2 Child Molesters Linked to Rasmuson Returned to State Hospital

Two registered child molesters living in Reseda were returned to Atascadero State Hospital Tuesday after authorities reported that they may have violated the terms of their release by having unsupervised contact with a minor--perhaps in the company of accused child kidnaper Kenneth K. Rasmuson.

Charles England, 64, and Duane Mitchell, 59, who had been released from Atascadero in 1984, were sent back there after other sex offenders said they had been seen “in the company of a minor, along with other people,” at their apartment, said Dr. Dieter Poiser, director of the Forensic Community Treatment Program, an outpatient service for people released from state mental hospitals.

“Ken Rasmuson was one of the people that was supposedly there,” Poiser said.

Poiser said he did not know the identity of the child the men allegedly were with or if sex crimes had taken place. Under the terms of their release, however, the men are not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with children.

He said both England and Mitchell had “long histories” of sex offenses.

Not Guilty Plea Entered

Rasmuson, 25, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to kidnaping and lewd conduct charges in connection with the abduction last week of a Highland Park boy, who was found wandering, naked and dazed, the next day. A preliminary hearing was set for May 14.

Los Angeles Police Detective John Shambra confirmed that Rasmuson, a registered sex offender who was released from Atascadero two years ago, had visited the Reseda apartment shared by England and Mitchell, but he said he has no evidence that the 3-year-old was taken there.

“My information is that Rasmuson went there by himself,” Shambra said. “They (England and Mitchell) deny seeing him with the boy.”

Nevertheless, county mental health officials say it is not necessary to know details of a particular incident in order to recommit a sex offender, pending further court proceedings. “We don’t need to have absolute evidence,” Poiser said.

State law allows such offenders to be recommited if an “outpatient treatment supervisor is of the opinion that the person requires extended inpatient treatment. . . . “

The county’s outpatient program supervises 90 people who at one time were committed to state hospitals under the now-defunct mentally disordered sex offender program, according to Dr. Elsie Go Lu, deputy mental health director.

Therapy Sessions Required

Participants are required to get individual and group therapy once a week and to submit to random drug tests and surprise home visits, she said.

It was during a group therapy session that the reports linking Rasmuson to England and Mitchell surfaced, Poiser said.

Poiser said Rasmuson and England, whom he described as a former Ukiah Boy Scoutmaster, have known each other since they lived on the same ward at Atascadero. England and Mitchell, a San Francisco resident, had court permission to share quarters, he said.

Lu said that even if courts in Ukiah and San Francisco ultimately decide that the two men pose no danger to the community, it is unlikely that either will be returned to Los Angeles County. New policies no longer allow patients from other jurisdictions to be sent to the county routinely.

“We feel that unless there are good clinical reasons for them to be here, and unless they have family support, there is no justification for sending them here,” Lu said.