One California sheriff says he’s not going to cite anyone who disobeys stay-at-home orders because he’s too busy dealing with criminals he’s had to release from jail per the state’s order.
“As Sheriff I will not be citing people who violate the stay-at-home order. The reason is I must focus on true criminals,” Toulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux wrote on Twitter. “I will not cite or arrest otherwise law-abiding citizens when I’m being ordered by Sacramento to release child abusers, burglars, and other criminals from jail.”
As Sheriff I will not be citing people who violate the stay-at-home order. The reason is I must focus on true criminals. I will not cite or arrest otherwise law-abiding citizens when I’m being ordered by Sacramento to release child abusers, burglars, and other criminals from jail
— Mike Boudreaux (@MikeBoudreaux4) May 20, 2020
Boudreaux’s announcement comes hours after the Tulare County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to reopen local businesses beyond the limits the state government has stipulated, allowing all local businesses and organizations, including dine-in restaurants, churches, hair and nail salons, movie theaters and shopping malls, to reopen effective immediately.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke have also said publicly that they won’t be enforcing stay-at-home orders.
Countless inmates, including child rapists, murderers and burglars, have been released from California prisons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move the state government claims was done to prevent the disease from spreading in overcrowded prisons. Other states have also ordered the release of inmates who’d been convicted of everything from relatively minor drug offenses to rape and murder.
Of the nearly 4,000 inmates Illinois has released thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic, 146 were sex offenders, including three who were considered “sexually dangerous persons,” defined by the state as “ suffering from a mental disorder, which mental disorder has existed for a period of not less than one year, immediately prior to the filing of the petition hereinafter provided for, coupled with criminal propensities to the commission of sex offenses, and who have demonstrated propensities toward acts of sexual assault or acts of sexual molestation of children, are hereby declared sexually dangerous persons.” Another 64 had been convicted of murder.
In Washington State, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the release of certain criminals, including two sex offenders and multiple gang members, citing COVID-19 concerns.