Sex offender is free -- and reduced to a riverbed

Publicity about his release has made it impossible for the 44-year-old convicted rapist to find a rural landlord willing to give him a place to live.

After seven evictions, Liberty Healthcare Corp., a San Diego company hired by the state to help Wollschlager get resettled, gave him a tent and he began living in the Ventura River bottom. He is overseen by a taxpayer-funded security guard who stays in a vehicle nearby.

Wollschlager's predicament has reignited debate on whether strict new laws governing sex offenders are making it harder to monitor them.

Jessica's Law, passed overwhelmingly by voters last fall, bars Wollschlager from living within 2,000 feet -- about half a mile -- of any school, park or beach. He wears two monitoring devices on his ankle and shuttles between his campsite and a friend's home in Oxnard each day.

"It's harder to protect the public when he is homeless," said Margaret Coyle, a county prosecutor who opposed Wollschlager's release. "Were he in a condo or an apartment, we could supervise him more effectively."

But Will Smith, chief of staff for state Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster), who sponsored Jessica's Law, said he believes it is effective in protecting residents.

"We've never made any argument that it wouldn't be harder to find housing, but we've always argued that it would be safer," Smith said. "We think the safety of residents in California outweighs any inconvenience on [Wollschlager's] part."

Liberty Healthcare is continuing to look for a more permanent placement for Wollschlager, a search that began 17 months ago, said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health. It's not the first time a sex offender has become homeless upon release, Kincaid said.

Last summer, before Jessica's Law was approved, child molester Timothy Boggs was "chased from hotel to hotel" in Sacramento until a bail bondsman stepped forward to offer him a place to stay in his office, she said.

In San Luis Obispo County, felon Frederick Hoffman is scheduled to live in a trailer near military training grounds after his release.