Convicted ‘Bolder Than Most’ serial rapist set for release, California judge rules
A San Diego County judge ruled Monday to release the so-called “Bolder Than Most” rapist, who served decades in prison and a state mental hospital after being convicted in a string of violent attacks, FOX 5 reports.
Superior Court Judge David M. Gill will determine the details of 56-year-old convicted serial rapist Alvin Quarles’ release from custody on Aug. 30, according to the TV station. Quarles will be placed in a supervised home in Jacumba Hot Springs, where he will keep undergoing treatment, City News Service reports.
Quarles had 14 victims before he was convicted in 1989, including four he raped at knifepoint, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. At times, Quarles would force his victims’ boyfriends or husbands to watch as he attacked the woman, which is how he gained the “Bolder Than Most” nickname, City News Service reports.
The release back into the community comes after Quarles decided in 2014 to spend time at a state mental hospital rather than being paroled that year, when he was eligible after having served half of his 50-year sentence on rape, burglary and robbery charges for attacks on a series of women in the 1980s, NBC San Diego reported.
Prosecutors said that in 2016 Quarles asked the court to release him through a conditional program for sex offenders, but the District Attorney’s Office said it “strongly opposed Mr. Quarles’ release.”
Quarles has been diagnosed with sexual sadism disorder, antisocial personality disorder and voyeuristic disorder, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The judge’s decision to release Quarles follows testimony in court last week “which was kept under wraps due to privacy concerns over the potential disclosure of Quarles’ psychiatric reports,” City News Service and KGTV reported, adding that “Quarles’ victims and their supporters have argued against the order to keep the hearings private, including by staging a protest on the steps of the downtown San Diego courthouse where the hearings were held.”
Quarles is being held at Coalinga State Hospital, KUSI reports.
“I want to ask Judge Gill how I’m supposed to accept this decision when I’ve been completely cut out of it. For 30 years the courts have been doing things in secret and making deals,” said Mary Taylor, a victim of Quarles, according to NBC San Diego. “That’s how he got the 50-year sentence that really ended up being 25. This was just one more kick in the gut.”
County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said that “if I had my pick, I think we ought to put him right next to Judge Gill’s house,” NBC reported. She said the judge didn’t take the community’s input into account in making his decision.
“We were not privy to any of the evidence that was presented that was talked about for days. We were completely left out of the process,” Jacob said, according to NBC. “He has a chance of recommitting, so he’s a danger to the public so the public has a right to know what was in the judge’s mind, what evidence was before the judge and why he made the decision he did.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Convicted ‘Bolder Than Most’ serial rapist set for release, California judge rules."
