« Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Male Student | Main | It happened again »
March 27, 2005
Molester says he's OK with scrutiny
Thomas Earl Putney doesn't mind that Redwood City police have plastered fliers of his face around town to warn that he's a ``high risk sexually violent predator.'' He ignores the stares. He certainly doesn't expect pity.
He knows what he did to three young boys 15 years ago in Santa Rosa was unconscionable. He knows, he says, because he was also a sexual abuse victim as a child. Now, all he wants is a chance to blend in. To find a decent job. To save some money and maybe someday get married and have children.
But he can't go back to his family in Santa Rosa. The state parole board said he's no longer safe in his hometown -- not after he received death threats. So the state moved Putney last week to a $42-a-night transient motel across from a 7-Eleven on Broadway.
With the move -- and outrage from Redwood City police that Putney is now in their town -- he became yet another in a series of the state's most dangerous sex offenders recently released from a state treatment program who are looking for a place to call home.
Putney, 36, said he understands the distrust.
``The public has a right to know who's in the community, especially if it's someone who has had problems with sexual violence,'' he said Friday in a two-hour interview with the Mercury News. ``They have a right to protest and express their concerns to police. They're mothers and fathers. That's what they do.''
Soft-spoken, he paused and looked away. ``Being in my shoes, I feel I deserve a chance to have a happy and peaceful life.''
That's fine by Lourdes Acevedo, who takes her children to a church just steps away from Putney's new home at the Garden Motel, but she would like to have known he was in the neighborhood. She hadn't seen the fliers announcing his arrival all week.
``It's kind of scary,'' said Acevedo, 22, whose sons, ages 5 and 7, regularly play outside the church. ``He's a human being and we aren't God to be judging people. But someone should have told us.''
The motel is also less than a mile from Hoover Elementary School. Principal Josh Griffith planned to send teachers an e-mail advisory but said there was no need to panic.
``It's troubling that there's a sex offender in the area but realistically, they're everywhere,'' he said. Redwood City is home to 141 registered sex offenders, according to the Megan's Law database, and Santa Clara and San Mateo counties list almost 3,000 registered sex offenders combined.
``We always need to keep an eye on our children,'' Griffith said.
Plenty of people are keeping an eye on Putney.
He walked past stares and newspaper boxes displaying his photo next to a splashy headline, before telling his story over lunch Friday at a Denny's near his motel. He ordered a Chef salad, to give him a change from the greasy Chinese food he's been ordering with vouchers from his parole officer.
A victim, too
He said he'll never completely forgive himself for molesting two family members when they were 2 and 4 and a 9-year-old friend. He knows how much it messes up a child's life because he said he was molested by a relative when he was 5 and again, repeatedly, by another relative who lived with him when he was 8.
He spent years in and out of group and foster homes, graduated high school and did odd jobs like landscaping. But he was severely depressed. He would spend all his money on booze, clothes and gifts for family members and friends, then sleep in abandoned buildings and eat one meal every couple of days.
He eventually found some of the love and attention he had been missing most of his life in two young family members. He would watch TV with them, push them on the swings, wrestle with them and talk with the older child about the importance of respecting his parents and getting an education.
He had gained their respect and trust, then found himself having sexual thoughts. He molested the boys and a friend and sodomized the older relative.
``At the time, I was focused on sexual release,'' he said, visibly disgusted. ``But afterward, I hated myself. I wanted to kill myself.''
Putney said he believes in karma -- the idea that one pays for one's actions, good or bad -- so a small part of him hoped that prison would kill the monster within him.
He spent 10 years behind bars, not telling any prison mates about what he had done, out of both shame and fear for his life. He'd heard that sex offenders are the first to be killed in prison.
Finally, in 2000, he met a cellmate who became his soulmate, and confided his crime.
``I had finally found the right person to talk to about it. I finally had understanding from another human being, and that's what I really needed,'' he said.
Finished program
Studies have shown anywhere from 6 percent to 13 percent of sex offenders are arrested again for similar crimes. But when he confessed to his cellmate, he decided he wouldn't let himself abuse anyone again.
``When a person goes through this kind of abuse himself and repeats it, it's really cruel,'' Putney said softly. ``It's unimaginably cruel.''
After Putney finished his sentence, he spent two years getting treatment in the state's program for deviant sexual offenders at Atascadero State Mental Hospital. On Feb. 28, he became one of about 40 offenders released since the program started in 1996.
He doesn't fully understand why he was moved from Santa Rosa, because he never directly received the threats. He first moved to San Francisco, but only stayed for days before neighbors raised concern, and he was moved again.
Putney spent his 36th birthday Wednesday looking for a job and sitting in his small motel room where he re-read a card from his friend, illustrated with a hand-drawn Bugs Bunny holding a red rose. He struck out at a day-worker center, which refused to hire him, but his parole officer told him he'd try to help him this week. In the meantime, he was expecting Redwood City police to strap an electronic monitor around his ankle sometime this weekend.
Recently, a family member told him the boys he abused -- now teenagers -- would find him and whup him, Putnam said chuckling. After a long pause, he said, ``I deserve that and much more.''
In his heart, Putney believes people eventually will give him a second chance.
``I just want that chance,'' he said. ``I can't keep living like this. I can't keep moving.''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
To search the state Megan's Law database of registered sex offenders, go to www.meganslaw.ca.gov
Posted by Nealus at March 27, 2005 09:39 PM
