There was an uproar in 2007 when sexually violent predator Ross Leo Wollschlager was released from a state mental health facility into Ventura County, where he already had a conviction for rape. Residents wanted to know where he was living.

Although he’d been sentenced to prison, a court decided he was a danger to himself and others and placed him in a mental health facility before his release in 2007.

Recently Wollschlager quietly returned to a state mental institution.

He was initially released in Ventura County in August 2007 because by law a sexually violent predator must live in the county where his crime was committed.

According to a district attorney’s report, in 1983, Wollschlager, then 19, was convicted of forcible rape and sentenced to eight years in prison. He had entered homes through unlocked sliding glass doors, found his victims sleeping and assaulted them. He was paroled in 1987.

Two years later, Wollschlager was convicted of forcible child molestation and two counts of residential burglary. He had violently attacked children in Ventura by again entering homes at night through unlocked doors. He was then sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison.

However, he was eventually placed into a state Department of Mental Health facility after a court determined he had a mental disorder that made him a danger to himself and others, a D.A.’s report said.

In 2006, Wollschlager sought a conditional release, and his case went before a jury. The D.A.’s office, sheriff’s department and the state Department of Mental Health fought to keep Wollschlager from being released.

During the trial, two doctors testified on behalf of the Department of Mental Health that Wollschlager wasn’t ready for release and still posed a threat to others.

Three other expert witnesses said because of his age, progress in therapy and his record as a model patient, he was ready for release. The jury didn’t reach a verdict, a D.A.’s report said.

In 2007, Superior Court Judge Rebecca Riley decided Wollschlager was ready for a conditional release, but not until suitable housing was found.

A Ventura County public defender took the case to the Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal asking that Wollschlager be released. The court ordered his release before Aug. 14, 2007.

The Department of Mental Health, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and district attorney officials expressed frustration at Wollschlager returning here, but nobody could stop the court’s action.

Upon his release, Wollschlager was being monitored to make sure he followed 27 pages of conditions set forth by the court, such as wearing a global positioning system device, following a curfew and taking polygraph tests. He wasn’t allowed to live within 2,000 feet of any school or park.

When he was first released in 2007, he lived in a tent in a wooded river bottom in Ventura because nobody would provide housing for him. Later he moved to an apartment in Somis.

According to the website www.meganslaw.ca.gov, Wollschager had been living there until his release was recently revoked.

During that time, he got two speeding tickets while driving a 2003 Ford station wagon. A ticket in 2008 was dismissed with traffic school. One in 2009 cost $327, according to Ventura County Superior Court records.

Court records involving Wollschlager’s release revocation are sealed under state law because it’s a mental health case, said Robert Sherman, assistant executive officer of Ventura County Superior Court.

“He agreed to be readmitted to a mental health facility to get treatment,” said Nancy Kincaid, assistant director of California Department of Mental Health. Wollschager can petition to be released again on an annual basis, she said.

“His going back in for treatment is a testament to how well the program works. He didn’t commit any sex crimes while he was out,” Kincaid said.

Wollschlager is now living in Coalinga State Hospital, a mental health facility where other violent sexual predators are also getting treatment.