Cops Oppose Court Order To Move Convicted Rapist to Redwood City

REDWOOD CITY, CA — Local law enforcement agencies are forcefully pushing back against a court order to release a convicted rapist to unincorporated Redwood City.

The organized opposition comes in response to a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge’s tentative order to move Michael Thomas Cheek to the Emerald Hills neighborhood, Redwood City police and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday in a jointly issued press release.

The law enforcement agencies are canvassing the Emerald Hills community, distributing flyers and urging the public to provide their input to the Santa Cruz County court regarding Cheek’s potential release to their community.

A hearing on this order will be held March 1 in Santa Cruz County.

Cheek was serving 20-year sentence for a 1980 rape conviction of a 21-year-old woman in Santa Cruz County when he escaped a Contra Costa County jail and raped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint in Lake County in 1981, according to a published report in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and court records.

Sheriff Carlos G. Bolanos “understands the complexity of this issue” and Redwood City Police Chief Dan Mulholland “understands the concerns of the residents,” the news release said.

“Sheriff Bolanos and Chief Mulholland both strongly object to the tentative order allowing a Sexually Violent Predator to live in Redwood City,” the statement said.

The flyer law enforcement officials are distributing was posted on the Facebook group Redwood City Residents Say: "What?"