Longtime serial SF harasser Bill Gene Hobbs will remain in SF County Jail for the foreseeable future after a Thursday morning hearing, but went off on the judge with a profane tirade that likely did him no favors for upcoming hearings.
It will come as a relief to the many SF women who’ve been groped or stalked by serial harasser Bill Gene Hobbs (or to 15-year-old girls who he’s stalked) that Hobbs is currently in custody at SF County Jail 3. His file shows no scheduled release date, though he’ll have another court appearance, possibly next week. He remains in County Jail because his court appearance this morning did not go well.
Hobbs, as you may recall, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in June 2023 on a series of battery, sexual battery, and assault charges. Though he somehow reappeared on SF streets on October 20, and managed to be taken into custody again within about 24 hours. The Chronicle has since learned he was arrested for violating his parole by missing his mandatory mental health program meetings, and for failing to keep his ankle monitor charged.
Though Hobbs had another hearing Thursday morning, for which the Chronicle was in attendance. The presiding Judge Harry Dorfman, the same judge who sentenced Hobbs to prison, was unmoved by a public defender’s arguments to release Hobbs. Hobbs voiced his displeasure at the judge in the courtroom.
“I went to prison for something I didn’t even do,” Hobbs shouted at Dorfman, per the Chronicle. “You convicted me for something I didn’t even do.”
When Dorfman denied the release, Hobbs reportedly screamed, “Harry, you’re a shitty judge.”
“That won’t change my decision today,” Judge Dorfman responded.
So Hobbs remains at County Jail, until next week at the earliest, when he has another hearing (albeit with a different judge) on whether he will be sentenced for parole violations. Hobbs’ records show that hearing is not yet scheduled.
But the Chronicle did some digging and found out how Hobbs got out of state prison earlier than expected.
His sentences were split between SF County Jail and a state prison. He got credit for time served at County Jail before and during his trial, which is standard for any defendant. Three years of the sentence were to be served in state prison, but a parole board assigned him to San Luis Obispo County’s Atascadero State Hospital about a year ago. After less than six months there, he was released.
He apparently went to live with his mother in Bakersfield in April, though she could not let him stay, because her lease did not allow for an extra tenant. It’s unclear when he left Bakersfield, just that he returned to SF sometime before October 20 when he was spotted again.
And so now Bill Gene Hobbs is back in SF, though in SF County Jail 3, until the next chapter to this strange story is written.
Image via USF