Authorities struggle to find housing for man district attorney calls a ‘violent predator’

A man District Attorney Krishna Abrams described as a sexually violent predator who was ordered released from custody Nov. 18, 2013, may find himself housed outside Solano County because no suitable place has been found for him here.

So far, no home has been found for Fraisure Smith despite the Superior Court order that he should be free under the Conditional Release Program (CONREP).

A Solano County Superior Court hearing Tuesday afternoon determined that the latest candidate site, a house on Willotta Drive, described as being in a quiet area of Fairfield, was too close to the Solano Community College campus and that the student body had many women who fit the convict’s past victim profile.

Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting four teenaged girls, the last incident occurring in 2006 in Solano County. He also was convicted of forcible rape in the mid-1980s.

About 200 Fairfield residents attended and spoken at community meetings on the matter after the site was announced.

Since 2013, Liberty Healthcare, with which CONREP contracts, has examined 1,700 places where Smith could be placed, Abrams said. But none was suitable until the program recommended Feb. 23 that Smith live in the house on Willotta Drive.

The home would have been rented for $3,000 a month to Smith at taxpayer expense. He would have been required to wear an ankle geopositioning system device which first would notify Liberty, which in turn would call law enforcement should he escape.

That was one of many issues that upset Fairfield and other residents.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Nguyen spoke to residents about their concerns about Smith becoming their neighbor, and learned about the composition of the SCC student body.

Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara also has expressed his own and his deputies’ frustration.

The District Attorney’s Office filed written opposition to putting Smith at the Willotta address, and Judge Arvid Johnson agreed.

Smith had suggested another option: releasing him on transient status without a fixed address. But Johnson agreed with the District Attorney’s Office in opposing the move because it would make it all but impossible to supervise Smith.

Abrams said her office has subpoenaed Smith’s treatment records since November 2013, when he was in Coalinga State Hospital. She then filed a brief that outlines Smith’s behavior and her concerns.

Among the decisions handed down Tuesday was one that backed Abrams’s contentions and denied Smith release on transient status.

Meanwhile, Abrams has filed another brief, saying that “extraordinary circumstances” exist, since months of searching and examination of 1,700 possible places have yeilded nothing suitable for Smith.

The court concurred Tuesday, setting a June 10 progress review to learn whether CONREP has had any further success in placing Smith or whether he should be allowed to be freed in another county.

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