Michael Cheek
Introduction
Michael Thomas Cheek is a 74-year-old man twice convicted of rape in the early 1980s who has been classified as a sexually violent predator, and whose proposed release from a locked psychiatric facility to a house in the Santa Cruz Mountains has made him the center of a public fight between California’s housing system and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff. State officials are considering placing Cheek, who completed prison sentences and decades of treatment for the 1980 rape of a 21-year-old woman and the 1981 rape of a 15-year-old girl, at a home on Terrace Grove Road near Los Gatos — a rural property that Sheriff Chris Clark is publicly urging the court to reject because of its terrain, isolation and proximity to schools and a Girl Scout camp. A court hearing on the placement is scheduled for October 30, 2026.
Background Information
Cheek’s criminal history sits at the core of the dispute. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for abducting and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old visitor to Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz in 1980, a rape committed at gunpoint; the following year, while in Contra Costa County custody on vehicle theft charges in a separate case, he escaped and fled to Lake County, where he raped a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint in what one local outlet called a nearly identical crime. He remained in prison from 1981 to 1997, then waived a trial on unsupervised release and asked to be committed for psychiatric treatment instead; a court later designated him a sexually violent predator under California’s 1998 act, which allows involuntary hospitalization after a sentence when an offender is judged still dangerous. In 2019, after completing a sex offender treatment program at the state hospital in Coalinga, then-Judge Stephen Siegel granted him a conditional release to begin supervised outpatient treatment — the ruling that started the now years-long search for a home.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted in the 1980s; the placement is contested, not the guilt. Cheek’s two rape convictions are final, and no new offense is alleged. The dispute is over where a court-granted conditional release should place him, with the sheriff formally opposing the site and a judge set to decide.
The fight over Cheek’s address has run for more than five years. The California Department of State Hospitals has tried to place him across multiple counties since his 2019 conditional release, and every site has collapsed: two earlier Santa Cruz County placements — a supervised home in Aptos and a house on Wild Iris Lane in Bonny Doon — fell through amid public opposition, and proposals earlier this year to house him at the Ocean Gate Inn in Santa Cruz or the Valley Inn in Watsonville were withdrawn after community backlash to both motels. The current proposal is a property at 25237 Terrace Grove Road in unincorporated Los Gatos, a remote spot off Soquel San Jose Road.
Sheriff Chris Clark responded with a formal media release and public statements urging the court to reject it. “The concerns are specific and serious. The home is surrounded by dense forest and steep terrain, with limited road access. Unreliable cellular service and GPS coverage could interfere with electronic monitoring, communication about a violation, and a timely law enforcement response,” Clark said, adding that “narrow roads, abandoned structures, and recreational vehicles in the area could further complicate a search or apprehension.” He said schools including Loma Prieta Elementary, a Girl Scout camp, a church, a public park and family neighborhoods sit nearby, and that routes to the property pass places where children gather. “Mr. Cheek committed crimes in Santa Cruz County. That does not mean the people he harmed, or the community where those crimes occurred, should be asked to carry the risk of his placement here,” Clark said. “I respectfully urge the court to reject the proposed placement at 25237 Terrace Grove Road.”
Public Reaction and Consequences
Opposition has followed every proposed address, and the coverage frames it as the reason each one collapsed — landlords withdrew rentals and motel proposals died after community outrage, in a search now old enough that Cheek has spent roughly seven years past his release order still in custody. Clark said Cheek, previously a Concord resident, has never lived in Santa Cruz County and has no known family or support network there, a point of bitter local debate: many residents argue he has no tie to the area beyond his crimes. The sheriff also framed the stakes for victims, saying the placement could bring painful memories back into the daily lives of sexual violence survivors and raise safety concerns for families living near the home. The county has opened a public input channel, collecting written comments by email and mail before the hearing.
Current Status
As of October 21, 2026, Cheek remains in custody at the state hospital in Coalinga, where he has been held for decades, pending the placement decision. The proposal for the Terrace Grove Road property is set for a contested hearing on October 30, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. before Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Nancy De La Peña in Department 6, where the court will decide whether the address passes the judicial test his conditional release requires. The sheriff’s office has said it will present its findings and advocate against the placement, and public comments are being accepted at [email protected]. Cheek’s rape convictions are final; no new charges have been filed against him.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Cheek’s case has become the county’s recurring test of California’s sexually violent predator housing system: a man whose sentence ended decades ago, who a judge found ready for supervised outpatient treatment in 2019, and whom no community has yet accepted. Whatever Judge De La Peña rules on October 30 either ends the seven-year housing search or sends the state hunting for a seventh address. For Santa Cruz County, the sheriff’s public campaign has turned a routine SVP placement notice into a countywide political fight, and for the communities that chased off the earlier sites, the pattern suggests any approved address will arrive only over local opposition.
Sources
- “Santa Cruz sheriff fights release of rapist near Girl Scout camp” — New York Post: source
- “Santa Cruz County sheriff opposes Michael Cheek housing plan” — KSBW: source
- “Sheriff opposes proposal to house convicted rapist Michael Cheek in Santa Cruz Mountains” — Santa Cruz Sentinel: source
- “Sheriff opposes proposed Santa Cruz Mountains placement of convicted rapist Michael Cheek” — Lookout Santa Cruz: source
- “Violent California rapist could be released in wealthy California town near Girl Scount camp - as sheriff explodes” — New York Post on X: source