A member of a Ramona family that has invited adults and children to their home later this month for free rides on their miniature railroad is a registered sex offender who molested children, The San Diego Union-Tribune confirmed this week.

Christopher Russell Green, 45, is a registered sex offender who lives with his parents at their home in Ramona, his father, Russell Green, confirmed Monday by phone.

The family has invited the public Dec. 22 and 23 for free train rides on a miniature railroad that Christopher and Russell Green spent years constructing on five acres of the family’s residential property, according to a news article published last month in the Ramona Sentinel.


With the help of about 15 volunteers, the family hopes to accommodate several hundred passengers, according to the article. The trains are built to one-eighth scale and run at about 5 mph on a 7,000-foot network of track.

The family planned to offer free rides on the railroad for other holidays and special events, such as the Fourth of July and birthday parties by appointment, the article said, adding that the family has previously offered rides in Costa Mesa.

When asked why he did not disclose to the public his son’s status as a sex offender when advertising the train rides, Russell Green said his son’s criminal history was irrelevant.

“I don’t think it’s any of their business,” he said.


Russell Green said he didn’t know where his son would be during the holiday train rides, but that there would be “plenty of supervision” during the event.

According to criminal court records, Christopher Green pleaded guilty in 2003 to crimes including two felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He admitted to befriending the child for the purpose of committing the sex crimes.

Christopher Green also pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sex with two girls and one misdemeanor count of possessing material depicting sexual conduct by a person under 18, according to his criminal case file. He was sentenced to six years in prison, court records said.

Russell Green told U-T Watchdog on Monday that he had not informed the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department of the Greens’ plan to invite the public to their home this month because Green is not on parole.


Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Cliff Rinder, who oversees the county’s multi-agency task force to monitor registered sex offenders and investigate related crimes, told the U-T on Tuesday that the department was aware of the Greens’ railroad construction project, but it did not know about the holiday event until a reporter asked about it Monday.

“We’ve opened up an investigation into this and we’re going to be taking measures to keep the community in Ramona safe for this event,” Rinder said Tuesday.

Restrictions on the activities of registered sex offenders in California vary from registrant to registrant depending on factors including the nature of their crimes and age of victims.

According to information available Tuesday on the state’s Megan’s Law website, “Registrants whose sex offense conviction was for a crime where the victim was a minor under age 16 cannot be an employer, employee, independent contractor, or volunteer with any person, group or organization where the registrant would be working directly and in an unaccompanied setting with minor children on more than an incidental and occasional basis or have supervision or disciplinary power over minor children.”


Violating the prohibition against working with children is a misdemeanor crime, according to the website.

For a photograph of Christopher Green, search his name using the Megan’s Law website.

morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com