Cruise Ship Port Zip Code 92101 Registered Sex Offenders
Sex Offenders Residing In Port Cities
San Diego, California Sex Offenders
Cruise Ship Terminal Zip Code
Population: 27,494
Sex Offenders: 154
Updated - December 26, 2009
San Diego has a somewhat unusual problem for a port city. The city chose to locate their cruise ship terminal right in the middle of their downtown tourism district, zip code 92101.
From the cruise ship terminal it is walking distance to hotels, restaurants, harbor shopping malls, the convention center and other points of interests, all two miles or less from the embarcadero. What they failed to do, was to place public parks throughout the inner city, and instead chose to rake in tax revenue for nearly inch of land.
The zip code 92101 is also home to about 26,000 San Diego residents, over 150 of them are Penal Code § 288 (a) (b) sex offenders. On the map below, multiple sex offenders are lumped into one blue box. Some of the blue boxes below have as many as 10 sex offenders living at the same address.
In California, the parole revocation rate (within a two-year period after release) for first time parolee sex offenders was 45 percent between 1996 and 2005. This means that nearly half the sex offenders reoffend during the first two years of their parole.
This statistic is according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Office of Research, “Recidivism Rates within One, Two and Three Year Follow-up Periods for Male Felons Paroled to Supervision, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Released from Prison for First Time,” 1996-2005.
The problem is that many families cruising know that it is wise to arrive at the chosen cruise ship port the day before disembarking on a cruise. This ensures if anything goes wrong along the way, such as missed or delayed flights, the family will not miss the cruise ship departure.
Generally, this means a hotel is booked for the night before the day of departure and often the day after the cruise ship returns to port, as ships are known for arriving late resulting in missed return flights home. Since quite a few of the hotels in this area promote that children under 12 stay free and some even offer kids under 12 eat free, clearly they are trying to lure families with small children into the area.
Once arrived, the family will take in some sights, dine out and perhaps do some shopping. The preferred hotels are those closest to the cruise ship terminal, for ease and convenience of movement, this means downtown.
The zip code 92101 is not only home to the inner city tourism district but also home to a large collection of sex offenders, the vast majority of them with convictions for crimes against children 13 years of age or younger.
Because public parking is expensive in the 92101 zip code, when it can be found, sex offenders living in the zip code, are also likely work in the zip code and are unlikely to have a car. Instead, they will be walking to their jobs or perhaps taking the trolley or transit bus.
The trolley is itself a tourist attraction, taking visitors to and from the convention center, malls, hotels and cruise ship terminal along or near the waterfront. This makes the fact that there are so many sex offenders living within that zip code, very significant.
For families, it should be a big concern that about 80% of the sex offenders were convicted for acts against a child. More importantly, is the fact that of the about 120 or so sex offenders convicted of crimes against children, about 90% of them were crimes against children age 13 or less.
These are not cases of men barely adults themselves, being charged with statutory rape because the girl was not quite an adult. The crimes they are convicted of, are for the most part against young children and pre-teens, the most vulnerable sector of society.
In addition, as of April 2006, 17,764 California sex offenders had failed to registered. Many of these may be hiding in inner cities, such as San Diego, where they can blend into the masses and find new victims.
The sex offender proximity to the cruise ship terminal and four star to five star hotels is frightening. Within this district, walking distance to the cruise ship terminal and the sex offenders are some of the better hotels, Windam, Westin, Westgate, Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Marriott, Embassy Suites, Grand Hyatt and numerous others.
Destinations tourist would walk to in this district are the Convention Center, Maritime Museum, Star Of India, Ferry terminal for Coronado Island, Anthony's Fish Grotto, Seaport Village, Westfield Shoppingtown Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp Quarter.
Horton Plaza, once a sleeping place for the homeless and ground zero for trafficking in human flesh and drugs, was rebuilt, with an upscale mall taking its place. When the prostitutes moved out, the sex offenders moved in.
Westfield Shoppingtown Horton Plaza, an easy walk from the cruise ship terminal is certainly targeting families. While the mall is home to stores like Macy's, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Guess?, Hot Topic, Lady Foot Locker, Louis Vuitton and Nordstrom it is also home to Gymboree, Baby Gap, Horton Toy & Doll and Ben & Jerry's. The mall is also surrounded by sex offenders, as the map above indicates.
In order to walk from Westfield Shoppingtown Horton Plaza to the Convention Center, a distance of only a few blocks, visitors will have to walk right through a sex offender infested area, potentially coming into contact with over 50 sex offenders. I can think no other city that has this sex offender density claim to fame.
The Gaslamp Quarter, home to 80 restaurants, bars, boutiques and nightclubs was once the home to prostitutes, before women and children began coming forward in large enough numbers that a sex offender registry was created. The location 40 years ago consisted of nothing but dive hotels, XXX bookstores, XXX movie theatres, prostitutes and drug addicts.
Taking a closer look, on September 26, 2009, every one of the businesses below are located in the Gaslamp Quarter. The Gaslamp Quarter officially runs from Broadway to the Harbor between 4th and 6th Streets.
- Baltic Inn - 521 6th Ave - 10 sex offenders
- Hotel North/Simmons Hotel - 542 6th Ave - 2 sex offenders
- Lincoln Hotel - 536 5th Ave 1 sex offender
- Island Hotel - 461 5th Ave - 8 sex offenders
- Golden West Hotel - 720 4th Ave - 2 sex offenders
- Las Flores Hotel - 725 4th Ave - 4 sex offenders
- Callen Hotel - 460 Island Ave - 4 sex offenders (one block from the Upscale Horton Grand Hotel at 311 island)
Within walking distance of the convention center and Gaslamp Quarter is also the Peachtree Inn, with 13 sex offenders, 901 F Street. In all 24 hotels in zip code 92101 have sex offenders residing in them.
Though conveniently hidden from the listings of the Gaslamp Quarter organization, as if they do not exist, they are all right in the middle of the Gaslamp Quarter, exactly where they have been for decades.
The total sex offenders in those seven locations alone equal 31. If we expand the area a few blocks in every direction, another couple dozen sex offenders fall into the head count. The Padres Petco Center where the MLB Padres play ball is at the edge of the Gaslamp Quarter, within a few blocks of these several dozen sex offenders.
When the city of San Diego decided to reinvent itself as a tourist destination and not just a hub for bawdy night activities for the military, they bused out the homeless, and began restoring, demolishing and rebuilding businesses targeted to tourists.
The remaining, unrenovated hotels, nowhere near schools or parks with playground equipment, became a magnet for sex offenders who couldn't find housing anywhere else. In order for the problem to be resolved, it would have to be identified. To date, it appears the city has decided just to cover up the issue, and not let visitors know what they are getting themselves into.
What makes this problem somewhat unusual, is the fact that the cruise ship terminal is not in the middle of an industrial port area, separated from most residences and downtown inner blight by interstates, highways and public lands. There is no real protected buffer zone between the cruise ship terminal and the city's residents.
The distance between the cruise ship terminal, hotels and attractions was designed for foot traffic not hopping on hotel shuttle buses, an unfortunate planning faux pas when it comes to luring families to the city for vacations.
What has to be considered is this single fact. If these 150 or so sex offenders work in their zip code, which most likely do as work is a primary condition of their parole, then where are they working? Within the zip code, the answer is within the retail, hospitality, accommodation or service industries. The area in the map above is loaded with stores and restaurants.
In California, legislation that went into effect in 2006 (Chapter 463, Statutes of 2005) prohibits any offender on parole convicted of a certain sex offense involving a victim of 14 to 15 years of age from residing within quarter mile of any K-12 grade school.
Any offender on parole convicted of a child-related sex offense, or whose victim was a dependent person, and is designated as high-risk, is prohibited from residing within a half mile of any K-12 grade school.
Other legislation that went into effect in 2006 (Chapter 486, Statutes of 2005) prohibits a conditionally released sex offender from the Department of Mental Health with a history of child molestation, or an offender classified as a sexually violent predator, from living within a quarter mile of any K-12 school.
However, from looking at the map above, two things become obvious. The lack of schools in the southern section of the zip code, the heart of the tourist district, have created a child molester haven.
As well, when the schools are located on the map, designated by blue buildings with little red flags, in the north end of the zip code, you can see that the law is not being enforced.
There are also numerous sex offenders residing within a block of designated public parks, simply because there is no playground equipment located at them. The mere presence of the park on a map, might lead potential visitors to believe, the sex offender law would protect the area around that park, though it does not.
Clearly there is a problem in the Gaslamp Quarter. September 15, 2009 a news story reported that Dane Williams, 23, was found dead in a City Heights alley three days after he was last seen leaving a nightclub at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Philong Huynh, 39, was arrested after DNA evidence from the crime scene was matched to him. The DNA on file was from an unsolved sex crime in San Diego from June 6, 2009. In that attack, a man was drugged and raped. The last thing he remembered was being in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Men who are raped, are much less likely to report the attack, leading some to believe that Huynh may have raped many more men he came into contact with while in the Gaslamp Quarter, who did not report the attack. It is the first case I have seen with the rape of a man facilitated by a date rape drug.
On May 24, 2009 it was reported that Lakiesha Mason, 21, was killed in a shooting around 2am in the area of the Gaslamp Quarter on a busy street full of tourists. Mason was shot after a man started firing his handgun in the middle of a huge fight by the intersection of 5th Avenue and E Street.
On the following pages, are the list of sex offenders residing in zip code 92101 as of September 26, 2009. Some of these sex offenders may have moved out of the area, some may have moved into the area and are not yet listed in the sex offender registry. Others still, may live in the area and have never registered. This list is meant to be used as a general density guide, not an exact accounting.
