Billerica Level 3 sex offender competent for trial

Billerica Level 3 sex offender competent for trial

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com
10/22/2009

LOWELL -- Convicted Level 3 sex offender Ernest Frobese, who has been diagnosed with a delusional disorder, has been deemed by doctors at Bridgewater State Hospital as competent to stand trial on a charge that he refused to register as a sex offender.
Frobese, 69, of 54 Connolly Road, Billerica, has been held on $5,000 cash bail since his arrest in November 2007, when he refused to register as a sex offender as required by state law. It was that same refusal that led to his arrest on the same charge in June 2005.
In Lowell Superior Court this week, Judge Jane Haggerty ordered Frobese returned to Bridgewater State Hospital, where he can continue to receive treatment for his disorder pending a Nov. 19 court date to review his committment and his Jan. 13, 2010, trial.
A diagnosis from the court clinician indicates Frobese suffers from a persecutorial delusional disorder in which he sees conspiracies and corruption at every turn and believes the state has no domain over him.
During his Superior Court arraignment in January 2008, Frobese told the judge, "My constitutional rights are being violated constantly. I'm challenging the restraints of my life, liberty and my property."
Frobese made headlines in the fall of 2007, when he was seen giving out candy to youngsters on Halloween. According to Massachusetts law, it is not illegal for sex offenders to hand out candy at Halloween, but Billerica police say it lacks common sense for a convicted sex
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offender to do so.
The state Sex Offender Registry Board has classified Frobese as a Level 3 sex offender, the highest likelihood to reoffend. Frobese served 2 1/2 years in prison for a 1995 conviction of indecent assault and battery on a child.
He is required by law to register with the Police Department each year on his birthday in October. Billerica police had given him a deadline, but Frobese responded in writing saying he refused to register.