EXTENDED STAY AMERICA HOTEL, AND SEX OFFENDERS
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EXTENDED STAY AMERICA HOTEL AND SEX OFFENDERS
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KFI's 640 AM's John Kobylt, left, and Ken Chaimpou broadcast live Friday from in front of a Extended StayAmerica Efficiency Studios on Skylab Street in Huntington Beach where five registered sex offenders are living.
http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/jk2010.html
Published: March 12, 2010
Updated: 4:50 p.m.
KFI's John and Ken take show to H.B. hotel
BY ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Dozens gathered outside a Huntington Beach hotel Friday afternoon for a show hosted by KFI radio hosts John and Ken about five registered sex offenders living there.
A group of people huddled around talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chaimpou while others held signs up to motorists on Bolsa Chica Street. The signs – which all ended with an exclamation point – said "Protect our children," "Get out child molester" and "Honk if you hate rapists!"
"This is not acceptable," said Sole Alcaino who lives near the Extended Stay of America hotel and has a 6-year-old daughter. "I thought it was a nice hotel ... I've even brought guests and we have them stay here and I won't do it any more if this is what they allow."
The John and Ken show began at 2 p.m. and centered on a story the Orange County Register broke Wednesday about fliers the Huntington Beach police distributed to residents alerting them that five sex offenders were living at the hotel, at 5050 Skylab Road. The fliers had the photos and ages of the offenders: Joseph Gazafy, Steven Paff, Chad Stephens, John Rubi, and James Creller.
The fliers, delivered last Friday, warned that people using the information to commit a crime or harass the sex offenders or their family are subject to criminal and civil liability.
Officials with the show had requested that the public not come to the show, citing concerns about legal problems and police trouble. However, several people came to visit the show and hold signs protesting the sex offenders.
"They should be out in the middle of the desert if you ask me," said Diane Stanton holding a sign that said "Go away baby rapists."
The John and Ken show took place across the street from the hotel, which limited its parking lot to hotel guests only.
"With the economy the way it is, maybe business travel is down, vacation travel is down and Extended Stay of America is kind of hurting for money so somebody said, 'You know, let's bring the child molesters here and they state will pay for them," Kobylt said. "We are in front of the Extended Stay of America in Huntington Beach... where for over a week five registered sex offenders have been living in this hotel."
Officials with the hotel did not return calls from comment.
The online version of the Register's story has more than 150 comments. About a half dozens e-mails were sent to the Register from parents who said they plan to be more aware when their children are near the hotel.
"Thank you for bringing this to our community's attention," Lisa Rudy wrote in an e-mail to the Register. "I live near this hotel and have two sons, 10 and 6. They play baseball at a field right near this hotel. I will be hyper aware now."
One ocregister.com commenter who claims to be the sister of one of the sex offenders said the community was misunderstanding the situation.
"(My brother) does everything asked of him, maybe there are repeat offenders out there but everybody lumps them all into the same category, this is so not the case," she wrote in an e-mail to the Register. "I wondered of all the thousands of sex offenders, why did the HB police pick on these five?"
Huntington Beach police said they had a specific reason for targeting the hotel. While residents can research sex offenders near their homes, visitors may be less apt to research offenders at a hotel where they are staying, said police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart.
The fliers were not in connection to the recent Chelsea King death in San Diego or Amber Dubois remains found at Pala Indian Reservation, Reinhart said.
There are about 190 sex offenders in Huntington Beach, he said.
Some residents who read the Register's story discovered that seven sex offenders live at an apartment complex near Bolsa Chica Street and contacted the police, according to e-mails sent to the Register. The offenders could be found through the Megan's Law Web-site which tracks sex offenders' locations and their offense.
However, police do not have plans to distribute fliers about this group of offenders and encouraged residents to use the site to find out more about the offenders, Reinhart said.
"We evaluate each one on their own merits on what we need to do," he said.
Contact the writer: aburris@ocregister.com or 714-796-7922
http://www.ocregister.com/news/offender ... l-sex.html
