Tag: Washington

WA: Dogs trained to sniff out electronic devices help catch child predators

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Source: katv.com 8/22/22 WASHINGTON (TND) — Chewie is one of this country’s most highly-trained work dogs. He works on the front lines in the fight to track down child predators by detecting and locating electronic storage devices. There are less than 100 canines certified to do this type of work. and Todd Jordan has trained nearly 70 of them. The dogs are trained to indicate on things such as thumb drives, SD cards, microSD cards, anything they can hold or store images that can be used in child sexual abuse…

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WA: Conservative Christian pastor arrested for child rape after allegedly grooming underage girl

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Source: msn.com 7/22/22 A 27-year-old right-wing youth pastor from Arlington, Washington has been charged with two counts of third-degree child rape for allegedly sexually abusing a girl who at the time was just 15 years old. The Everett Herald reports that prosecutors are alleging that Kendal ____ met a 15-year-old girl at a youth group in 2017, when Kendal was at the time 22 years old. The two became friends and exchanged contact information, which the girl told prosecutors flattered her at the time. The girl also said that she felt comfortable exchanging her…

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MO: Former police officer, detective sentenced to five years probation in sodomy case

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Source: emissourian.com 12/6/21 A rural Washington man who previously worked as a municipal police officer and a county sheriff’s detective has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to sodomizing a boy that police say he met online. Ryan Shomaker, 48, who previously lived in the 600 block of Royal Oaks Court, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He was originally charged with two counts of sodomy, but prosecutors dropped one of the charges in exchange for the plea. St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge…

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WA: Kelso council pauses halfway house construction for six months to develop limits on sex offender housing

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[tdn.com – 5/19/21] Developers of halfway houses cannot build in Kelso for the next six months while the city council reviews how it can limit the number of registered sex offenders living in one home. … Councilman Keenan Harvey first raised the issue in March because he said multiple sex offenders living in one area encourages additional crime and discourages people from living nearby. Read the full article  

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WA: Sex offender sentenced to more than 12 years for extortion scheme

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[kitsapsun.com – 5/4/21] Saying she would sentence him longer if she could, a Kitsap County Superior Court judge gave a sex offender 12 ½ years in prison for an online extortion scheme targeting gay men in which he assumed the identity of a prior victim. Judge Jennifer Forbes told Christopher Malik Longmire, 25, the 152-month maxim sentence was “not enough.” “I’ve come to the conclusion that our society needs to be protected from you as long as the law will allow,” Forbes said. Kitsap County sheriff’s detectives started unraveling the…

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WA: Lawsuit: State operation to catch sex offenders entrapped innocent men to boost arrest numbers

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[spokesman.com – 5/2/21] Quentin Parker believes the sting operation that identified him as a “dangerous child predator” in 2019 failed its mission. Though charges against him were ultimately dropped, he claims in his recent lawsuit against Washington State Patrol that dishonest detectives manipulated him and “forever tainted and destroyed” his life for their own financial gain. According to the suit filed in Thurston County Superior Court this February, detectives funded by a nonprofit now under criminal investigation pretended to be women and girls on social media to entrap men, boost…

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WA: Washington State Officials Propose Toolkit to Help People With Mental Health, Addiction Issues Find Housing

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[chronline.com – 4/29/21] Almost 10 years ago, state researchers conducted a study looking at how many people in Washington state became homeless after leaving inpatient treatment for a mental health issue or substance use disorder. The results were shocking. Nearly half the people discharged from a drug or alcohol treatment facility in 2010 were homeless or didn’t have stable housing within a year. For the people discharged from state psychiatric hospitals, it was 30%. In the midst of an ever-growing homelessness crisis a decade later, there’s little to suggest that…

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WA: Say what? Child sex victims must prove they’re not wed to abuser? Scrub this law now

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[thenewstribune.com – 2/17/21] Part of the job of a lawmaker is to be a law eraser. Washington legislators are sometimes asked to scrub anachronistic language from the statute books, not just because it’s embarrassing and offends our contemporary values, but because it can have damaging consequences today. Consider laws from the early 1900s that condoned sex between adults and children as young as 10 years old, as long as they were married. Believe it or not, this language has persisted for more than a century in state law, making Washington…

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WA: Should People With Criminal Convictions Be Able to Work in Health Care? Bill in Legislature Would Relax State Laws

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[chronline.com – 2/14/21] Washington lawmakers are discussing a bill that would end the automatic disqualification of people with certain criminal convictions from working with vulnerable populations in health care or home care. Bill sponsors say it would address the shortage of qualified caretakers and empower people with convictions to take charge of their lives. House Bill 1411 would allow people with certain crimes on their record to be eligible to apply for jobs with the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) at long-term care facilities or as in-home caretakers.…

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WA: HB 1282 Will Allow All People Convicted of a Felony to Earn Up to 33% Off Their Sentence

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[Washington Voices – wavoices.org – 2/7/21] Dear Friends, This Thursday, February 11, at 1:30 pm,  the House Committee on Public Safety will vote on HB 1282.  If this bill becomes law, all people convicted of a felony will have an opportunity to earn up to 33% off of their sentence.  Currently, people convicted of a sex offense can earn a maximum of 10% off their sentence. Information about the bill and a video recording of the Feb. 2 committee hearing can be found at the HB 1282 website.  Many people…

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Action Alert for WA Residents: Write Comments on HB 1078 to Restore Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights

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[familysafetyfoundation.org – 1/18/21] This Thursday, January 21, the Washington House State Government and Tribal Relations committee will vote on HB 1078.  If this bill becomes law, voting rights will be restored to all Washington state citizens who have been convicted of a felony as soon as they are released from incarceration.  Under current law, voting rights are only restored after the person is released from community supervision and the person has finished meeting any legal financial obligations associated with the conviction. Information about the bill and a video recording of…

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WA: UW Seattle to host homeless Tent City 3 again [except for sex offenders]

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[kiro7.com – 12/20/20] SEATTLE — The University of Washington welcomed back Tent City 3, hosting up to 70 residents for the next three months. UW said the lower occupancy will allow for social distancing and other COVID precautions. “Welcoming back Tent City 3 aligns with UW’s public mission and its commitment to helping solve the challenges of our city, state and world,” said Sally J. Clark, director of regional and community relations in a direct message to the UW News. “While organized tent cities are not a solution to homelessness,…

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WA: A claw and a bat. People arm themselves as tensions rise over homeless RVs at the Capitol

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[spokanepublicradio.org – 11/21/19] In the shadow of Washington’s Capitol dome is a broad boulevard — called Deschutes Parkway — with a popular walking and running path that curves along Capitol Lake and links the city of Olympia to the neighboring city of Tumwater. The parkway, the adjacent lake and nearby Marathon Park are technically part of Washington’s expansive Capitol campus complex. It’s along this picturesque stretch of road, where parking is not restricted, that in recent months motorhomes, trailers and campers in various states of disrepair have begun to take…

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WA: Tarra Simmons Looks To Become 1st Former Inmate Elected To Washington Legislature

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[opb.org – 10/21/19] A Washington attorney and criminal justice reform advocate who previously served time in prison is seeking to become the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the Washington Legislature, at least in modern times. Tarra Simmons, of Bremerton, who in 2017 won a Supreme Court fight to sit for the state bar exam, despite her prior criminal conviction, plans to formally announce her candidacy for the state House on Monday. “I’d like to break this concrete ceiling,” Simmons said in an exclusive interview with the public radio Northwest News Network. “I think…

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WA: Why a sex offender would run for office: Willie Russell’s story

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[washingtonstatewire.com – 8/20/19] Willie Russell is running for the Snohomish County Council this year. He squeaked through the August primary, and will face Stephanie Wright in November for Council position 3. He is also a Level III sex offender. You can read the narrative from the sheriff’s office database here. I recently spoke with Russell in an extended conversation. I wanted to ask him about his interest in running, and about his campaign. But, I was particularly interested in understanding why, with his background, he would be willing to put…

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WA: Washington Sexting Bill Aims to Shield Teens From Adult Law

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[usnews.com – 4/11/19] Legislation aimed at keeping youth who send sexually explicit texts from being charged under adult sex crime laws has cleared the Legislature in Washington state. The bill , which passed late Wednesday night, would create a new group of crimes reserved specifically for minors who are caught with explicit images of other minors, attempting to solve what lawmakers described as a paradox in current law, where even youth who report a sexual picture or video can themselves be potentially charged with a felony — and even forced…

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Seattle Police “Rescue” 26 Sex Workers. But Did They Want to Be Rescued?

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[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/13/19] The Seattle Police Department, along with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, say they arrested five people and “rescued 26 victims of sex trafficking” earlier this month during raids of nearly a dozen businesses in the Chinatown-International and Beacon Hill districts. The Seattle Times broke the story last Friday, reporting that the owners of these so-called “massage parlors” were illegally selling sex acts and are suspected of recruiting women, mostly Chinese nationals, to come to the U.S. to work in them. Nearly 200 law enforcement officers…

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