Fire Destroys Future Home Of Central California Sex Offender

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Fire has destroyed a mobile home in a rural Central California foothill community set to house a convicted sex offender.

The Fresno Bee reported Thursday that state officials planned to put Jeffrey Snyder in the mobile home. He's due to be released from a state mental hospital.

California's directory of convicted sex offenders describes 61-year-old Snyder as a sexually violent predator. The newspaper doesn't say whether investigators suspect somebody intentionally started the fire.

The mobile home was located near Squaw Valley, a community in eastern Fresno County.

State officials chose the mobile home after residents in a Fresno neighborhood protested plans to put him in a house near them.

Snyder's attorney, Curtis Sok, could not be immediately reached for comment.