A man known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” who admitted to sexually assaulting 100 people over decades is about to be released from a California state hospital to an address in Los Angeles County for the second time after violating the terms of his initial release over a decade ago.
A court hearing to determine where Christopher Hubbart, 73, will be released has been scheduled for October 1, according to a news release issued by the District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday. The Department of State Hospitals has recommended a location in the Antelope Valley in the desert, roughly 80 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
Hubbart was granted conditional release in March 2023, despite prosecutors’ protests, the DA’s Office stated.
“Continuing to release sexually violent predators into underserved communities like the Antelope Valley is both irresponsible and unjust,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón stated. “Repeatedly placing these offenders in the same community demonstrates a flagrant disdain for our citizens’ safety and well-being.
Our deputy district attorneys will continue to oppose Mr. Hubbart’s installation in the Antelope Valley. We must expect more from our legal system, ensuring that choices serve the greatest interests of our communities while looking into other venues for these placements.”
Hubbart was convicted in 1972 of raping 14 women. According to the Los Angeles Times, he gained his nickname after using pillowcases to mask some of his victims’ screams. He raped a woman on the day he was released on parole in 1983, then raped nine more women in the San Jose area that year before being apprehended and returned to prison, according to then-LA County Sheriff John Scott, who wrote a letter to a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge urging against releasing Hubbart to LA in 2014.
Hubbart was released again in 1990 but was re-arrested after holding a woman hostage, according to the sheriff. Hubbart acknowledged raping over 100 women in California between 1971 and 1983, including 26 in Los Angeles County, according to the sheriff’s report.
“Very few American criminals create the public fear Christopher Hubbart generates,” according to Scott. “I cannot express how strongly I oppose Christopher Hubbart’s placement in the Lancaster community. He is the most prolific and vicious rapist I’ve seen in 45 years of California law enforcement. He has been deemed a mentally ill and extremely dangerous violent sex offender, and his presence in the Lancaster community will instill fear in almost all of its citizens.
Hubbart was returned to the Department of State Hospitals two years after his initial release in Los Angeles County for violating his release conditions. He failed five lie detector tests about his “thoughts and fantasies,” according to the Associated Press.
However, in 2021, the Department of State Hospitals recommended that he be conditionally released, paving the way for his upcoming release next month.
It is unclear why the decision was taken. A media spokesperson from the state hospitals declined to comment, citing federal and state patient privacy rules.
City authorities in Palmdale, near where Hubbart is scheduled to be released, were outraged by the revelation of his likely placement at 28800 Cruthers Creek Road in Pearblossom, 15 miles east of Palmdale.
Palmdale Mayor Austin Bishop stated in a statement that, while the placement address is outside the city borders, his presence would cause dread among many women in the region. Northern California’s decision to release him to a legally necessary site in Los Angeles County for the second time has heightened community tensions, officials say.
“Our greater Antelope Valley community has been through this before with rapist Hubbart,” Austin told me. “This dangerous criminal should be confined. Both the city and I will file comments objecting to his release and placement in Pearblossom. We must safeguard our community. Hubbart’s very presence will haunt and instill anxiety in many women.”
One lady who had previously lived near him told local CBS affiliate KCAL that the news that the serial rapist may return to the community reminded her of her own traumatic experience.
“Being a rape victim when I was 14 years old, it’s very terrifying,” she told me. “We can’t have him around here because he will take off again and he will rape again.”