Outraged community meets to stop predator's move to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, Calif. (KGO) -- Thursday night, there was a large turnout for a community meeting in Fairfield to try to stop a 51-year-old violent sexual predator from moving into their neighborhood. Residents are not only upset about the potential danger, but also who has to pay for it all.

Fraisure Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting four teen girls. His last offense was in Solano County in 2006. Now, he may be moving into a quiet Fairfield community.

Few homeowners are willing to rent to a newly-released violent sex offender, but one homeowner accepted the offer, at taxpayer expense, and that has a lot of people in the area extremely upset.

Neighbor Sherry Turpin said to the crowd of residents, "The rights of these villains should not take precedence over the rights of our communities, our neighbors, our lives."

Nearly 200 Fairfield residents are trying to prevent a sexually violent predator from moving into their neighborhood on Willotta Drive.

The selected home is next door to Martha Khamashta. She said, "I don't want him here. It's just been a safe beautiful community. I want it to stay that way."

Khamashta first heard about her potential new neighbor when sheriff's deputies went door to door with flyers. She pointed out, "It's a big house with a swimming pool. And it's a luxury home, and our government is going to pay to have this person live there, whether we want him or not."

Smith is about to be released from a mental hospital in Coalinga and Liberty Healthcare is handling his transition.

"They have looked for the last 13 months and they have looked at more than 1,700 homes for possible locations," Solano County Sheriff's Lt. Denton Autry said.

Liberty Healthcare selected the four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home with a swimming pool that rents for more than $3,000 a month.

Neighbor Carla Nelson said at the meeting, "I'm also a homeschool teacher as well as a full-time teacher. I have students in my home, on Willotta Drive, every week."

Smith will have a GPS ankle bracelet, but the alert will go to Liberty Healthcare first and they will call 911.

One woman spoke up at the meeting and said, "I'm saying what kind of system is that where the breach doesn't even go directly to law enforcement?"

The Sheriff's Department says it will assign a deputy to the neighborhood and conduct weekly searches of the home, but residents are still determined to stop a judge from approving the home at a March 27th public hearing in Solano County Superior Court.

"How do I get one of those? I don't have a pool," said neighbor Doug Cummins. "Initially, I was stunned and in disbelief that that could even be a possibility. At this point, we're all really angry about it."

But what's most upsetting to many here, especially parents, is how many kids there are living close to Smith's proposed home.

Solano Community College is also short distance away.

"We have a pathway that goes directly to the college right over there. I just... not OK with it," said neighbor Jodi Szalapski.