By Michele Chadwick
MODESTO, CA – Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Linda McFadden last week held Joe Contreras in custody until trial, after his preliminary, because she confessed she had “major concerns” about his danger to the community.
“It’s not often that I have that concern (danger to the community) over the past 30 years in doing criminal law. It’s only been a few times that I’ve had some major, major concerns,” the judge said.
Two witnesses testified at the hearing regarding Contreras’ behavior.
The first was a mother who allegedly was both sexually and physically threatened by the accused.
She testified that he told her “that he was going to murder me and my son.” The mother also testified that the suspect came onto her property twice, threatening her, and breaking her home security cameras.
The second witness was a minor who is 16 years old. She testified about an interaction with Contreras that occurred when she was 14.
“It started when my sister used to live with me at the time. We would wear strapless tops and he would tell us how nice we looked. We both felt very insecure and we stopped wearing those,” she said.
She testified about an incident that occurred last year when she filed a police report about Contreras telling her to “sit on his lap when he came out to the mailbox. I was present with my neighbor and he was telling us to sit on his lap and he was grabbing his dick.”
Judge McFadden was particularly concerned because “we have a person who just got out of prison for a sexual assault offense and a spousal abuse. Then he doesn’t register as required.”
After finding Contreras should stand trial, the judge said, “Now he’s threatening neighbors including sexually harassing an adult and saying he’s gonna kill her child. And then he is sexually harassing another young girl. At least one. Sounds like another girl even. I have some real concerns.
“I don’t often do this as you know,” the judge added, noting, “I have been doing this job as a judge for several years and it’s pretty rare that after a preliminary hearing I hear the evidence and I remand [send someone to jail] someone. In fact, this might be the first time I’ve done that.”
