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SAN BERNARDINO, Ca. – A sexually violent child rapist is being released on supervised release and the court is being asked to consider his placement to be in Newberry Springs.

The serial child rapist from Orange County is being recommended by Liberty Healthcare Corp. for the court to release him into the Newberry Springs Community. According to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials, this is the third time in less than two years that Liberty Health proposed placing a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) into the County of San Bernardino from another county. Lawtis Donald Rhoden, 72, has no ties to the County of San Bernardino and his most recent crimes were in Orange County, Los Angeles County, and in the State of Tennessee.

Prior to the recommendation to release Rhoden into the Newberry Springs community, it was proposed that he live in Twentynine Palms, which after lengthy litigation was not approved for safety concerns. The court also asked them to continue searching for housing for Rhoden in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, where he committed the crimes and was prosecuted. Despite the recommendation, Liberty continued the search in the San Bernardino County.

Rhoden has raped several children since 1969 when he was found to have lured a 13-year-old girl to his apartment and raped her. He pleaded guilty to felony lewd and lascivious acts of a child under 14-years-old as a result of a plea deal. He was sentenced to 14 months in a state mental hospital for treatment of the inability to control his sex drive toward young girls. In addition, he was sentenced to 12 years in state prison. When released on parole, he did not attempt to follow up on treatment for his illicit sexual urges.

While still on parole, Rhoden sexually assaulted four additional children. He was convicted of rape by force, forceful sexual penetration, sexual battery, and two counts of forcible rape from the April and June 1984 sexual assaults of two 14-year-old girls and a 17-year-old girl in three separate incidences. “While those crimes were under investigation, Rhoden went to Nashville, Tennessee where he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in December 1984 and was subsequently convicted of rape and use of a minor for obscene purposes,” San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials said in a written statement. “In all four instances of sexual assault, Rhoden held himself out as a photographer and, in an effort to lure in his victims, offered them modeling photoshoots. Rhoden drove up to each of his three sexual assault victims in Orange County and Los Angeles County while they were on foot when attempting to entice them into his car.” Rhoden was sentenced to 20 years in state prison by the State of Tennessee. The Orange County Superior Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison and Los Angeles County sentenced him to six years in prison.

Rhoden was also found guilty of scamming unsuspecting women from March 1983 until his arrest in Tennessee. His fraudulent personal ads placed in newspapers led to $440,000 in funds obtained by telling women he was an investment lawyer or broker and would be using the large sums of money to invest. He was released from prison in 2004 and kept in an Orange County jail after a sexually violent predator petition was filed by the Orange County District Attorney’s office. The jury found that he was a Sexually Violent Predator and sent him to a state hospital for treatment.

The Orange County Superior Court ordered Rhoden’s conditional release into the community under the supervision of Liberty HealthCare Corporation.

On October 25, 2019, the Orange County Superior Court ordered Rhoden conditionally released into the community under the supervision of the Liberty Healthcare Corporation, a health and human services management company. Liberty told the court that they were unable to find Rhoden housing in Orange County, citing “extraordinary circumstances” and asked that he was allowed to move to a neighboring county. On March 12, 2021, it was proposed that he lived in a home in Twentynine Palms, which was rejected following 11 weeks of litigation and public comments, the Orange County Superior Court rejected the proposal for them to meet in Los Angeles County.

Liberty returned to court on July 9, 2021, requesting that Rhoden be moved to a home located at 47998 Lake Irene Drive in Newberry Springs. “Sheriff Shannon Dicus has ordered deputies to once again undertake a thorough investigation and District Attorney Jason Anderson has directed prosecutors from his own SVP Unit to appear before the Orange County Superior Court on September 2 and oppose Rhoden’s released into our community,” San Bernadino County Sheriff’s officials said. “Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Barstow Station will be going door-to-door, beginning Monday, July 26, in the immediate vicinity of where the proposed residence will be. They will attempt to contact several residents within the community to gather key demographics and vital information to oppose the relocation of the sexually violent predator.”

You may email concerns and opinions to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department at paffairs@sbcsd.org or send a letter to:

San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office

303 West 3rd Street, 4th Floor

San Bernardino, CA 92415-0511