Sex offender asks for second chance
Campus Times
March 1, 2002
Registered sex offender Kristian Eric Rosvold in his new home.
"He is a child molester!" "He needs to go!"
Those were some of the words yelled by some concerned neighbors and
parents from the La Verne community during a Tuesday afternoon protest.
Children were yelling "Out of La Verne! Out of La Verne..."
The protest on the 1300 block of Cork Circle was prompted by the La
Verne Police Department's Monday release of a special bulletin informing
the La Verne community about a "high risk" sex offender who had
just moved into the community.
The individual is 40-year-old Kristian Eric Rosvold who resides on Cork
Street. He is not wanted by the police but the department informed the community
so that its members can be aware and "protect themselves or their children
from sex offenders," according to the flier with Rosvold's photo that
was circulated on Monday.
Rosvold has moved within a quarter mile from Oak Mesa Elementary school,
said La Verne Police Lt. Scott Pickwith. Parents are worried about the safety
of their children and they want the new neighbor to leave.
Homer Newel, a close neighbor, expressed his concern saying that Rosvold
is too close to the school.
There are "too many children around," he said. He added that
there is even a park two blocks away, which makes the situation worse.
Pickwith said that it all started Jan. 30, when Rosvold came to register.
Rosvold moved here from Laguna Nigel. His records showed that he is "a
high risk sex offender," Pickwith said that the bulletin was distributed
on Monday not to create fear in the community, but to inform and make sure
that the parents and children are safe. "Our philosophy is that an
informed community is a safe community," he added.
According to Megan's Law, law enforcement agencies are permitted to
notify the community when a sex offender that has been classified as "serious
or high risk" moves into their community. La Verne Police Chief Ron
Angels gave the bulletin release order to the La Verne Police.
Rosvold was charged in two sex molestation cases and admits being guilty
in the first case, which involved two children.
"I did it," Rosvold said in a Wednesday interview. He said
that he was molested himself during his childhood. The worst part, he said,
was that even though he told his parents about the problem, they never did
anything about it.
The two children that he molested were his girlfriend's children, a
9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. He had been in a relationship with
his girlfriend for about five years.
"I absolutely did it," he said. "I knew what I was doing,
but because of the depression that I was in and the fact that I was drunk
continuously, I didn't have any way to talk to anybody about what was going
on in my life, or what I was doing. I did not know how to deal with it."
The second case involved a 14-year-old girl. He claims not to remember
what happened. All he remembers is that he and his girlfriend were the girl's
mentors. According to Rosvold, the reason that they were trying to help
her was because Rosvold noticed that the girl was going through the same
problems that he went through as a child.
"Her mother was mean to her," he said. One night when he was
laying on the couch "after a series of 12-14 hour work days for the
entire week," he woke up noticing that the girl was trying to push
him away from her. "She ran out" and until today, he says that
he does not remember what had happened.
"We called her mother right away and she came," he said. The
girl accused Rosvold of putting his hands on her breast. "I dropped
on my knees and said I am so sorry," he said. He had only "had
three to four sips of champagne out of a half glass," he said, and
repeated that he was too tired to notice what had happened.
Rosvold does not deny that he made a horrible mistake, but he also would
like people to know that he served his time.
He was in county jail for 18 months after the first case, and for the
second case he served six months in county jail and three years of probation.
He is also currently in a recovery program. He believes that he is succeeding
in his therapy.
He said he hasn't touched an alcoholic beverage in more than a year.
When asked what was the main message that he wanted delivered to the
public, he said "first, I understand their fears."
He said that he understands that people are behaving as they are toward
him because of fear. He believes that he would have acted the same way if
he were they.
"People need to understand that abuse does not come out of the
clear blue sky." he said. "It is a chain. It is something that
a person has been taught."
Wolfram Alderson is the Director of Day Treatment program called the
Sycamores.
The program focuses on helping children who have been "neglected
and emotionally disturbed."
He has learned by working at the Sycamores that the effects of child
abuse last a lifetime.
He believes that everybody should learn from these experiences that
we see through other people.
He also wants people to learn that child abuse does not only take place
outside the families, it happens inside families as well.
Instead of finger pointing, we should be concerned about all the children
who go through the experience of child abuse.
"In LA County there are over 75,000 children in residential treatments.
The majority of those children have been abused," Alderson said.
