A serial stalker accused of probation violations linked to a case in which he groped and groped women in San Francisco yelled at a judge in an outburst Thursday after he was ordered held in custody without bail.
“I went to prison for something I didn’t even do,” Bill Gene Hobbs yelled at Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman. “You condemned me for something I didn’t even do.”
Dorfman, who happened to preside over Hobbs’ trial, reminded him: A jury found him guilty, not Dorfman.
“Harry, you’re a shitty judge,” Hobbs told Dorfman before bailiffs escorted him away.
“That won’t change my decision today,” the judge joked.
Authorities allege that Hobbs, 37, missed a mental health treatment program meeting and did not fully charge his GPS monitoring device, conditions imposed as part of his probation, according to court records.
A different judge is expected to decide next week whether Hobbs – who served about two years in prison, less than half of his full sentence – violated his probation conditions and, if so, will impose a possible punishment.
On Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Sujung Kim, who represented Hobbs, asked the judge to release Hobbs, who she said was in the process of applying for employment. Deputy District Attorney Reve Bautista and Probation Officer Niel Chu objected, raising concerns about his mental health and the danger they said he posed to others as a sex offender.
“Probation concerns the safety of the public,” Chu said. By not attending the mental health program required as part of Hobbs’ conditions of probation, Chu added, “you are not addressing his mental health needs.”
Chu told Dorfman that he did not know how many meetings Hobbs had attended.
“I’ve attended every single meeting,” Hobbs interjected. He added that he missed a 10 a.m. meeting but attended a make-up session a few hours later.
Kim said it appeared the prosecutor and probation officer wanted to keep Hobbs in prison based simply on his conviction and a “general notion” that he posed a danger to the public. They had not specified why he remained a danger, even in light of the alleged parole violations, Kim said, adding that Hobbs had participated in the program to address his mental health. “Please give him another change,” Kim said.
His arrest for alleged parole violations came after the Chronicle reported that he returned to the city and had approached women in a similar manner as he did in a series of incidents three years ago.
Hobbs was arrested in October 2022, accused of predatory behavior targeting young, unsuspecting women. Prosecutors said he followed, grabbed and chased the women, many of whom were running or walking alone in broad daylight.
In May 2023, a jury convicted him of false imprisonment related to a case in which he picked up and carried a woman down the street, as well as misdemeanor assault, sexual assault, and battery in connection with other incidents. He was sentenced to consecutive terms: two years and six months in county jail and three years in state prison. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for at least 10 years, although he was not listed on the state registry until last week.
After Hobbs served his sentence “as defined by law,” the state parole board determined that he met the criteria for parole placement in a psychiatric hospital, a measure intended to detain parolees deemed a danger to others and treat their mental health disorders.
Hobbs was paroled from Atascadero State Hospital in San Luis Obispo County in November. He then appealed the move and, after a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge determined that he did not meet “the legal criteria” for hospital confinement, he was paroled in San Francisco in April.
After successfully appealing his stay in the psychiatric hospital, Hobbs was sent to his mother’s home in Bakersfield, but his lease did not allow him to live with her, so he returned to San Francisco on parole, Bautista said Thursday.
Moments later, as he was being escorted out, Hobbs shouted that he did not want to return to San Francisco.
This article originally published in Convicted serial stalker lashes out at San Francisco judge who ordered his arrest.