Convicted trans male gets gender reassignment surgery paid for by taxpayers after murdering married couple to fund procedure

A transgender convicted murderer named John Jacobson Jr. managed to undergo taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery. Skylar Deleon, as he now calls himself, was convicted in 2008 of the brutal murder of a married couple in an attempt to steal money for his such an operation.

The murders

On Nov. 15, 2004, Thomas and Jackie Hawks boarded their yacht alongside Jacobson, who had expressed interest in buying the boat. According to reports from The Washington Free Beacon, as they set sail from a dock off the California coast, the killer attacked and threatened the couple using a gun. He tied them to the boat's anchor and forced them to sign documents for their bank accounts and ownership of the boat. Upon receiving the documents, Jacobson and his accomplices threw the couple overboard, while they remained on board fishing and drinking beer before returning to port.

The murder of the Hawks earned Jacobson the nickname "Yacht Killer." The man was convicted in 2008 for these murders. However, it was discovered that he had already committed one homicide previously, that of his former cellmate. For this, he was able to obtain $50,000.

In a letter sent to the Free Beacon dated Jan. 17, Jacobson wrote:

He is waiting to be transferred to a female facility

Jacobson told the Free Beacon that he is waiting to be transferred to a female prison: "I should transfer fairly quickly but the prison makes us go to committee to determine whether or not which prison we go to [sic.] even though I have had both surgeries. Right now I'm being housed in the hospital for my safety. My counselor and [doctors] refuse to release me anywhere but Central California Women's Center."

This dangerous move to allow male convicts to serve their sentences in female prisons was endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2020, during her presidential bid, Harris was seen celebrating her work to change policies in California that allow transgender inmates to change prisons based on their reassigned sex. Harris said that as California attorney general, she worked so that the state Department of Corrections was on the path to providing surgeries to prisoners:

"I worked behind the scenes to not only make sure that that transgender woman got the services she was deserving—so it wasn't only about that case," she said. "I made sure they changed the policy in the state of California so that every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and need," Harris said.