A sex offender had to be restrained from attacking a group of Northern California reporters with a box cutter when they tracked him down for failing to register as a sex offender. Darren Kawamoto, 44, was put in police custody last Tuesday evening after a violent outburst directed at both reporters and their camera crews. Kawamoto’s was previously arrested for sodomy and oral copulation with a victim younger than 14, a sex crime. However, under California law, since Mr. Kawamoto did not have a permanent address, he was at his mother’s house at the time of the incident, he did not have to let the authorities know of his whereabouts in order to comply with the sex offender registration once he was released from prison. Once the media got word of his whereabouts they went to confront the man for not letting authorities know exactly where he was. Upon reaching the door, the media was verbally assaulted by the man who even pulled out a box cutter and threatened to cut them if they aired the video and did not leave.
It is unfortunate when someone feels like their right to privacy has been compromised to the point that they lash out. However, what Mr. Kawamoto did was completely uncalled for and should be punished. This was not a case of self defense and being that this was his mother’s home, she should have been the one to force the media to leave, not Mr. Kawamoto. This assault charge will likely stick not just because of the verbal threats made but because of his ability to actually carry out them out. Coming from someone with a violent past, it seems like Mr. Kawamoto’s actions will send him behind bars. Although the media is not completely innocent in this case, you cannot blame them for trying to take action to inform their residents about sex offenders when these types of registration loop holes exist in the law.