Repeat sex offender again lives in care center

An unidentified Iowa judge has issued a secret court order placing a sexual predator in a state-run care facility alongside elderly and disabled residents.

As a result of the judge's order, William Cubbage, a four-time convicted sex offender, will not stand trial in civil proceedings based on the alleged 2011 sexual assault of a 95-year-old nursing home resident. He has instead been moved into a geriatric ward at the Mental Health Institute in Clarinda.

"I think they found a place to stash him and try to forget about him," said Willis Hamilton, an attorney for the family of Mercedes Gottschalk, one of Cubbage's alleged victims.

Until recently, the 85-year-old Cubbage was being held by the Iowa Department of Corrections pending a civil trial to decide whether he should be recommitted to the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders. But after 28 months of court delays, the Iowa attorney general asked a judge last month to dismiss the case in its entirety. The judge agreed, and Cubbage now lives at the state-run Mental Health Institute in Clarinda.

"My mother died never having her day in court, never seeing justice," said Becky Rassler, Gottschalk's daughter. "It isn't right. He should have been brought to justice."

To have Cubbage re­admitted to the sex-offender unit, the attorney general had to prove Cubbage suffered from a "mental abnormality" that made him "likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent acts if not confined in a secure facility," court records indicate.

But on March 10, an Iowa judge declared that Cubbage was mentally impaired due to dementia — which, according to the attorney general, does not meet the legal definition of "a mental abnormality." State officials say the judge ordered Cubbage's immediate involuntary placement in the Mental Health Institute's geriatric program, which provides long-term care to adults with chronic psychiatric and behavioral problems.

The identity of the judge and the basis for the order are being kept confidential. A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller declined to identify the judge, citing an Iowa law that prohibits the state from publicly disclosing "all papers and records pertaining to any involuntary hospitali­zation."

The spokesman acknowledged the attorney general's office sought the order.

It's not clear whether Cubbage's public defender, Mike Adams, resisted the involuntary hospitalization. The court records are sealed, and Adams declined to comment.

When contacted at the Mental Health Institute on Tuesday, Cubbage said he likes the facility, and his overall health is good. He said he socializes and interacts with other residents of the unit on a regular basis and prefers the Mental Health Institute to the Department of Corrections facility, where he had been living.

"I haven't got a roommate right now, but I did," he told the Register. "There was someone else in there with me for a while, but I don't know what happened to him. Maybe he went home or something."

Asked what steps the Mental Health Institute has taken to ensure that Cubbage doesn't reoffend, Iowa Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Lorentzen McCoy said in a written statement, "Specific client information maintained by DHS is confidential. The department serves difficult populations, and provides care that is appropriate to an individual's needs while ensuring the safety of others."

Cubbage has a long history of sexual offenses. In 1987, he was convicted of lascivious acts with a child. In 1991, he was convicted of indecent contact with a child. In 1997, he was convicted of indecent contact with a child and given a suspended jail sentence. And in 2000, at age 72, he was convicted of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and sentenced to two years in prison.

After serving his sentence, Cubbage was admitted to the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders as a sexual predator, where he remained for eight years. He then moved into the Pomeroy Care Center in north-central Iowa. In August 2011, a visitor to the home reported seeing Cubbage sexually assaulting Gottschalk in her bed at the center, as she called out, "No, no, no!"

Court records indicate Cubbage was one of two convicted sex offenders who lived in the Pomeroy home at the time, and that he confessed to sexually assaulting Gottschalk while being interviewed by a Medicaid fraud investigator.

A judge found probable cause to believe Cubbage was still a sexually violent predator, ordering him held by the Department of Corrections pending a civil trial on whether he should be recommitted to the civil commitment unit.

Initially, Calhoun County prosecutor Cynthia Voorde said she intended to criminally prosecute Cubbage for the reported assault at the care center. Later, she opted to forgo criminal charges, but the civil-commitment case dragged on for more than two years. Four trial dates were scheduled, but all were scrapped due to requests by either the defense attorney or the attorney general.

According to the attorney general's office, on March 10, the day before the trial was expected to take place in Calhoun County, a Jasper County judge ruled that Cubbage suffered from dementia and ordered his placement at the Clarinda facility. That same day, the attorney general sought and obtained an order dismissing the civil-commitment case.

The recent turn of events helps the Iowa attorney general's office avoid two potentially conflicting roles in dealing with Cubbage.

In the civil-commitment process, the office was charged with proving Cubbage was a violent predator who posed a risk to the public. In the Gottschalk lawsuit, which is still moving forward, the office must disprove allegations that the state failed to protect the public by placing a violent predator in an Iowa nursing home alongside vulnerable seniors.

Over the past three years, the Register has identified dozens of sex offenders living in Iowa care facilities for disabled adults.

One of those offenders, John Steinkamp, lived with Cubbage at the Pomeroy Care Center. He later moved to the Gowrie Care Center, where last September he was found in bed with another resident who said the two had just engaged in some type of sexual activity. The home was fined $2,150 for failing to supervise Steinkamp.

In 2012 and 2013, Iowa lawmakers debated measures to address the problem of sex offenders living in care facilities alongside vulnerable seniors and disabled adults.

Some favored legislation that would have required homes to notify residents and their families if a sex offender was living in the facility. Others wanted to see a law passed that would prohibit traditional, privately run care facilities from housing violent criminals or sex offenders.

Neither proposal was approved.

This year, the Legislature set aside $100,000 to pay for a study of the issue.