Judge Rejects Bid To Release OC Sex Offender

SANTA ANA (AP) — A convicted child molester who became the public face of Megan's Law in the 1990s has been denied his bid for release from a California mental facility.

An Orange County Superior Court judge determined Wednesday that 70-year-old Sid Landau is still a threat to society and should remain in custody at Coalinga State Hospital.

His petition for release was submitted by the public defender's office, based on a recent favorable report from a psychologist.

Landau has been held since 2000 under a statute that allows authorities to keep some sex offenders in custody after prison.

He was convicted of molesting two boys in the 1980s and became one of California's most recognizable pedophiles in the 1990s when police enforcing Megan's Law for the first time passed out fliers identifying him as a sex offender.

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