BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. (KGTV) — The San Diego County Sheriff's Department sent its deputies door-to-door in Borrego Springs to warn the community about a notorious sex offender who will soon live in their neighborhood.
Deputies and members of the SAFE Task Force alerted neighbors on Thursday, May 11, that Douglas Badger will be living on Zuni Trail under the state's conditional release program. According to the press release, Badger's date of release is "on or prior to 05-24-23."
Badger is registered as a "sexually violent predator" sex offender with the California Department of Justice and the County of San Diego, according to the sheriff's department. He was in state prison for years after he was convicted of several felony counts of child molestation between 1975 and 1991.
After his time in prison, Badger was sent to a state mental hospital for sex offenders. He has a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender.
Badger is an 80-year-old white man who is 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds and has white hair and brown eyes.
The sheriff's department made it clear in its release that Badger is not a wanted man; however, Megan's Law allows law enforcement agencies to warn communities about sex offenders in the area.
"The purpose of this notice is to allow members of the public to protect themselves and their children from sex offenders," the release says.
The department also says it believes an informed community is a safer one, and they're not trying to scare people when alerting them about sex offenders.
It is still against the law to threaten, intimidate or harass Badger, the release says.
The Department of State Hospitals and the San Diego Superior Court selected Badger's release location. In Aug. 2022, members of the Borrego Springs community urged a judge to deny Badger's placement in their backyard. Still, the court ultimately decided to move forward with the Zuni Trail location.
Before Borrego Springs, two other locations were considered for Badger's placement.
One of them was a home in Mount Helix, which was denied by a judge after extensive push back. The other was a home in Rancho Bernardo, where the homeowners retracted their agreementto have him live there.
To learn more about how sexually violent predators are released back into society, follow this link to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office website.
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