Amid concerns from community members and victims' advocates, an Orange County jury has denied the request of an 85-year-old convicted child molester for release from a state mental hospital, according to KTLA. Sid Landau, who was found guilty of sexually abusing at least 20 young boys from the 1960s to the 1980s, will remain hospitalized as jurors agreed he still poses a threat as a sexually violent predator.
In earlier reports obtained by the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Landau, who often targeted vulnerable children from broken homes, including a boy whose father was dying of cancer, groomed his victims using gifts and manipulation. Landau was first convicted in 1982 after molesting a 10-year-old boy and again in 1988, for which he received a 17-year sentence but was paroled in seven years despite repeated parole violations, including assault and battery, tampering with his GPS monitoring device, and unauthorized contact with children from 1996 to 2000.
"We have been fighting for decades to keep this sadistic predator behind bars because of the incredible danger he poses to children everywhere if he were to be released," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement obtained by KTLA, expressing the office's determination to protect potential future victims from Landau's actions. The district attorney's office initially petitioned in 2000 to have Landau labeled as a sexually violent predator, a designation that was confirmed by a jury in 2006 after two hung juries.
While incarcerated at the state mental hospital, Landau has refused treatment and repeatedly violated behavioral rules, refused to follow facility policies, which led to previous denials of his release in 2013 and now again in 2025. As the jury deliberated for only one hour on Monday to affirm his continued risk to the community, Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Hudson of the Sexual Assault Unit led the prosecution, ensuring Landau remained confined and unable to harm others.
