After strong opposition from San Bernardino County law enforcement and Morongo Basin residents, a Ventura County superior court judge decided Thursday not to relocate a convicted rapist and child molester to Joshua Tree. The decision prolongs the nearly year-long process to find a home for Ross Leo Wollschlager, 56, who had been convicted in the 1980s of raping two women and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl while she slept in her home in Ventura County. He had already served his prison sentence and was being held at a state hospital in Coalinga, Fresno County. Superior Court Judge Nancy Ayers in September had originally ordered to move Wollschlager to Joshua Tree, which immediately drew vigorous opposition from law enforcement and residents of the Morongo Basin communities, citing concerns for their safety. In a Ventura County courtroom filled with about 20 Morongo Basin residents and 10 local officials who gave statements before the judge, along with San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon and District Attorney’s Office prosecutors, Ayers changed her mind, rescinding her original order. “We keep our own, we house our own, we’ll monitor our own,” said San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Maureen O’Connell who handled the opposition in court. “But to set a precedent to allow another county to dump them into another county, it will become a repository of sexually violent predators.” Officials with the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
