Residents seek answers on home of accused child molester

A man stands accused of child molestation at this park on the western border of Menifee.

Story has been updated with the fact that the suspect is out on bail.

As concern about public safety intensifies following the arrest of a Menifee man accused of child molestation Tuesday in a local park, Sheriff's Department and City of Menifee officials are looking into the history of a room and board residence in the neighborhood.

On a community Facebook group formed on Wednesday, residents in the area are voicing concerns about Tuesday's incident, in which residents chased the suspect from La Ladera Park and held him for police for allegedly groping a 9-year-old girl at the playground. Some contacted by Menifee 24/7 on Thursday spoke of incidents involving children in the neighborhood and other residents of the nearby home as well.

Residents have organized a May 1 event at La Ladera Park in which they urge others to sign a petition asking city officials to prohibit such houses near parks and schools. In addition, the incident has renewed conversation among city officials about public safety -- recently identified as the top priority of the city staff and council.

The suspect, 21-year-old Roland Riddell, was originally scheduled for a Friday court date at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, with bail set at $55,000. Jail records now indicate he was released on bail Thursday night. His court date has been pushed back to June 22.

Meanwhile, the owner of the home in question told Menifee 24/7 that Riddell had just moved into the house hours before the incident occurred Tuesday upon his release from a mental health facility.

Daniel Blas, who owns multiple room and board homes in Southern California, said he personally interviewed Riddell on Monday and approved him for residence in the house. It is located in the 29600 block of Cool Meadow Drive, about a block from La Ladera Park.

"I interviewed him Monday at the hospital," Blas said about his conversation with Riddell at Aurora Charter Oak Behavioral Health Care facility in Covina prior to his release. "I also interviewed the mother. Her whole thing was, 'He's just depressed.' I knew because he was at the hospital that he had some issues, but he was very clear in his speech. We communicated eye to eye and he was very responsive. I would never imagine him doing something like this."

According to the website thecarecenters.com, Daniel Blas Homes, Inc. is a licensed care provider that offers "personalized services designed to meet the needs of every patient. The dedicated health professionals offer the assistance you need while respecting your independence."

Felicia Delbosque, an assistant of Blas, said there was no indication Riddell would commit the type of crime of which he is accused.

"The hospital didn't disclose that he had been in any kind of trouble before," Delbosque said.

Blas said the residence is home to six individuals, which is the maximum allowed under state law for such facilities. He said he is not aware of any prior incidents involving other tenants of the house, as local residents have reported.

According to Blas, the only police calls to the residence he is aware of in the year and a half he has owned the home were medical in nature and that he had not been made aware of any trouble by residents of the neighborhood. He also acknowledged that neither he nor Delbosque live on site. A full-time caretaker who is hired to supervise the tenants does.

A caretaker answering the door at the home on Cool Meadow Drive refused to answer questions Thursday.

However, a study of the Sheriff's Department call log for the past year at that address shows 12 police responses to the residence. Eight of them were medical calls. The other four included calls for a misdemeanor battery investigation, a misdemeanor drug investigation, a petty theft investigation and a disturbing the peace investigation.

Allie Munoz, who lives near La Ladera Park and the house in question, said her 17-year-old son and his 16-year-old friend were confronted by a resident of that home as they walked to the park to play basketball on Jan. 8.

"An older man was yelling, 'Help me,'" Munoz said her son told her. "He started walking from the house toward the street. He said he was trying to watch a movie on his tablet and couldn't make it work. When the boys looked at the tablet, it was showing porn images. They walked away and said, 'We can't help you.'"

Munoz said she called police and the responding Sheriff's deputy told her the department had received "a lot of calls" about that house.

"The officer came to my home and told me he would file the report," Munoz said. "He said there are mental health issues there and developmentally disabled people. He also said that because my son looks older, the man might have thought he was over 18. He said, 'The DA won't touch this.' "

Asked about the incident, Captain Greg Fellows of the Sheriff's Department had the following response:

"An officer responded and documented the incident. A presumed developmentally disabled individual (not located) asked for help finding a website on a tablet. Upon hearing the name of the website, the reporting party walked away."

Other residents have reported confrontations with residents of that home.

"I’ve personally had two encounters with another man that lives in this home," said Cheyanne Squires. "I never felt he was aggressively coming at me; I could tell he has the mentality of a teenager. However, he specifically targeted kids both times I had an encounter with him.

"The first time he must have thought I was a teenager ( I’m small in stature) and asked me if I would play him music on my phone. Then he began to ask me personal questions like where I lived and then continued to ask me what grade I was in. I responded that he shouldn't be approaching anyone who is of school age.

"The second time he followed me into the park and proceeded to interact with me again, asking me to fix his phone. I said I would be able to but I needed to watch my children. He parked his shopping cart and proceeded to go over and talk to my kids. At that point, I asked my kids to do a race across the park and left him standing there."

The child molestation of which Roland Riddell is accused took place on this playground at La Ladera Park.

Munoz tells stories about a female former resident of the home who knocked on doors in the neighborhood and appeared to be "casing the place." She also spoke of a man who roamed the neighborhood shirtless with a catheter hanging down from his body. Fueled by these stories and Tuesday's incidents, many residents on social media are demanding a greater police presence as well as action by city officials to keep such individuals away from children.

That isn't an easy thing to do, however. There is no state law prohibiting such a facility from being located near a park or school. That makes enacting a city ordinance regulating such facilities difficult. And homes like these are not nearly the only problem in the area. Although Fellows said there are no registered sex offenders living in that home, a check of the Megan's Law website shows 44 registered sex offenders living within a two-mile radius.

"We can try to develop ordinances and codes to address such issues, but we still have to abide by state law," said Armando Villa, Menifee's city manager. "We can develop our own rules, but we can't be more restrictive than the state. What we can do is do our best to keep tabs on places like this -- especially ones that are so close to schools and parks."

"It's not so much that the home is there," said Munoz, who is a mental health counselor, "but that they are so unsupervised. Why are they not being cared for?"

Blas, who insists they are, said he is as concerned about Riddell's alleged crime as anyone else, but that he defends his right to house others he says are not criminals.

"Oh, I expect the calvary to come, for sure," he said about the public backlash. "I run a legitimate business. If I have to move, I'll move, but I'm going to fight like heck to stay there. These other guys didn't do anything to anyone."

And this from Delbosque:

"If I lived in that neighborhood, I would be upset about this too. But I'm not going to let the community condemn five other guys who have done nothing wrong because of this individual. Justice will be served for him."

City officials have identified as their No. 1 priority a study of the feasibility of creating the city's own police department. Will this incident accelerate that process? We'll look at that issue in a story on Friday.