Formerly committed serial rapist almost strikes again - sentenced to at least 20 years

(Original Post 10-25-09)
A serial rapist, confined at a state mental hospital after convictions of five rapes in the 1970's, was arrested for trying to rape a jogger at a Massachusetts state park September 28. Fifty-one year old Scott Gagnon, of Tewksbury, will be arraigned in Salem Superior Court for attempted rape and indecent assault and battery. Gagnon faces life in prison for the new charges, and is being held without bond as a danger to women.

The indictments, which were expected, were handed up late Wednesday by an Essex County grand jury. They move the case out of Ipswich District Court. Prosecutor Gerald Shea said he expects Gagnon to be rearraigned in Salem Superior Court within the next several weeks.

Gagnon was arrested on Sept. 28 after a woman jogging at the Sandy Point State Reservation at the southern tip of Plum Island reported that she was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground. The woman managed to escape her attacker's grasp and ran, flagging down two men, who then drove her to a security gate to report the incident. Gagnon was found in a truck a short time later.

Gagnon was released from Bridgewater State Hospital in 2007 after being committed there in 1980 for the 70's rapes. Experts pronounced him "cured" even though Gagnon admitted to 20 other rapes before institutionalization. Only a week before the rape attempt, Gagnon, along with 40 other men, was busted in a john sting held by Haverhill, MA police, and released after paying a $500 fine.

(Update 2-6-10) Gagnon was sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison for the rape attempt last fall by Judge John Lu. The sentencing took place Thursday, February 4, just after he took a plea deal on attempted rape and indecent assault and battery charges. Gangon will spend 20 years on probation and lifetime community supervision if he's released from prison. Ironically, Gagnon's minimum sentence is longer than it would have been if he was sentenced to life under Massachusetts law.

More details about that attempt are posted below. He can still be designated a sexually violent predator at the conclusion of his sentence.

Prosecutor Gerald Shea described to the judge the details of what happened on the afternoon of Sept. 28 at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, a seven-mile stretch of wilderness with hiking trails and beaches that stretches from Newbury to Ipswich.

The woman had gone to the southern end of the island, and was on the beach at the Sandy Point State Reservation in Ipswich when she first noticed Gagnon.

He stood out because of his attire, dressed more like a construction worker than a typical visitor to the refuge, Shea said. As he walked around, he was making her uncomfortable, Shea said. She realized that he was watching her.

So the woman went into a bathroom and changed into some running clothes, then started jogging on the wet sand. As she looked over her shoulder, she quickly realized that Gagnon was following behind her.

After a while Gagnon moved up toward the road and seemed to disappear. The woman kept running, about two miles, Shea said. Then, suddenly, Gagnon appeared again, trying to start a conversation. He asked her about the temperature of the water. She kept running.

Moments later, she felt someone come up fast behind her. Gagnon grabbed her around the chest and threw her to the ground. The woman screamed and resisted as waves of water broke over them. She was able to break away and began running. Gagnon ran, too, in the opposite direction.

A father and his daughter who were planning to spend the afternoon surfcasting on the island happened to drive by and the woman flagged them down, Shea said. That driver, Jeffrey Shaw, told police that the woman was "terrified." He called for help and drove her to the main gate of the refuge, where police were waiting.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer at the parking lot at the end of the island had spotted and detained Gagnon. Gagnon claimed he'd been jogging on the beach, and the woman was "in his way," so he "just grabbed her to move her out of his way."

Carol Cahill, Gagnon's atorney, said that "Mr. Gagnon, in all likelihood, is never going to be free again."

Civilly committed rapist Gary Cherry staying on supervised release

A Washington serial rapist convicted in the rapes of 2 women and the attempted rape of a third, but who has admitted to raping 18 others, will stay on supervision after a petition for release was denied. If granted, 50 year old Gary Cherry would have been the first Washington sex offender to sucessfully graduate from civil committment. Cherry's petition to be let off of supervision was denied by Mason County Judge Amber Finley on Tuesday, September 1.

In 1979, Cherry befriended a woman he met in a bar, and raped her after she offered to give him a ride home. While on parole for that attack, Cherry tried to rape a 19 year old woman he met at a Grays Harbor fishing pond, but she fought him off. After that incident, Cherry raped a 21 year old woman he met at a Mason County cafe.

Th state of Washington declared Cherry a sexually violent predator and committed him to the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center after he finished his prison sentence. Cherry advanced through almost all steps of the sex offender treatment program.

In 2003 he was released and allowed to live at his own home with his wife and children, but he was under strict supervision, including the following restrictions:

- He is not allowed out in the community alone
- His movements are monitored by GPS
- He is not allowed to contact kids or women without supervision
- He is not allowed at parks, schools or other locations frequented by children or women
- He is not allowed to drive a car without permission from supervisors
- He may not use the Internet without monitoring
- He is not allowed to drink alcohol and is not permitted in bars
- Department of Corrections officials are allowed to search his property at any time.

Police are authorized to arrest Cherry for violating any of these conditions, but if the judge had approved the request from the state attorney general's office Cherry would have been free of these restrictions.

Parents Against Sex Offenders founder Sherry Smith was pleased, stating that she was "very shocked, I thought it was going to go the other way, but I'm very pleased."

California hair fetish rapist faces indefinite civil committment

Convicted rapist facing hospital stay extension
By Michelle Durand

Prosecutors are seeking to keep incarcerated a convicted rapist with an alleged hair fetish in a state hospital wing specializing in sexually violent predators.

Timothy McKnight, 51, has already been extended past the completion of his 20-year state prison sentence. If a jury finds McKnight meets the legal criteria for being a sexually violent predator, it can choose to continue keeping the Brisbane rapist at Atascadero State Hospital.

In 1988, McKnight pleaded no contest to three counts of rape and oral copulation in Brisbane and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. At the time, McKnight had a prior conviction on his record. Prosecutors said McKnight assaulted the victim at gunpoint and had a “fetish regarding women’s hair” but did not elaborate further.

McKnight was recommitted to the state hospital at the end of his prison sentence and came up for evaluation every two years under a 1996 law governing sexually violent predators. Offenders found to have committed two violent acts and have a mental disorder can be held beyond their sentence if deemed a sexually violent predator.

With the advent of the so-called Jessica’s Law, hospital wards like McKnight now face indefinite commitment because the legislation removed the two-year re-evaluation requirement. A commitment as a sexually violent predator now means possible indefinite commitment or — on the chance an inmate is found safe — indefinite freedom.

This hearing is the first for McKnight since the law changed. The sexually violent predator extension trial is estimated to last one week before Judge Jack Grandsaert.
McKnight remains in custody as a state hospital patient.

Suburban Chicago wife rapist bound over for civil commitment trial

An Illinois man who was scheduled to be released July 3 will be held for a civil commitment trial as a sexual predator for the rape of his then wife. DuPage Circuit Judge Kenneth Popejoy determined that enough evidence suggesting that Jeremy Schloss, 27, may be a sex predator exists to continue to hold his past the end of his sentence.

Schloss pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse for a Feb. 2, 2005, arrest in which his then-wife accused him of trying to rape her in their Wheaton apartment after she had rejected his sexual advances.

Initially, Schloss was placed on 36 months' probation in which he was required to undergo sex offender and alcohol treatment. On Nov. 1, 2005, he was resentenced to seven years in prison after he violated terms of his probation by repeatedly calling the woman, with whom he was ordered not to have any contact.

At the sentencing hearing, his former wife told the judge Schloss was an abusive alcoholic.
"Even with moving to a new place, I do not feel safe in my house," she said. "I am afraid that he will find me, hurt me and take (our son). Every little sound I hear scares me."

Two years earlier, in 2003, police arrested Schloss on criminal sexual abuse charges in Streamwood on suspicion he inappropriately touched a teenage girl. Schloss pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of battery and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Joelle Marasco, an assistant Illinois attorney general, stated that a psychologist hired by the state stated that Schloss needs to stay locked up and get sex offender treatment in Rushville until he’s safe to release into the community.

But defense attorney Neil J. Levine challenged the expert's findings, which he argued where based on inaccurate data. For example, Levine said the expert found Schloss had two sex offenses in his history but the first one was reduced to a battery charge.

"He's not dangerous to society," Levine said. "It's arbitrary and capricious to classify (the first offense) as sexual."

Illinois’ civil commitment law has led to the commitment of 215 sexual offenders beyond their sentence expiration for further treatment. It was passed 10 years ago, and has been challenged, but never overturned. 18 other states have similar laws. Schloss is due back in court later this year.

Formerly committed sex offender loses ruling concerning phone threats

(Original Post 4-21-08)
A sex offender civilly committed for 9 years after serving a 18 year term for sexually assaulting two women at age 17 has had charges for harassing a woman who wroked at the civil commitment facility upheld. Stephen Mislich, 44, was originally convicted in 1980 of raping two women, with the second rape occuring while he was out on bond for the 1st rape.

The second rape, according to a 1998 article, featured a then 17 year old Mislich gaining entry to a woman's house posing as a election pollster before raping and stabbing the victim in her bathtub about 15 times. He was committed in the summer of 1998, and spent 9 years in treatment before being released last July. Stories from 1998 showed a man who fantasized about killing women.

Mislich became obsessed with the former worker in 2002, while she worked at the facility. She no longer works there, and Mislich is charged with making death threats against her.

During Monday's hearing, Assistant State's Atty. Liam Brennan told Judge George Bakalis that in 2002, Mislich threatened to kill the woman or a family member. In a November telephone call, Brennan said, the defendant reportedly stated: "This is Stephen Mislich. I am out of prison and I know where you work."

He was arrested in November and charged with telephoning a former female state mental health worker with whom he was acquainted, which made her to feel threatened, authorities said.

Assistant Public Defender Jaime Escuder asked that the indictment be dropped, arguing that the alleged 2002 threat and the 2007 telephone call were too far removed from each other to be legally sufficient to sustain the criminal charge. "The phone call in itself wasn't a threat," Escuder said.Brennan disagreed, saying the evidence to the grand jury was sufficient to secure an indictment.

Brennan disagreed, saying the evidence to the grand jury was sufficient to secure an indictment."We didn't present all the evidence to the grand jury," he said. "The court hasn't heard all the evidence."

Judge Bakalis ruled that though the state had enough evidence for a grand jury to return an indictment, "This is an interesting question, and the state still has to prove their case at trial."

The state is petitioning the re-commitment of Mischlich as a sexually violent person. He is being held on $2 million bail.

(Update 7-23-08)

Mishlich was ordered to undergo 2 more months of inpatient treatment before being released on September 22. Prosecutors agreed to the deal after it became clear that they did not have enough evidence to recommit him.

The Daily Herald has more about Mishlich's past.

On July 7, 1980, a 17-year-old Mislich forced a woman to perform a sexual act after pushing his way into her car outside a Cook County mall. Mislich then made her cash her paycheck at a bank and dropped her off at a tollbooth before fleeing with her money and car.

Police arrested him but, four months later, while he was free on bond, Mislich posed as an Election Day pollster to gain entry into a Country Club Hills home. Inside, he raped the female homeowner at knifepoint, forced her into a bathtub and tried to electrocute her by throwing a hair dryer into the water.

She escaped from the bathroom but fell near the front door. Mislich caught up to her and stabbed the woman up to 16 times. Neighbors called 911 after hearing her screams. She survived her injuries.

Mislich pleaded guilty but mentally ill to both sex attacks. On March 26, 1982, he began a 36-year prison term. He was due to be released Aug. 6, 1998, after serving half his prison term, but authorities convinced a Cook County judge to have Mislich detained indefinitely under a state law for those deemed sexually violent.

The law allows authorities to force sex offenders such as Mislich to stay in a state mental treatment facility if prosecutors prove another crime is probable.

An expert testified at Mislich's civil commitment hearing in September 1998 that he suffers from anti-social personality disorder and sexual sadism that make him a high risk to become a serial sex killer.

He remained civilly committed in a state facility until July 2007, when he was granted a conditional release as long as he registered with police as a sex offender and wore a GPS tracking device for monitoring. Furthermore, Mislich began a voluntary process to be chemically castrated, a temporary form of castration induced by hormonal medicines, to control his deviant urges.