The Awareness Center is the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)

If you find this site helpful, please consider becoming a financial sponsor

Case of Sidney Nathaniel Landau

(AKA: Sid Landau, Sid Landall, Sidney Landall, Sidney Landau)

Anaheim, CA

Placentia, California

Santa Ana, CA

San Francisco, CA

Queens, NY)

In 1982, Landau was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy and served two years in prison. After a 1988 conviction for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy, he served eight more years. He was paroled in 1996, the year California introduced Megan's Law, which alerted residents to sex offenders in their midst

Timeline

Your Financial Support is Needed!   Make a Donation

Email Groups for the Awareness Center   This link will bring you to a list of different mailing lists offered by The Awareness Center.  We offers several different email groups,which include our general mailing list, press-releases, Jewish survivors of childhood sexual abuse, Parents of children who were molested, Family members of sex offenders, etc.

Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.

Table of Contents:  

  1. Protesters Again Force Sex Offender From Motel (09/15/1998)
  2. Repeat molester seeks freedom  (06/14/2006)
  3. O.C. Jury Deadlocks on Molester's Release  (06/22/2006)
  4. Orange County jury deadlocks on releasing notorious molester  (06/22/2006)
  5. California Sex Offender Registry  (06/22/2006)
  6. What Came and Went While I Was Gone? (06/24/2006)
  7. Landau Comes to Town   (06/29/2006)
  8. Office of the District Attorney  (06/30/2006)

Also see:  

  1. The Awareness Center's Brochure  

  2. Rabbis, Cantors and Other Trusted Officials

  3. Offenders: Problems Our Parents Wouldn't Speak Of

  4. Recidivism of Sex Offenders  (U.S. Department of Justice: Center for Sex Offender Management)

(Top)

National News Briefs

Protesters Again Force Sex Offender From Motel

New York Times - September 15, 1998

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E4DD1031F936A2575AC0A96E958260

A man hounded by neighbors after he was revealed to be a convicted child molester was asked to leave a motel on Sunday after a protest by two dozen picketers.

In 1988, the man, 59-year-old Sid Landau, was convicted of three counts of molesting boys younger than 14, and served eight years in prison. He recently returned to prison after attacking a television cameraman, but was released on Sept. 2. His name was revealed under California's law on sex offenders.

(Top)

Repeat molester seeks freedom

The Orange County Register - Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The original poster boy for "Megan's Law" disclosure of child molesters wants out of custody again, claiming he is no longer a threat to children.

By LARRY WELBORN

The Orange County Register

Nobody wanted Sid Landau as a neighbor in the late 1990s.

He was chased from one home to the next after Orange County police - for the first time using the newly enacted "Megan's Law" - passed out fliers revealing that he was a twice-convicted child molester.

Protesters picketed, waved signs and wore T-shirts that read, "Get rid of Sid."

Hate mail and death threats landed in Landau's mailbox and on his phone. He moved from place to place, eventually ending up back in prison after failing to meet with his parole officer.

Then, in 2000, the Orange County District Attorney's Office filed a petition declaring Landau a chronic repeat offender, who would molest again if released back to the streets. He's been in state mental hospitals ever since, under the state Sexually Violent Predator Statute.

Now, Landau wants out again, claiming his sexual urges are under control. He is 67, in poor health and recently underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

He's hoping to live out his days with his older brother in New York, working in the construction industry.

"I just stopped thinking about having sex completely," Landau testified before a nine-man, three-woman Superior Court jury on Monday. "The desires I had before are pretty much nonexistent."

The testimony came during a hearing to determine if he is a sexually violent predator or a reformed molester who is no longer a danger.

California law allows for prosecutors to seek to keep potential repeat sexual offenders locked up in a mental facility after they have served their prison sentences – if a jury is convinced they remain dangerous.

His hearing is scheduled to resume today before Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald.

Deputy District Attorney Andrea Burke contends that Landau belongs in custody. She said he is a lifelong pedophile with an extensive history of molesting children that began when he was 20.

If released, Burke contends, there is a likelihood that Landau will find other children to molest.

But Landau and his attorneys claim he should be released to live with his older brother because he has served a maximum sentence on his latest conviction in 1988, and is no longer a danger to others.

Michael J. Aye, a Sacramento attorney who specializes in defending offenders targeted under the Sexually Violent Predator Statute, said that research shows men older than 60 are far less likely to re-offend than younger men.

He said Landau also would experience severe pain if he were to re-offend because of his prostate problem, further reducing the likelihood that he would molest again.

"It's common sense," Aye said.

He has other issues with the statute.

"Constitutionally and intellectually, this is possibly the most dishonest thing I have ever seen in my life," Aye said.

He says sexual offenders are imprisoned without treatment programs, serve their time, and then are told they will not be released.

"What's fair about that?" Aye asked.

Landau was convicted of lewd acts with a 9-year-old boy in 1982, and child perversion of an 11-year-old boy in 1988.

This week, he told the jury he feels terrible about all the children he molested.

"I took away their innocence, their trust and undoubtedly gave some of them psychological problems for life," he testified. "I led a horrible, horrible life.

"And I am sorry about it," Landau said.

Timeline

(Top)

O.C. Jury Deadlocks on Molester's Release

By Christopher Goffard, Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Times, CA - June 22, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-landau22jun22,1,4700542.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

Judge declares a mistrial after all jurors but one vote to free Sid Landau. He was one of the first to endure the wrath of Megan's Law.

At 67, Sid Landau has had quadruple-bypass surgery and prostate cancer. He wears a pacemaker. His teeth are mostly gone, as is his hearing. He did terrible things as a younger man, his lawyers say, but age has curtailed his sexual appetites, and illness has made it unlikely he could ever act on them again.

Still, prosecutors say, the serial pedophile who became the public face of Megan's Law in the 1990s remains a menace. Ailments or no, they say, his grandfatherly appearance might fool people into thinking he is harmless.

On Wednesday, an Orange County jury deadlocked on whether Landau should remain in custody, where he has been held in mental hospitals for the last six years, or be released to relatives in Queens, N.Y. After jurors announced they were deadlocked, 11 to 1, with most voting to release Landau, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald declared a mistrial.

The district attorney's office said it would retry the case. "Our position is steadfast, that he's a danger to the community," said spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder.

Landau became one of Southern California's most recognizable pedophiles in the 1990s when police, enforcing Megan's Law for the first time, distributed fliers in his Placentia neighborhood identifying him as a convicted sex offender. Death threats and protesters chased him from his home, and then from motel to motel around Orange County, until he was arrested on parole violations in 1997.

During Landau's three-week trial in Santa Ana, his sister-in-law, Linda, testified that he could live with her and her husband in Queens, where she said they would supervise him closely. She said Landau would do volunteer work at a local synagogue, do repairs on property that the family owns, and visit relatives in Israel.

"Wherever we go, we would take him with us," she said.

She said she was comfortable with Landau as a housemate, no matter how many children he molested, because she believed he had changed. She acknowledged that there were young children in her family who would be visiting her.

"This family in general doesn't realize the risk," prosecutor Andrea Burke told jurors. "People's guards are going to be down when they see someone of his age, not knowing what his past is."

Though Landau has been convicted of molesting two boys, he has admitted to abusing 10. Authorities said they believed the actual number to be still higher. The prosecutor said he victimized lonely boys, luring them to his home with a pool table, pingpong table and video games.

Prosecutors said Landau failed to understand his problem.

In 2000, Burke said, Landau refused sex-offender treatment at Atascadero State Hospital. Burke said Landau was not comfortable around women, or peers in general, which steered him toward children. "That's who he bonds with — that's who he communicates with," she said.

Defense attorney Leonard B. Levine said that with Landau's ailments and age, the chances of him preying on children were "so unlikely as to not meet the standard of the law." With radioactive seeds implanted in his body to fight his prostate cancer, the defense said, sex was painful for Landau.

"Your oath was not to punish him for what he's done in the past," Levine told jurors, but rather to determine whether he was likely to molest again. "At the age of 67 they do not re-offend — very rarely.

"It's time for Sid Landau to go home."

In 1982, Landau was convicted of molesting a 10-year-old boy and served two years in prison. After a 1988 conviction for molesting an 8-year-old Anaheim boy, he served eight more years. He was paroled in 1996, the year California introduced Megan's Law, which alerted residents to sex offenders in their midst.

Soon, Landau became the first to face the wrath generated by the law. When Placentia police told his neighbors of his presence, protesters drove him out of the neighborhood and hounded him from place to place around Orange County.

In 1997, he was jailed again for violating his parole by striking a TV photographer and yet again in 1998 after authorities found family photographs of him with his young grandnephews in his San Francisco hotel room. As a condition of his parole, he was to avoid children. Also in his possession were stuffed bears with yarmulkes, which authorities called a lure for children.

In 2000, his time served, Orange County prosecutors filed a petition under the state's Sexually Violent Predator Statute, which allows sexually violent offenders who are deemed a continual threat to remain in state custody after their sentences are completed.

For most of the last six years, Landau has been held at Atascadero while awaiting trial to determine whether he should be released. Much of the delay was caused by attorneys on both sides being replaced several times. Since March, he has been held at Coalinga State Hospital. Under the statute, the state must renew its petition to keep him in custody every two years, and Landau has the right to petition the court annually for release.

"We think it's a waste to spend $140,000 a year to care for an old man who's no longer a danger," Levine said. "He's already done his time. It's been 18 years since he molested anyone."

(Top)

Orange County jury deadlocks on releasing notorious molester

Associated Press - June 22. 2006

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/14875622.htm

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of releasing child molester Sid Landau, who became the public face of Megan's Law in the 1990s.

The deadlock announced Wednesday prompted Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald to declare a mistrial.

Landau, who has been held in mental hospitals for the last six years, was seeking to be released to relatives in Queens, N.Y. Prosecutors want him to remain locked up, saying the 67-year-old remains a threat despite poor health.

The Orange County district attorney's office will retry the case, said spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder.

"Our position is steadfast, that he's a danger to the community," she said.

Landau was convicted of molesting two boys in the 1980s but has admitted to abusing 10. He served a total of 10 years in prison on those convictions.

He became one of Southern California's most recognizable pedophiles in the 1990s when police, who were enforcing Megan's Law for the first time, distributed fliers in his Placentia neighborhood identifying him as a convicted sex offender.

He was chased from a series of homes and motels by death threats and protesters until he was arrested on parole violations in 1997.

He was scheduled to be released in 2000, but Orange County prosecutors used the state's Sexually Violent Predator Statute to keep him locked up. The law allows sexually violent offenders who are deemed a continual threat to remain in state custody after their sentences are completed.

Landau's attorney, Leonard B. Levine, said his client is now harmless.

"We think it's a waste to spend $140,000 a year to care for an old man who's no longer a danger," Levine said.

(Top)

California Sex Offender Registry

http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov

Last Name: LANDAU    First Name: SID Middle Name:

INCARCERATED

Description

Last Known Address:

County:

Zip Code

Date of Birth: 06-21-1936

Sex: MALE

Height: 5'9"

Weight: 167

Eye Color: BROWN

Hair Color: BROWN

Ethnicity: WHITE

Offenses

Offense Code

Description

288(a) LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ACTS WITH CHILD UNDER 14 YEARS

288a ORAL COPULATION

288a(c) ORAL COPULATION WITH PERSON UNDER 14/ETC OR BY FORCE/ETC

Scars/Marks/Tattoos

SCAR CHEST SURGICAL

SCAR CHEST

SCAR RIGHT LEG

Known Aliases

LANDALL, SID

LANDALL, SIDNEY

LANDAU, SID NATHANIEL

LANDAU, SIDNEY NATHANIEL

(Top)

What Came and Went While I Was Gone?

By Dana Parsons

Los Angeles Times - June 24, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-parsons24jun24,1,7415160.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

Just like going through the mail, it's always fun to catch up on the local news after a vacation. (I know, I need to get a life.)

In scanning some of the bigger stories in my recent absence, I'm feeling a definite "yeah ... but" vibe.

So, in no particular order ...

Yeah, I understand why Irvine wants the final say-so in what gets spent to build the Great Park. After all, the park lies within the city, and the city spent plenty of brainpower and money to keep the park idea alive. It's a city that, in many ways, has shown it knows what it's doing ...

But it's impossible to argue with numbers. And the numbers are that a mere three members of the Irvine City Council can control park expenditures. That's a pretty low number for such an immense ongoing project, not to mention that city elections roll around and council members come and go.

Yeah, Irvine has a pretty good track record of getting things done. And, yeah, sometimes a smaller governing body can do things more efficiently than an unwieldy larger group of bureaucrats ...

But running a city is different than running a world-class park, which is what Irvine and Orange County residents are expecting. And despite what Irvine keeps telling itself, most residents probably envisioned a representative, countywide governing body making key decisions for the park. The recent Orange County grand jury says it sees potential conflicts of interest and various other possible pitfalls. It also found that the arrangement is "incompatible" with the intent of Measure W, the countywide vote in 2002 that finally killed the international airport idea and forwarded the park plan.

Yeah, I understand why Sheriff Mike Carona, flush with election victory, quickly cashiered the lieutenant who had challenged him and discredited his leadership. That's what corporate execs do when they win power struggles, and Carona is a corporate exec with a badge. Not a lot of CEOs would listen to an underling trash them for months and then embrace them ...

But we're talking about a public office, not private business. Lt. Bill Hunt was the police chief in San Clemente — hardly a throwaway assignment within the department. If Hunt was qualified to handle the job before the campaign, it's pretty lame to argue that he became unqualified just because he trashed his boss. If someone from within the ranks can't challenge an incumbent sheriff without fear of losing his job, who can run — only those with no inside knowledge of how the department operates?

Yeah, I understand completely why people don't want to take a chance and release convicted pedophile Sid Landau from a California state hospital, even though he's 67. He's served two separate sentences, the last for a conviction in 1988, but has admitted to abusing 10 boys in his younger days. His attorney says he's so medically infirm and aged that he no longer poses a threat, but prosecutors fighting his release can cite recidivism rates for pedophiles and argue that he's still dangerous ...

But they have no way of knowing for sure that Landau still is a threat. And he has done his time. And he does have a sister-in-law in New York who says she and her husband would not only house him but monitor his behavior. And an Orange County jury deciding his fate voted 11 to 1 to release him. I think we can reasonably assume that a jury of our peers isn't particularly inclined to let dangerous child abusers roam free.

Yeah, Westminster school board members have every right to hire or not hire whomever they want. They can be as backward or forward in their thinking as they want, because they've been fairly elected and someday will face voters again ...

But why are they so adamant about acting like the most dysfunctional public family around? Nothing wrong with a school board with spirit, but when you've got a board member withdrawing support of a prospective superintendent because another board member called yet another board member a racist ... well, you wonder what goes into the decision-making process over there.

Yeah, it's good to be back from vacation ...

But couldn't you people have straightened out all these problems while I was gone?

(Top)

Landau Comes To Town?

Child Molester Sid Landau

Sid Landau, the California child molesting creep who stood as the first highly publicized Megan's Law case, is looking to get out of prison and move in with family – in Queens.

Megan's Law was established to give the public access to sexual predator information so that you can know if your neighbor is a convicted pedophile. Landau, who admitted to molesting at least 10 children, was run out of town after his release from jail, chased out of hotels he stayed in and eventually locked up on a probation violation.

And now he wants to come here.

A jury hearing a plea for the 67-year-old man to be able to relocate to Queens deadlocked last week, causing the judge to declare a mistrial. Keep your eyes open, your kids close and if some seemingly nice old man comes to move in next door – be sure to Google him before letting him baby sit.

(Top)

Office of the District Attorney

Tony Rackauckas, Orange County DA

MEDIA ADVISORY - LANDAU HEARING

June 30, 2006

http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=8&recordid=369

WHO: Sid Landau, 67

WHAT: Disposition hearing – the court will decide whether convicted serial child molester Sidney Landau will face a new trial keeping him in a mental hospital or whether he will be set free if the case is dismissed.

WHEN: Friday, June 30, 2006, 11:30 a.m.

WHERE: Central Justice Center, Department C3, 700 Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana, CA.

(Top)

        

Last Updated:  07/09/2006

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

--Margaret Mead

(Top)