ALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The “Vampire Rapist” must be assigned to a halfway house now that he’s served 10 years behind bars for raping and drinking the blood of a 19-year-old hitchhiker.
After his release Thursday from prison, John Crutchley’s new address will be the Orlando Probation and Restitution Center, where he’ll be closely supervised until he can find a home of his own, said Department of Corrections officials.
But before Crutchley, 49, even moves in, the local police have made it clear that he’s unwelcome.
“I’m not a happy camper, not by any stretch of the imagination,” said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, whose jurisdiction includes the halfway house.
Nearby is a hospital and a school, and residential neighborhoods surround the corrections center.
“I think the system screwed up,” Beary said.
Joe Hatem, a corrections department official, said Crutchley will be closely watched until he moves out, which will take several weeks.
“He’s not permitted to just get up in the middle of the night and walk the streets,” Hatem said.
Officials first tried to place Crutchley in West Virginia, where his mother lives, then in Melbourne, Fla. Community reaction in both places blocked the moves.
He was an engineer in Melbourne when he was arrested for kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old California woman he picked up hitchhiking. She accused him of subduing her, then draining and drinking her blood using surgical equipment. She escaped his home through a bathroom window when he left her alone for a short time.
Crutchley pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was given 25 years in prison. Time off for good behavior reduced the 25-year sentence to a little more than 10 years.
He’s been imprisoned at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla.