MODESTO, CA - Less than a day after attacking a News10 crew and other reporters outside his relatives' Oakdale home, convicted sex offender Darren Kawamoto talked to News10 about what set him off.
"They came up under the cover of darkness. They didn't pull up in the driveway or nothing. They just creeped up to the door," Kawamoto said during the interview with News10's Tim Daly inside the Modesto County Jail. "I opened the door. They didn't have no lights on or nothing. They were just all in suits and ties."
With the porch light on and camera lights running, Kawamoto attacked News10 reporter Cornell Barnard and photojournalist Damien Espinoza along with another television news crew Tuesday night when they went to his family's house to ask him questions.
"That's my family. That's my niece, my mom, my dad. I'm trying to do everything I can to protect their identity, to protect their reputation," Kawamoto said.
Kawamoto was charged with a felony of making violent threats and remained in custody Wednesday on $50,000 bail. With his two prior convictions, any new felony conviction would be his third strike.
Kawamoto said it was threatening behavior by others in Oakdale since he arrived in town that made him so quick to make threats himself. "I just want to turn around and snap. Here I am, after three weeks of this, three weeks of threats, crank calls and everything...How would you act?," Kawamoto said.
"I was protecting my family," Kawamoto said.
ConstitutionalFights can attest to the fact that these types of sneaky sabotage tactics are used by news crews and police (and other legal authorities and officers) can be very threatening to a sex offender, who rightfully expects a degree of privacy and security in his/her own home. And we do not criticize this man for attempting to protect his family from an apparent threat.
