Manly & Stewart News

A chance encounter revived memories of molestation decades ago

The child molestation case against the fired head of Napa State Hospital began with a chance meeting last September.

A man, who as a boy in the early 1970s lived a few doors from Claude Edward Foulk in Long Beach, was visiting the hospital as part of his job as a vendor. He turned the corner of a hallway and made eye contact with Foulk, who ran the 1,200-patient facility that houses mentally ill criminals.


The encounter triggered memories of alleged abuse by Foulk nearly four decades ago, his attorney told The Times. The man told his wife and went to Long Beach police, who began investigat...