| For Immediate Release
February 14, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
OCDA SEEKS TO HAVE CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER DECLARED A SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATOR AND CIVILLY COMMITTED
SANTA ANA – A convicted sex offender appeared in court today following the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) filing a petition to have him civilly committed as a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP). Douglas John A. Mackenzie, 34, pleaded guilty Jan. 15, 2010, to five felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and one felony count of using a minor for sex acts for the purposes of making pornography. He was sentenced to 10 years in state prison and received credit for time served awaiting charges surrounding an unrelated sexual assault case which was filed in Canada and later dropped. The OCDA filed a petition Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, to have Mackenzie civilly committed as an SVP. Mackenzie was transported over the weekend by OCDA Investigators from Wasco State Prison to the Orange County Jail to appear for the hearing.
SVP Petition
Under the law, inmates are subject to mental health reviews by the Department of Mental Health (DMH) once they have completed their criminal sentence. The People may file a petition to have the defendant civilly committed only if the mental health evaluators determine the inmate meets the criteria of an SVP. There are three criteria that must be met in order to designate a person as SVP. First, the defendant must have committed at least one sexually violent offense. Second, he/she must be diagnosed with a mental disorder. Finally, it must be found that he/she is likely to re-offend unless he/she is held in custody and treated.
Two evaluators must reach the same opinion that the inmate meets the SVP criteria in order for the OCDA to file an SVP petition. If the evaluators disagree, a second pair of evaluators will conduct mental health reviews of the inmate. Only if the evaluators determine the inmate meets the SVP criteria, the DMH will submit a Request to File a Petition to the OCDA, who is then authorized to seek civil commitment. A jury is presented the evidence to decide if the inmate is a continued threat to the community, and if the criteria (above) are found true by the jury, the inmate is admitted into a mental care facility.
Sexual assault of John Doe
Beginning in December 1995, Mackenzie met 7-year-old John Doe at a local church youth group in London, United Kingdom. He began grooming John Doe after gaining the trust of the victim’s mother, Mother Doe, by driving John Doe home from church functions. Mackenzie groomed John Doe by buying the victim expensive toys and clothing and taking him to the theater and began sexually assaulting and filming John Doe. Mackenzie moved in with John Doe and his mother. Mackenzie convinced Mother Doe to be a surrogate mother for him by telling her that he wanted to have a child while he was still young but was an asexual virgin who had no interest in sex. In 1997, they traveled to a Los Angeles sperm bank, chose a donor, and Mother Doe was artificially inseminated.
After Mackenzie and Mother Doe returned to the United Kingdom she becomes pregnant, Mackenzie told Mother Doe that if the baby was female, she would have to abort it. Mackenzie paid for her to undergo a test that determined that the unborn child was male. Baby Doe was born Feb. 20, 1998. In August 1999, when Baby Doe was 18 months old, Mackenzie moved with the newborn to Irvine. Mother Doe and John Doe remained living in the United Kingdom.