In a tragic story that underscores California’s notorious lack of prosecuting violent and sex-crime offenders, a transgender male has been charged with first-degree murder.
The offender, James Edward Tubbs (who goes by the name Hannah Tubbs), was recently arrested for a 2019 robbery. Previous to that, Tubbs was arrested for molesting a 17-year-old girl in 2014 and a 4-year-old girl in 2013.
Tubbs is currently held on a $1 million bond. According to Kern County documents, his arraignment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
According to Fox News, Tubbs, now 26, “began identifying as female after being arrested last year in connection with a 2014 child molestation case in Los Angeles County.”
A spokesperson for the office of George Gascón, the Los Angeles District Attorney whose soft-on-crime policies have sparked a multimillion dollar recall effort, told Fox News that Los Angeles officials will be notified if Tubbs is released from custody in Kern County.
“District Attorney George Gascón is committed to protecting the public and especially our children. In this case, Hannah Tubbs continues to serve…a sentence while being prosecuted on an unrelated robbery charge in Kern County.”
The statement has angered many Kern County residents who believe Gascón is not concerned with the public’s safety and that Tubbs’ record should make him ineligible to be released.
Tubbs made headlines recently after pleading guilty to a violent sexual crime on a young girl inside a Denny’s restaurant bathroom.
Though the incident took place in 2014, Tubbs pleaded guilty to the assault just last month. Since that time, Tubbs was convicted of child molestation.
Though 26 years old now, because the sex crime was committed by Tubbs when just two weeks shy of turning 18, Prosecutors from Gascon’s office recommended that Tubbs serve just two years at a juvenile facility and not have to register as a sex offender.
Many pushed for a stiffer penalty, but Gascon’s office refused to transfer the case to adult court.
Gascon’s policies and directives have sparked criticism and a recall effort that has already garnered over 200,000 signatures. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger called Tubbs’ sentencing “unsatisfactory” and said:
“Judge Barrera’s hands were tied today – due to the fact that the DA’s office failed to file a motion to transfer Tubbs to adult criminal court, which is where she rightly belongs. Instead, we’re left with a 26-year-old individual sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility.”
Heaping coals on the angry fire, Fox News reports that Tubbs was later “caught on a jailhouse phone call gloating about the case and bragging about not having to register as a sex offender.”
The inmate is currently being held under the name James Tubbs in Kern County.
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