Convicted Sex Offender Has Neighbors on Guard

NEWPORT BEACH — From her children’s bedroom window, Julie Wisniewski can see the two-bedroom condominium where James Crummel lives.

“I put all the blinds down now, because I’m afraid,” said Wisniewski, who has two daughters, ages 4 and 15. “The kids can’t go out and play like they used to. . . . They’re prisoners in their own home.”

Crummel, 53, is the most recent convicted sex offender to have his whereabouts made public under Megan’s Law, which was enacted in response to the killing of a girl, allegedly by a neighbor.

“I’m across the street [from Crummel] with little kids,” Wisniewski said. “It’s a sick thought.”

On Thursday, residents in the upscale Newport Crest condominium complex struggled to find ways to protect their children.

Crummel, who has been living in Newport Beach off and on since the 1970s, is not on parole or probation. He was convicted in a string of sex-related crimes dating from the 1960s involving one girl and the rest boys, all from 9 to 14 years old, according to police and court records. Crummel also was convicted in the murder of a 9-year-old boy in Arizona in 1983, but the judge ruled that his defense was ineffective and granted a new trial. In a plea bargain, Crummel pleaded guilty to kidnapping.

In California, Crummel is being questioned in the death of 13-year-old James Trotter, who disappeared on his way to school in 1979. His remains were found by Crummel during a hike 11 years later in the Cleveland National Forest.

“It seems like [law enforcement investigators] throw this guy’s name, Crummel, out there in just about every predator case,” said Jim Bryant, spokesman for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, which also questioned Crummel in connection with the disappearance of Jack “J.D.” Phillips, a 9-year-old who is still missing.

He has not been named as a suspect in either the Trotter or Phillips case, authorities said.

Riverside Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Lohman said Crummel was “considered but later eliminated” as a suspect in the slaying of Anthony Martinez, a 10-year-old who was abducted at knifepoint in a Beaumont alley.

But those facts don’t allay the fears of neighbors. Parents cling a little tighter to their children’s hands and warn them not to take anything from strangers.

After a community meeting organized by Newport Beach police, about two dozen people picketed under Crummel’s window Wednesday night, some shouting at him to leave the area, neighbors said. Throughout Thursday, people walked by his condominium and yelled at Crummel or drove by and honked their horns. About 12:30 p.m., Crummel called police to report a man loitering around his home, but the man turned out to be someone Crummel knows, authorities said.

As evening fell, the picketing resumed. About 7:30 p.m., about two dozen placard-toting residents, some with their children in their arms, circled outside Crummel’s home.

Justine Howard, the mother of a 6-year-old girl who lives a few blocks away, said, “We’re trying to make a difference, and we’ll do whatever to get this guy out.”