A Turlock family that home-schools their youngest child may have provided authorities a way to keep a pair of convicted child molesters from being released into the community.
Kevin Scott Gray, 72, and Timothy Roger Weathers, 61, are being held in Coalinga by the California State Department of Hospitals for sexually violent crimes committed more than 30 years ago.
Both are slated to be conditionally released into a home located at 400 N. Central Ave, about 3 miles outside the Turlock city limit.
Brenton and Erica Farmer, who live next door, have three children under the age of 10. The youngest attends a transitional kindergarten class at the Keyes to Learning Charter School. However, the child attends classes at home, making their residence at 506 N. Central Ave. a home school.
“If any school, home school or otherwise, is within a quarter mile, it would disqualify the address from housing an SVP,” said Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Wendell Emerson. “It would put them back to square one.”
Sheriff Jeff Dirkse released a video last week, asking citizens to send their concerns to a dedicated email address — SVPinfo@stansheriff.com. As of Tuesday afternoon, Dirkse said he had received 416 emails.
Asked if the home-school development was welcome news, Dirkse replied simply, “Yes.”
On Tuesday, investigators from the District Attorney’s office and sheriff’s office visited the neighbors in the area to gather information. On Friday, authorities will conduct a site visit of the residence, which is located about 150 yards from the Log Cabin, a bar and grill. Alcohol is a trigger for Gray’s deviant behavior, court documents show.
Erica Farmer said the family enrolled their child at Keyes Charter to see if it was a good fit for the family, with the intention of perhaps enrolling the older children there.
“If (Gray and Weathers) end up living next door, we might have to put all our kids in public school, just to get them away for several hours a day," the stay-at-home mom said. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to be on guard 24-7.”
Farmer said she originally heard about Gray and Weathers from family friend Candace Gonsalves, who lives nearby.
“I’m kind of a big mouth in the community,” said Gonsalves. “I was out somewhere and my phone started blowing up.”
Friends were texting Gonsalves to see if she’d heard about the potential placement of the men. Based on various media reports, she was able to pinpoint the address, and informed the Farmers.
Gonsalves has helped to organize a town-hall meeting, slated for Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Chatom Elementary School, 7201 Clayton Rd., Turlock. She’s also helped to organize Friday’s protest, with marchers slated to assemble at the Log Cabin, the Farmers’ residence, and Peterson Dairy, 1431 N. Central Ave.
The protest will begin at 8 a.m. and last until 1 p.m. It will then move to Turlock’s Public Safety Facility, 244 N. Broadway, where a 1:30 p.m. press conference is being held. Turlock Police Chief Jason Hedden, District 2 Supervisor Vito Chiesa, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (D-Jackson), as well as representatives from the sheriff’s office and the office of Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) will be in attendance.
“My office and I are carefully watching the situation,” said Alanis, a former sergeant with the sheriff’s department. “We have been in contact with state officials and support our local law enforcement efforts to protect our local communities. We are looking into continued legislative action regarding situations like these and I already have a bill moving through the Legislature regarding SVPs.”
Earlier this year, Gray was set to be released into rural Merced County just outside of Turlock. When authorities learned that Gray’s proposed address was within one-quarter mile of a home school, it led to a reversal by Stanislaus County Judge Carrie M. Stephens.
Modesto defense attorney Martin Baker declined to comment on the latest development, though he did confirm that he is representing both Gray and Weathers.
Gray will be back in court July 1 — to determine whether the residence is suitable, and to see if the judge will allow a hearing for a motion to rescind his release — and Walters will be in court July 3 for a site-suitability hearing.
Gray has admitted to molesting 25 children and having committed 1,000 acts of indecent exposure against female victims between the ages of 8 and 11, court documents show.
Weathers was convicted in San Diego County of molesting a child and sentenced to probation. Two years later, and still on probation, he was convicted of molesting two different boys in Stanislaus County. He was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison in 1991, according to a report in the Ceres Courier.
Weathers was committed to DSH-Atascadero in 2000. During his treatment there, Weathers admitted to looking at child pornography.
In 2007, the former Ceres resident was transferred to the state hospital in Coalinga where, during his treatment, he told doctors that he had actually molested between 20 to 45 boys. In recent years, Weathers has participated in the DSH Sexual Offender Treatment Program and has avoided major rules violations, the Courier reported. He was denied conditional release by Stephens in December 2022.
“We have roots in this community,” said Gonsalves. “Deep roots. It’s just so crazy. This can’t happen here. It won’t happen here.”
