Flyer warning Norwalk residents about Madonna stalker raises concerns, motives

Flyer warning Norwalk residents about Madonna stalker raises concerns, motives

By Brian Hews

A flyer warning Norwalk residents who live in the area near Metropolitan State Hospital about a recent “walk away” situation involving a famed celebrity stalker has caught the eye of local law enforcement officials.
At Tuesday’s Norwalk City Council Meeting, Sheriff’s Captain Patrick Maxwell was asked by Mayor Cherie Kelly and City Manager Mike Egan to address the contents of the flyer, and to determine who was responsible for it.
Robert Dewey Hoskins, 54, had walked away from Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk in early February, causing an immediate manhunt for his return by law enforcement agencies throughout Southern California including the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s, and other local police agencies.
The case quickly became national news, and was even covered by CNN, Fox News, and the BBC in the United Kingdom.
Maxwell held a copy of the flyer that carried a bold headline “ESCAPED!” Residents around Norwalk began receiving it on Tuesday.
Embossed on the flyer are the words, “Madonna Stalker escaped from Metropolitan State Hospital just over a month ago. The LAPD described him as a ‘very psychotic man’ with ‘very violent tendencies’ and he was on the loose on your streets for over a week!!”
The flyer also stated: “Even more disturbing, this institution plans to cut Psychiatrists and Psychologists who help stabilize and ensure security. Your safety is at risk! This asylum is in your back yard and it must be known that safety is more important! This is your community and action must be taken!!”
At the bottom of the flyer, that appeared at homes this past weekend urges residents to call and “demand they fight for the community.” The names of three current city council members appear at the bottom of the document, Councilman Mike Mendez, Councilman Leonard Shryock, and Councilman Marcel Rodarte. A telephone number to Norwalk City Hall also appears at the bottom of the flyer, and it is a direct line to the City Council’s office.
The names of Mayor Cherie Kelley and Vice Mayor Luigi Vernola do not appear on the flyer.
Sources tell Los Cerritos Community Newspaper that city hall officials began receiving calls late Tuesday and again on Wednesday.
Hoskins was convicted of stalking singer Madonna, and once threatened to “slice her into pieces” was arrested one week after he “walked away” from Metropolitan State Hospital. He had served a 10-year prison sentence for stalking the “Material Girl.”
A court order requires Hoskins to remain at the Norwalk facility until the end of August 2012.
Maxwell took to the podium on Tuesday night and informed the city council and community about the flyer and also explained in greater detail the procedures used when a patient from Metropolitan State Hospital “walks away” from the grounds.
Maxwell said the flyer “appears to be alarming.”
“By the looks of the memo (flyer) it appears to be about some internal personnel issues going on (at Metro), but they are really scaring the community,” Maxwell said. He also called the flyer “propaganda and that the Sheriff’s department is working with hospital officials on the matter.
Metropolitan State Hospital has been the scene of local protests recently by several labor unions who are upset with state officials regarding employee contract issues.
Hoskins apparently may have taken a local bus line to Long Beach after he walked away from the facility. He stalked Madonna all over California in the early 1990s and also threatened to cut her from “ear to ear” if she did not marry him.

He was arrested in 1995 and in the following year at his trial, Madonna, who was born Madonna Louise Ciccone, testified that Hoskins repeatedly scaled the fence of her home and made her have nightmares.