Sex offender and former Costa Mesa resident released from state mental hospital

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- A sex offender and former Costa Mesa resident held at a state mental hospital for more than 20 years has been released.

Officials say Cary Jay Smith, 59, has repeatedly testified that he fantasizes about raping and killing young boys. Smith claims he has killed three boys and molested another 200.

Whether his claims were ever substantiated is not clear.

"He prefers to go by the name Mr. RTK, which stands for rape, torture, kill," County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement warning county residents about his release.

Spitzer and Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene and reinstate the requirement that Smith register as a sex offender.

Smith was freed Tuesday after the Coalinga State Hospital did not renew the hold against him.

Officials had expected him to return to Orange County, although Costa Mesa police said they don't know where he will be housed.

"We are in contact with our law enforcement partners in regards to Smith's housing," the police department tweeted Wednesday. "We know Smith no longer has any ties to Costa Mesa. We have been informed Smith is NOT currently in Costa Mesa."

Smith was admitted to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino in 1999. His wife had provided a psychiatrist with a letter in which Smith described sex acts he wanted to perform on a 7-year-old boy who lived in their Costa Mesa neighborhood.

Since then, Smith has been held under the state's Welfare and Institutions Code after a series of civil trials determined that he "demonstrated danger of inflicting substantial physical harm" to children, according to a press release from officials. Every six months, he gets a new trial to prove that he no longer poses a danger to society.

In 1985, Smith pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual offense involving a child and had to register as a sex offender, but that requirement was removed in 2005.