BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. (KGTV) – Jon Stillman lives right across the street from sexually violent predator Michael Martinez, who was placed at a home on Running M Road several months ago.
“(I) found that this was happening across the street, I was … it came as quite a shock,” Stillman said.
He told ABC 10News that Martinez was placed into the home in mid-September 2022.
“He sort of stays to himself, you know. He hangs out in the backyard, feeds the birds, some of the stray dogs go visit over there,” Stillman said.
Stillman said the area is aware of the restrictions of what Martinez can and cannot do at the home.
While Stillman hasn’t been impacted too much, there’s changes for the other families in the neighborhood.
“Their kids aren’t going to be out on their bikes quite as much. I don’t see them down on my end of the cul-de-sac, where they’d have to drive past his house, much anymore,” Stillman said. “For the kids, there’s certainly been tighter restrictions on how they can even play outside.”
A heightened awareness in a desert community that enjoys taking in the night sky.
“You know in the back of your mind, especially for the parents, even for me, I walk outside, you always sort sneak a glance that way before I look up at the sky. So, there is this change how you interact in your surroundings,” Stillman said.
Outside of the changes with Martinez in the community, another sexually violent predator -- Douglas Badger -- is set to be placed at a home on Zuni Trail on or prior to next Wednesday, May 24.
“And the families that live on both streets are related to one another. They have teenage kids; they have younger kids who used to ride the bicycles between these two. And now they don’t feel comfortable doing that,” said Borrego Springs resident Sarah Rogers.
Rogers and her husband, Lee, have pushed back against the placement of these SVPs in the Borrego Springs community.
They had some strong feelings for what it would mean for when Badger is eventually placed on May 24.
“Well, it means it means that another community is let down,” Rogers said. “He’s going to in proximity to hikers, a hotel, lots of people in his victim profile and the court didn’t care.”
“I’ll be feeling for that community because I remember how raw it was those first weeks,” Stillman said. “And you just, you know, the reality hits that everything you did didn’t matter. Kids being in the neighborhood didn’t matter. You know, young children being put at risk didn’t matter.”
Stillman said it does motivate him to fight against any further placements with having these two placements happening.
