village, a property manager said Monday.

Melanie Lucie, manager of the complex on 21st Street and Newport

Boulevard, said Grayling Lang Mitchell, 41, left with his 70-year-old

wife Monday after meeting with property management officials. The couple

had moved into the complex in October.

“After we spoke with him, he volunteered to move out,” Lucie said.

Residents of the area said they were delighted that a “potentially

dangerous sex offender” is no longer living in their neighborhood.

“I’m very happy at the quick response,” said Norma McClary, who

organized Sunday’s protest. “This is a beautiful neighborhood and we’d

like it to stay that way.”

McClary said she and other residents were ready to stage another

demonstration Saturday morning.

“We just want him out of here,” she said. “He lost the right to live

in a nice area like this the moment he committed those horrible crimes.”

To warn residents about Mitchell, Costa Mesa police circulated fliers

last Thursday -- an action authorized under Megan’s Law, which went into

effect three years ago to better inform the public about the presence of

high-risk sex offenders.

Megan’s Law requires those who have been convicted of dangerous sex

crimes to register with local law enforcement agencies. It also allows

their names and photographs to be made public.

According to the police flier, Mitchell has been convicted of rape by

force, sodomy with force and oral copulation with force.

Lucie said the property management company did not know about

Mitchell’s criminal record “until the fliers were tossed out.”

“He was obviously able to live in our property because of his wife,”

she said. Newport Senior Village, an affordable housing complex,

accommodates only those 62 years and older, and their families.

Lucie added that her company did not threaten to evict Mitchell.

“According to state law, we can’t evict someone without proper cause,”

she said. “We can’t throw them out because of a prior criminal record.

They could take us to court for that.”

Mitchell is not the first high-risk sex offender to draw protests from

Costa Mesa residents. Two years ago, Chris Decker, who was convicted of

rape in 1977, was given an eviction notice by his landlord after police

circulated fliers to residents in his building.

Decker filed a lawsuit against the property owner, demanding $1

million in damages. But a Superior Court judge upheld the eviction.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Ron Smith said Megan’s Law separates sex

offenders into three categories: high-risk, who are repeat offenders

involved in violent crimes; serious, who may be one-time offenders whose

offense may or may not involve violence; and others, who may have been

arrested for possession of pornography or indecent exposure.

Police can distribute information about high-risk offenders to any

citizen, but information about serious offenders can be released only to

those in the immediate area, Smith said.

Information about those falling under the “other” category is not

available to the public, he said.

About 160 registered sex offenders live in Costa Mesa. Half of them

are serious offenders, authorities said. Only one -- Mitchell -- was

listed as a high-risk offender.

Smith said the police department “prefers to err on the side of giving

out information than withholding it.”

“We passed out the fliers so people could use the information to

protect themselves and their children,” he said. “We felt it was best to

put it out there instead of keep it to ourselves till somebody became a

victim.”

FYI

To receive information through Megan’s Law, call (714) 754-5039 to

make an appointment with a Costa Mesa police officer. On Tuesdays and

Thursdays the department allows citizens to view sex offender

information. Searches can be made by zip codes or by last names. The data

is stored on a disk that is updated every month by the California

Department of Justice.