The release of 63-year-old convicted serial rapist who was slated to live in the Antelope Valley was delayed for two weeks because of a virus outbreak at the mental hospital where he was in custody, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Christopher Evans Hubbart, who was set to be released by Monday, will not be released until on or before July 21, the DA’s office announced.
A San Francisco Bay Area judge who ordered Hubbart’s release to Los Angeles County announced the delayed date because of a virus outbreak at Coalinga State Hospital, according to the DA’s office.
Los Angeles prosecutors, local politicians and residents have protested the release of Hubbart, who admitted to raping dozens of women and targeting mothers after their husbands left for work.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown found last year that Hubbart’s “domicile” was the Los Angeles area and ruled that the rapist should be released there.
In May, Brown decided that Hubbart should be moved to a home near the community of Lake Los Angeles.
Hubbart’s most recent crimes occurred in the Bay Area, after he was released from prison on earlier convictions. Brown has authority over Hubbart’s release because of the location of the Bay Area crimes.
Hubbart was ruled a Sexually Violent Predator under state law, a determination he unsuccessfully appealed.
He has been in and out of custody since 1972.
He was slated to be released to a home on a dirt road in a remote unincorporated area east of Palmdale (map).
