We Deserve Protection From Sexually Violent Predators Such as Joshua Cooley, Says Letter to the Editor
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Screengrab of the Megan’s Law page for Joshua B. Cooley.
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From: The Eldridge Family
Alderpoint Rd
Garberville, CA 95542To: District Attorney’s Office
825 5th St
Eureka, CA 95501
[email protected]
March 19,2019Attn: Maggie Fleming
Re: Sexually Violent Predator Joshua Cooley placement at 2800 block of Alderpoint Rd
To District Attorney Fleming:
We are residents of Humboldt County and live 3.8 miles up Alderpoint Road. We as citizens of Humboldt County deserve the protection from sexually violent predators such as Joshua Cooley. As So. Humboldt Community members, we feel that Sexually Violent Predators (SVP) as Joshua Cooley who have a criminal history of violent crime and criminal behavior, greatly threaten the safety and security of our rural community. This is based on “fact” that Joshua Cooley has been determined by previous criminal proceedings and SVP examiners to likely engage in sexually and violent criminal behavior if he is released in our community.
We agree, that as Southern Humboldt community members and neighbors, that we do NOT want persons such as Joshua Cooley to be released in our Neighorbood where he could continue his detrimental pattern of behavior and abuse. He has proven by his history to not be compliant with his terms of conditional release including his refusal to attend a sexual offender’s course.Joshua Cooley’s upcoming placement 2.8 miles up Alderpoint Rd in So Humboldt is in rural Humboldt county. We have a very small law enforcement facility which covers many, many square miles in our rural area. Sherriff’s and CHP officers are often 2-6 hours away when situations arise. In this rural area 2.8 miles up Alderpoint Rd are only small family farms and residences. Many families with children live within a 15 mile radius of this proposed location Our schools are just 3.5-12 miles away. A GPS monitor often will not work in this area along with outages of internet which would allow for tracking of this SVP’s activities. Our roads due to extreme winter and spring weather can make conditions which deter and cause roads to be impassible.
A SVP should be released in a populated urban area that has full service law enforcement and internet monitoring services available. Not in a rural, family neighborhood with limited law enforcement services.
As a rural area, we as Citizens of Southern Humboldt depend on you Ms. Fleming as our District Attorney and our Local Law Enforcement limited agencies (Sherriff’s Office and CHP)to provide proper protection from SVP’s.
We as a family and residents of Southern Humboldt County, can not and will not allow a Sexually Violent Predator who has a history of noncompliance with state laws to reside in our community.
We ask that you represent us to block Joshua Cooley who is a know Sexually Violent Predator from residing in our community.
Respectfully,
Michael and Carolyn Eldridge
Alderpoint Rd Home Owners since 1981
Earlier Chapter: Hearing on Sexual Predator Placement Near Garberville
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
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Shouldn’t violent people remain in custody? If not, why aren’t there secured apt complex gated communities for them? How about a flip flop… make the lose one live in the gated community so the rest of us can live free.
this is what happens when you vote to cut these programs. with you being a conservative tea party participant, good luck linking youtube vids convincing me otherwise.
Come back when you’re sober dude.
Isnt there a housing project for the svp such as a state hosp. I recall a state hospital in Porterville
I can’t believe the state is this stupid. This letter says it all.
Ditto……
I thought castrations were a option to life in prison ?
We need tougher sentences
🕯By law if you do the crime you do the time then you get released in any state, I don’t like it, you don’t like but we most likely voted it to law by voting on another law were this statute was snuck in. But agian everyone will know were IT is living, sooooo.
He refused counselling, anger management courses or whatever….most immates trying to better themselves or at least get out early will do all they can for extra points…refusing to do classes/counseling in jail in reguards to the crime you’ve done screams volumes on your character. I bet he thinks he did nothing wrong still..found a loop hole and is going to ride it out.
Dead man walking.
How can the sexual offender course be optional? I thought it would be required. It’s mind-boggling.
It is California, everything is optional. Especially if you are scum of the earth, the bleeding hearts have your back!
The “It” according to his attorneys and court documents say this violent offender has “ brain damage” no where does it say he has been cured of this. We should use this against him when keeping him out of our neighborhoods. The Liberty health system just tried to place Cooley alone on a beautiful farm!! Not even a mile from elementary school! I read where it costs 202,000$ to house and feed him! They just had a hearing, he will NOT be placed in Galt, Ca.
When the DA and law enforcement officials don’t keep dangerous people out of our neighborhoods, Anarchy will happen. This is truly egregious.
Well…this situation just makes a great argument for vigilantism. If the state won’t do it’s job and the county can’t do it’s job of providing us with some measure of safety for our loved ones then…we must do it ourselves. (Cue “Murder Mountain” soundtrack) But then why are we paying them?!
Blame the idiots that keep voting for propositions such as 47 and 57……. this is the guy YOU ALL voted to get early release when you approved prop 57. Pat yourselves on the back now asshats!
Thank you Michael and Carolyn for writing this letter.
Thank you Kym for publishing it.
I’m not the one to organize it, but I think that we need a community meeting. We have enough problems in SoHum without having to babysit a sexually violent predator. Too many honest and valid opinions will be deleted on this blog site. I don’t blame Kym, It’s her blog site. But we need an open and honest discussion where true feeling can be expressed.
I have researched Sexually Violent Predators, and it scares the heck out of me to think that someone like that can be turned loose on us. The most dangerous person on Earth is an unrepentant sexually violent sociopath. Their minds tell them that they have done nothing wrong.
We can stop this, it has been done before. We need to have a meeting of real people, with real faces and names to make a firm stand. Let me know where and when, and I will be there!
Ernie
You missed it. There was a community meeting last week
There will be a hearing on this—conveniently located for the Southern Humboldt community in Eureka on April 12 at 8:30 in the morning.
Obviously, there is a huge desire to hear from the community.
https://kymkemp.com/2019/03/19/hearing-on-sexual-predator-placement-near-garberville/
This is soo disappointing…the hearing needs to be located in SoHum, at the very least. These perpetrators need to live in Eureka, near the jailhouse. Or in a clump of supervised release housing. Or better yet, Do Not Release! Something is deeply & desperately wrong with this system. Victims suffer & perps go free.
I think we’re finally beginning to see the truth behind the ‘FOR the children” campaigns.
How about out of Humboldt County completely? San Francisco would be great, there are people and law enforcement EVERYWHERE.
At what town hall or courthouse do you suggest in the area of alderpoint road, a school?
Ernie,
Thank you for giving me a chance to remind people that no one can threaten violence on this website no matter how much they may feel the person threatened deserves it. I’ve had to remove several comments that broke that rule. https://kymkemp.com/2018/05/20/commenting-rules-on-redheaded-blackbelt/
I suggest that when reaching out to law enforcement in letters or in the conveniently located and timed hearing that threatening violence is likely to harm one’s argument and may possibly put one on the short list should something happen to Mr. Cooley.
Thank you again Kym
The meeting will be at the courthouse in Eureka. Courtroom number 1. Friday, April 12th, 8:30 AM. Judge Feeney Presiding.
I will be there.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had more services in GARRBERVILLE, rather than having to drive to Eureka for everything?
AMEN!
Given the reputation of Alder Point and the incorrigibility of Mr Cooley, I can’t help wondering if placing him there is motivated in part by the prospect that he could “disappear” like so many others. It would not be the first time that a law enforcement agency has “solved a problem” by pitting law breakers against other law breakers.
The location is on Alderpoint Road, yes. But not Alderpoint nor “Murder Mountain.” The location is just outside of Garberville in one of the satellite areas.
I found the PERFECT little neighborhood for Mr. Cooley.
Same Mike Thompson who lived next to the arbaugh family I’m sure. 20 years ago. Humboldt hill? 2 house’s away*
To all the people concerned with the potential location of the sexual predator on Alderpoint Rd., the following is a correction.
There is no “2800 block “on Alderpoint Rd. The location of the potential residence for the predator is on Main Rd. The State gave the Sheriff Office the wrong information for the location of this property.
My concern for the correct location is that if you GOOGLE 2800 Alderpoint Rd., it shows this location as my property (2906 Alderpoint Rd.).
Your a nurse at st.joe & your wife at the time was to, correct? You have a 22 year old son
I will tell you upfront that I am a registered sex offender. As an educated professional, I definitely had no excuse for putting myself into the position that ultimately led to my incarceration (I dated a 16 year old when I was in my 30s). I’d never previously had anything more serious than traffic tickets on my record. I’ve always been a strong supporter of law enforcement, both before and after my incarceration (in fact, family members retired from law enforcement). Despite the fact that I am a registrant I’m hoping you’ll consider my words.
Humboldt County is supposed to be progressive. Nothing about our current sex offender laws can be considered progressive. It seems that humans always want a reason to feel like they are somehow “better” than others, and while it has become unacceptable to discriminate against groups of people who were once terrorized by the actions of bigots, sex offenders are still the target of discrimination, much of which is legal and in fact mandated by our laws. Public officials, by the way they treat sex offenders, choose to use this group to prove they are tough on crime. It’s still acceptable to treat sex offenders as lower classes of people on par with animals. I have had bones in my face shattered to the point of requiring surgery to fix. I have faced a lot of horrors because it is socially acceptable to treat me differently than it is for any other group of humans on this planet. And our laws encourage such behavior, even though you’d likely claim otherwise.
Our laws need to change.
Alcoholism is a disease, yet if an alcoholic drives drunk and kills someone, then serves his or her time in prison, the alcoholic does not then have to register on a publicly accessible website for all to see. Why not? Because we all understand deep inside that once a person has been punished for a crime and has paid their debt to society, incarcerated, that person gets another chance, even in the case of an alcoholic who is very likely to resume drinking and to once again drive while intoxicated. We don’t treat alcoholics as if it is a foregone conclusion that the person will re-offend. With sex offenders, that is not the case. Sex offenders are treated with an attitude that “you’re guilty… we’re just waiting for you to prove it.”
Yet as written in this story by the Washington Post ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/03/09/the-big-lie-about-sex-offenders/ ), studies show that overall rates of recidivism for sex offenders is just 3.5%. Those numbers are much more impressive than the vast majority of other crimes for which we have solid data. Why is it still okay to pre-judge someone before they have committed a crime? The truth is that it is NOT okay. I have faith that someday we’ll realize this and legally change the way sex offenders are treated. But until that day arrives, we should all encourage our District Attorneys to be proactive and protect all groups of people, no matter how offensive the past actions of any particular constituent might happen to be.
Please resist the urge to use yet another person as political currency. Please resist the urge to discriminate and make someone else smaller in an attempt to make yourself bigger. Prove that Humboldt County actually IS progressive. Please encourage the court to take this man’s rights as a human being into account. I do not know the factors of his case,= and I am not defending his past actions or those of anyone else, but it’s time to stop being so horrible to human beings simply because it’s still “politically acceptable” to do so. Change has to begin somewhere. Let that “somewhere” be Humboldt County.
The change that should be made is harsher punishment of sexual predators. The uproar over Cooley’s housing just proves that the greater public would prefer lengthier and or permanent incarceration of sexual predators.
This is a perfect time to press for sentencing reform for people convicted of sexual crimes.
You raise some very important points, but Cooley is a very poor subject to demonstrate them with. Nobody could reasonably compare a man in his 30s who made a mistake with someone who is of the age of consent in some states but not others with an unrepentant sexually violent person who refuses treatment.
Someone in their 30s dating a teenager is disgusting.
“Please resist the urge to discriminate and make someone else smaller in an attempt to make yourself bigger. ” –Registrant said.
The concept of wanting to keep people safe, especially the children, is too difficult of a concept to understand? The insult approach is cute, but no cigar.
Seems like you obviously dont take your own crime seriously. I dont think people should break your face but the vixtums heart and spirit is more important to a sexoffenders face. Sex offendingnis not a disease lile alcoholism. If itnis itnisnone of the few times that we should consider the greater good. Think a vaccine if you will. Not fixing. Spelling errors. I am very angry. Sex offenders deserve no mercy nor do violent ones. I know 3 woman bery close to me 10, 13,35 all assaulted in the last year. Fuck this shit!!!!!!!! Fuck you 30 year old man trying to get in yound girls pants. Fuck you!!!!!
How do you know the 30 year old was male?
Do you mean Mahan Road?
First off a registered sex offender is a different category than SVP – sexually violent predator.
This address given is right next to a bus stop that the school picks up from and delivers kids to every week day! Potentially this person could get there and never even register he is off of the property! This property is a large, unpermitted grow that is operated by an absentee land owner with randome people, different each year.
One has to ask, do property owners get paid to house such people?
Read Michael Thompson’s post above before you leap to those conclusions.
The sheriff contacted me I know exactly which property it is
You would think he (MT) would know that, seeing as he supposedly is one but not the other.
Early history: https://www.fearnotlaw.com/…/arti…/p-v-cooley-43996.html
I cannot fathom why this evil would be allowed anywhere but prison.