ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO
SOURCE: Associated Press
A child molester who threatened to kill his next victims was released from prison Monday after agreeing to a parole so strict he will be locked up or accompanied by guards at all times.
Larry Don McQuay, a professed ``child-molesting demon'' who has acknowledged abusing some 240 children, agreed to parole conditions that prison officials said were among the most restrictive ever issued.
``I don't think there's any problem using the word `unprecedented,''' said Larry Todd, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
McQuay also has asked to be castrated in hopes it would stop his urge to molest. Prison officials said it's up to him to decide when and if he receives the surgery.
``Cost does not appear to be an issue at this point, in that people are lining up for us to pay for this,'' said Victor Rodriguez, chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
``We will refer to him any and all information that we have.''
McQuay was transferred Monday from a psychiatric prison in East Texas 250 miles away to the privately managed Central Texas Parole Violator Facility, a jail that houses state and federal inmates.
Under the parole, McQuay must adhere to more than a dozen special rules. If he obtains work, he must be accompanied to his job by a security officer. He must wear an electronic monitor on his ankle and will be locked in a cell under constant surveillance when he is at the prison.
He cannot have any contact with children and must notify any prospective employer about his history of abusing children. McQuay also must undergo treatment for sex offenders. He failed two treatment programs while in prison, officials said.
Any violation could return him to prison, said Rodriguez, who called McQuay ``public enemy No.1.''
Rodriguez said no other parolees have been placed in a secured facility without first violating or being suspected of violating terms of their release.
McQuay originally was scheduled for release last week to a halfway house in Houston, but that was scuttled after a victims-rights group criticized the move.
He had written letters to the group, some signed ``child-molesting demon,'' promising to kill his next victims if he ever gets out.
The San Antonio facility will be ``much more secure than a conventional halfway house, not in a neighborhood,'' said Allan Polunsky, chairman of the State Board of Criminal Justice.
The 32-year-old McQuay, who has served six years of an eight-year term for attacking a 6-year-old boy, qualified for mandatory release under state law. He must serve two years in the San Antonio center.
A solemn-faced McQuay was escorted into the San Antonio facility at 3:15 p.m. He was handcuffed and dressed in civilian clothes, and did not answer reporters' questions.
Yolanda Davila, whose mother owns an herbal medicine shop near the facility, wasn't pleased with her new neighbor.
``In my opinion, that man shouldn't have been released because he himself says he can't help himself from doing these things,'' she said. ``What more do you want? The children are precious things. We have to protect them.''
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Child molester Larry Don McQuay is escorted to theby CNBprivately managed
Central Texas Parole Violator Facility in San Antonio. color.