After Much Resistance, Sexually Violent Predator Tentatively Ordered into New Digs in Joshua Tree
Photo: Ross Leo Wollschlager
JOSHUA TREE – It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood – until you’re really not wanted there. Contributing to uncertainty is the strong desire to not allow someone with a dark history to live there.
The reputation preceding the new potential resident is certainly the case here. Ross Leo Wollschlager, a Ventura County Sexually Violent Predator, was ordered to live elsewhere this past March – due to “extraordinay circumstances.”
Wollschlager, who’d committed multiple rapes and child molestation, was convicted of two counts of rape through a plea agreement, after being charged with four counts of rape in 1983.
During a 1987 parole, he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl as she slept in her bed. This sent him back to state prison, to be later formally declared a Sexually Violent Predator in Ventura County.
He qualified under the state Welfare and Institutions Code to be committed to the Department of State Hospitals for treatment. Yet, the Ventura County Superior Court ordered Liberty Healthcare on 1/31/19 to assist in the conditional release of Wollschlager into the community.
The violent sexual predator’s history includes an unsuccessful attempt to relocate Wollschlager to Sacramento County. Then, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, “the Ventura County Superior Court ordered Liberty Healthcare to consider additional counties, including San Bernardino County.”
Since San Bernardino County officials have been notified that a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) from Ventura County may be ordered to live in Joshua Tree, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson, Sheriff John McMahon, and other county officials strongly object.
“On September 19, 2019, the Ventura County Superior Court tentatively ordered Wollschlager to live at a residence in Joshua Tree,” Said SBSD’s Advisory on 10/18/19, “District Attorney Anderson has ordered deputies of his own SVP Unit to go to Ventura County on November 7 and oppose Wollschlager’s release to our community.”
“Those interested are encouraged to attend a community meeting on Monday, October 21 at 5:30pm, at The Sportsman’s Club 6225 Sunburst Ave Joshua Tree, CA 92252.” Or, email concerns and opinions to the SBSD at paffairs@sbcsd.org
To send a letter, contact San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, 303 West 3rd Street, 6th Floor, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0502 Attn: Deputy District Attorney Maureen O’Connell.
