By Jaxon Van Derbeken
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — A Fresno County parolee - released in San Francisco to keep him far from his victim - was charged Monday with murder, attempted rape and robbery in the death of a Russian Hill woman who was slain last month after she opened the door to a man posing as a utility worker.
Gary Scott Holland, 43, was being held at the psychiatric ward of the San Francisco Jail after his arrest in the Oct. 29 bludgeoning attack on Kathleen “Kate” Horan, 46, at her Chestnut Street apartment.
In announcing the charges, District Attorney Kamala Harris singled out Holland, who was on parole for a 1999 attempted murder in Fresno, as preying on people’s heightened fears of gas - because of the San Bruno blast - when he went knocking on doors posing as a gas worker.
“In that way, the defendant was a true predator and put himself out in a position of trust so that she opened that door,” Harris said. “Let us all sleep well knowing he is captured.”
Police say the victim appeared to have fought back, scratching her attacker. The green utility vest and other items police say Holland used to impersonate a utility worker were recovered near the crime scene.
Holland was arrested in March 1999 in a case that involved allegations of attempted rape, burglary and attempted murder.
However, two months after his arrest, a judge in Fresno dismissed the attempted rape allegation, said Sonia De La Rosa, spokeswoman for the Fresno County district attorney’s office.
He pleaded guilty in July 1999 and was sentenced to 13 years in state prison on the attempted murder and burglary convictions. Details of the attack were not available, but police say he had used a knife to attack his stepmother.
Holland was moved to the city after the victim in the original attack asked that he be moved at least 35 miles from where the offense occurred, said Matthew Goughnour, the district parole administrator who handles San Francisco.
Holland completed a substance abuse program while in prison and was sent to Walden House’s drug treatment program when he was released, Goughnour said.
Considered a high-risk offender, he was subject to regular surprise visits by his parole agent, Goughnour said.
“I have looked at the case. He was seen regularly and had been violation free,” he said.
Kate Horan was killed in her Russian Hill apartment.
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