SAN DIEGO -- A sexually violent predator had inappropriate contact with young girls and lied to his treatment staff during his two months of outpatient conditional release in San Diego, a prosecutor told a judge Wednesday.

Matthew Hedge, 42, was placed in a trailer outside the grounds of Donovan State Prison Nov. 8, but was rehospitalized at Atascadero State Hospital Jan. 6 when officials monitoring his progress decided he was exhibiting potentially dangerous behavior.

Hedge was convicted in 1989 of molesting two boys and two girls.

He served his sentence and became the first sexually violent predator released into San Diego County from Atascadero's multiphase treatment program.

The hearing before Superior Court Judge Laura Hammes will determine whether Hedge, a convicted pedophile, will remain in the inpatient treatment program at the state hospital or be rereleased into the community.

In her opening statement of the revocation hearing, Deputy District Attorney Kristen Spieler told the judge that Hedge failed to abide by conditions set up for his release.

Spieler said Liberty Healthcare, a private agency contracted by the state to set up and monitor Hedge's outpatient program, sent a letter to the court Jan. 6, saying numerous problems with Hedge's behavior had forced it to revoke his outpatient status.

"They wanted to make this work," Spieler said.

Spieler said Liberty expected Hedge to have problems but was forced to send him back to Atascadero when the problems mounted.

The prosecutor said Hedge violated a condition of release when he spoke to the two granddaughters of the director of a treatment center he was attending.

"Is this the crime of the century? Perhaps not," Spieler said.

The fact that Hedge had any contact with the girls was problematic considering he had been through eight years of treatment at Atascadero before his release was ordered, the prosecutor said.

Hedge resisted attending the treatment center that Liberty had set up for him, Spieler told the judge.

"He was defiant from the get-go," the prosecutor said.

Hedge was also dishonest with his treatment team about whether he had molested any children when he was on parole around 1995, Spieler said.

"He downright lied to staff members," she said.

Spieler said no single incident led Liberty Executive Director Kenneth Carabello to recommend that Hedge be removed from the community and returned to inpatient care at Atascadero.

"It's just that the problems kept building," the prosecutor said.

Hedge's attorney, Richard Gates, said his client exhibited knowledge of high-risk behavior and how to cope with them.

Gates said the incident with the two girls was one that couldn't have been anticipated by Hedge.

In other instances, Hedge left the area when he could see dangerous conditions developing, Gates told the judge.

Hedge was consistently checking in with his regional coordinator but sometimes questioned why he was being asked to do certain things, Gates said.

"Mr. Hedge is sometimes defiant," Gates said.

Hedge has been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, which will be with him for the rest of his life, Gates said.

A sexually violent predator is someone convicted of a sex crime and diagnosed with a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes him or her likely to commit predatory acts of sexual violence if not confined.

Gates said Hedge may have been rehospitalized for technical violations.

"There is no clinical need for inpatient treatment," Gates told the judge. "Mr. Hedge was not a completed project. He is not a risk of reoffending."

Carabello testified that a series of events and "troubling behaviors" led him to believe that Hedge needed more inpatient treatment.

Hedge also admitted in a pre-polygraph interview that he had a deviant sexual fantasy the night before in which he reported seeing a naked teenage girl he knew by name, Carabello testified.

Carabello will continue his testimony Friday. The hearing is expected to continue into next week.