Hundreds of sex offenders missing in King County, statewide

When a convicted sex offender gets out of jail in our state, they’re supposed to register and keep in touch with local enforcement. But a new MyNorthwest.com analysis finds authorities don’t know where hundreds have gone and limited resources make it challenging to track them down.

Washington State law requires all sex offenders register their address and notify officials if they move. If they’re homeless, they’re also required to check in once a week. If they fail to do so, they’re considered non-compliant.

In King County alone, a check of the sex offender database reveals 387 of approximately 3,800 registered sex offenders are non-compliant as of Monday afternoon.

The King County Sheriff’s Department works hard to keep track of all of them, but resources and the law are limited.

“People think we’re monitoring them all the time, or they’re wearing GPS bracelets or something so we can track them. That’s just not the case and that’s not the law,” said Sgt. Cindi West

The department’s sex offender unit has just five full-time members: three detectives and two program managers who help administer the department.

“By law, we go out and try and make face-to-face verification with each sex offender a certain number of times depending on their level of offense,” said West.

Officials check for Level One offenders once a year, Level Two offenders twice a year, and Level Three offenders four times a year. They have to drop in unannounced to make sure a sex offender actually lives where they say they do, which takes plenty of work.

“We have just over 3,800 sex offenders registered in King County. Imagine with all of those checks that have to be done, how many man hours it takes to do that. So it’s difficult for us to keep track of these guys some times.”

When a registered sex offender falls out of compliance, the five members of the unit remain diligent in locating them, West insisted.

“The two program managers have to do quite a bit of research to see if the person is in the hospital, been booked, moved to another state an registered or move to a state that does not require registration,” West said.

If the investigators determine a person has fallen out of compliance, they write a case report and send it to the prosecutor’s office requesting a warrant for the individual. “Many times, the offender gets picked up by patrol and booked into jail,” West said.

Sex offenders fall out of compliance for a number of reasons. Some don’t want people to know about their crimes when they move into a new neighborhood – in some cases to simply protect their identity and live quietly, in others to re-offend, said West.

Homeless sex offenders are more likely to fall out of compliance because it can be difficult or inconvenient for them to get to the King County Courthouse. Detectives have found many don’t want to leave a spot they’ve secured under a bridge or some other spot out of fear it will be taken by another transient.

So how worried should we be? The Department of Corrections said while some sex offenders do re-offend, the majority of studies agree that most sex offenders are not convicted of new offenses. And sex offenders have the lowest recidivism rates of any convicted felons.

“Typically, our victims with sex crimes tend to be known by the suspect, so it’s not always some stranger situation,” said West. “Pay attention to who’s watching your kids, especially if they’re males. If they’re entrusted to care for your child, pay attention to them and question them. They don’t have to be convicted to be sex offenders.”

If a registered sex offender fails to comply, the penalty can be stiff. The first offense can cost 12-15 months in jail. And the penalties increase significantly from there.

“We recently had one that failed to register five times and he was sentenced to 50 months in prison. So it’s pretty significant time,” said West.

While the sheriff’s department tries to get as many non-compliant offenders back in the system, the focus is on tracking down Level Three offenders, considered the most dangerous and likely to re-offend. As of Monday afternoon, 82 Level Three offenders remained non-compliant in King County; 101 Level Two offenders and 204 Level One offenders are currently non-compliant. The numbers are proportionately similar statewide.

Despite the limited resources, King County’s unit has cut the number of non-compliant sex offenders by over 50 percent since receiving a grant to expand staffing several years ago, from 20 percent to less than 10 percent, West says.