SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) — A judge has tentatively ordered a ‘sexually violent predator’ to live in a Redwood City neighborhood, authorities said Thursday.
Michael Thomas Cheek, 69, was labeled a Violent Sexual Predator by a jury following his conviction for violent sexual assaults that happened in Santa Cruz County and Lake County in 1980 and ’81, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities say Cheek was convicted in the kidnapping, rape, and oral copulation of a 21-year-old woman as well as the forcible rape of a 15-year-old at gunpoint.
In 2019, he was ordered to begin outpatient treatment and supervision as the final phase of the relapse prevention program administered by the Department of State Hospitals in Coalinga, California, police said.
The Santa Cruz County Superior Court now has a tentative order for him to be released to live in the Emerald Hills area of Redwood City to remove him from the areas he committed the crimes. The sheriff’s office said they and the Redwood City Police Department went door-to-door to let the community know.
Residents of Emerald Hills have a chance to give comment to the court about the potential release, Redwood City Police Chief Dan Mulholland encourages. The court will hold a hearing on the order on March 1 at 9 a.m.
Both Sheriff Bolanos and Mulholland say they object to the tentative order. Residents can send comments to SVP_publiccomment@smcgov.org.