GALT, CA (MPG) - Residents and the Galt City Council rallied against the potential placement of a sexually violent predator just outside of city limits at a special meeting convened on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The Department of State Hospitals recommended that Christopher Dryden, 47, be placed in a home at 12655 Hauschildt Road, just a little over a half mile outside of Galt city limits. Dryden is classified as a sexually violent predator, a designation for those who have committed a sexually violent offense against one or more victims and who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes them a danger to others, according to the Department of State Hospitals.

The news of the potential placement quickly spread across social media, causing concern among residents and various city boards and officials, especially considering the resident’s proximity to schools including Liberty Ranch High School, Marengo Ranch Elementary School and Lake Canyon Elementary School and adjacent homes with young children.

Dryden was prosecuted and convicted in 1998 by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office for two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14 years of age and sentenced to six years in state prison.

Following his sentence, Dryden was placed at Coalinga State Hospital after the district attorney successfully petitioned to have him designated as a sexually violent predator. The Sacramento Superior Court granted a petition to release Dryden to the community for outpatient treatment, based on recommendations made by the Department of State Hospitals in July 2024.

Before the jam-packed meeting finished, the Galt City Council voted 4-0 to send a letter in opposition to Dryden’s placement. Council member Mathew Pratton was absent from the meeting.

The Galt City Council joined both the Galt Joint Union High School and Galt Joint Union Elementary School boards, which sent letters earlier in the month opposing the placement.

The Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, County Supervisor Pat Hume’s office, the Galt Police Department and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office also sent letters in opposition.

After the meeting, Mayor Shawn Farmer said he’s optimistic that the concerns of the community would be enough to sway the judge.

“I think we have a really good shot at this being successful; I feel really good about it,” Farmer said. “Honestly, I don’t know how a judge could see letters from the city council, school board members, the police department, the sheriff’s department, from the county supervisors, from the DA’s office, and hundreds of the people that have written letters and the people that live there and say, ‘(no), this is the best place.’”

According to the council, over 160 pages of opposition were sent to the judge.

The Galt Police Department took issue with the claim that it would respond to any calls for service at the home within nine minutes. Chief Brian Kalinowski said due to the home’s placement outside of the department’s jurisdiction, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office would have to respond, which could take upwards of 40 minutes.

“This placement is strongly opposed by Chief Kalinowski and the City of Galt leadership,” the department wrote in a statement. “The proposed site lacks access to essential social and medical services and is in an area historically underserved by county resources. This decision disregards the needs and safety of both our community and the individual.”

More than 16 people spoke in opposition to the placement at Tuesday’s meeting; most of them were residents and some live on Hauschildt Road.

Jolene Metcalf Koyama said she and her husband live about 40 feet away from the prospective residence and said it’s not the first time a sexually violent predator was proposed to move into the property.

Metcalf Koyama said the landlord of the property “does not have any consideration for the families and the neighborhood.”

“With all these new families, I would love to sit outside and see the children; listen to the children, but I know the families are very afraid and they should be,” Metcalf Koyama said. “I myself do not feel safe in any shape or form.” 

Paul Nadarisay lives on Hauschildt Road with his two children and pregnant wife, and said he would not feel safe leaving his family alone during his work hours if Dryden was allowed to move into the home.

“I am deeply troubled by the possibility of this individual being relocated to an area that is home, as you already know, to many young families and children,” Nadarisay said.

Priscilla Lucero also lives on Hauschildt Road, where she owns Lucero Organic Farms, and said her business and her family could be impacted by Dryden’s placement at the home.

“I strongly oppose this, and I hope the council also will take up for us,” Lucero said. “We don’t have a voice when it comes to this kind of placement.”

George Kirbyson, a Galt resident, said he grew up next to a mental health facility in Vacaville that housed similar individuals as Dryden and remembered the sense of terror families would go through when someone would escape the facility.

“That is an area where people are behind bars,” Kirbyson said. “Now we want to allow these people to move into our community where we live. My children luckily are adults now, but I have nephews, nieces, and great nephews and nieces that are raising their children in this neighborhood. Part of the reason we moved here is because it felt so safe to raise our children.”

Multiple residents also questioned the system that selects where sexually violent predators are released.  

Rebecca Thornton Sloan, chief of staff for Supervisor Hume’s office, also spoke at the meeting and said the supervisor’s office is working with the District Attorney’s Office to oppose the placement.

“I can assure you that Supervisor Hume shares (the) concerns about the number of placements that get placed in this district,” Thornton Sloan said.

Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Masingale said District Attorney Thien Ho filed a motion of opposition to the placement of Dryden in the community.

The deadline to submit letters to the court at [email protected] is Thursday at 5 p.m.

The final court hearing on Dryden’s placement is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m.

Council member Tim Reed said he would attempt to attend the hearing, as did Farmer.

Farmer implored the community not just to send letters, but also to attend the hearing if they can.