Admitted pedophile Cary Smith checks into Garden Grove motel
An admitted pedophile described by psychologists as an imminent danger to society arrived in Garden Grove on Monday, July 20, and is being monitored by police following his release from two decades of involuntary care at a state mental hospital.
Local authorities dispatched a surveillance team as soon as they learned that Cary Jay Smith, 59, was staying at a motel in the city, Garden Grove Police Department officials said in a news release. They will continue to keep tabs on Smith, who has previously written about having sex with minors and referred to himself as “Mr. RTK,” shorthand for rape, torture and kill.
Dangerous sex offender, Cary Jay Smith, recently released from State Mental Hospital is residing in #GardenGrove. We immediately set up a surveillance detail and are continuing to monitor Smith.#GGPD32@CityGardenGrove pic.twitter.com/4WDwsPL5kn
— Garden Grove Police (@GardenGrovePD) July 21, 2020
Orange County District Attorney’s office officials confirmed that Smith had been freed Wednesday, July 15. Since then, he has relocated from Orange to Corona, Lake Elsinore and San Diego County, before checking into a motel in Garden Grove.
#UPDATE @SDSheriff can confirm Cary Jay Smith has left #SanDiegoCounty. It is always our goal to keep our communities safe. #KeepingYouSafe https://t.co/B1m0Mz8gbB
— San Diego Sheriff (@SDSheriff) July 20, 2020
News of his movement has resulted in a vocal response from people in some of the communities he has stayed in. Residents in Lake Elsinore held a protest Sunday in opposition to his presence.
Smith is not required to register as a sex offender, and is not on any formal supervised release. However, law enforcement agencies have been alerting residents to his whereabouts, and a petition has been circulating in hopes of adding him to the Megan’s Law database.
The recently released pedophile admitted that he had authored a letter expressing his desire to kidnap and molest a 7-year-old boy in Costa Mesa. He was never charged in connection with that incident, but had previously been convicted of a sex crime in 1983.
Court records show Smith registered as a sex offender for the 1983 child annoyance misdemeanor conviction for trying to pay a young boy to run through a sprinkler naked. For reasons that are under investigation, he no longer has to register as a sex offender.