Local briefly: Police search for missing sex offender
Published 11:02 pm Thursday, April 24, 2008
LYNNWOOD — Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a sex offender who apparently cut off his electronic tracking bracelet Wednesday night.
Police are looking for David J. Torrence, 43, a level 3 offender who was released from prison Sunday after serving a one-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
Torrence is on active supervision with state Department of Corrections. He appears to have cut off his tracking bracelet and tossed it and an associated global-positioning-system box near a Lynnwood-area apartment complex. Police searched the area but have been unable to locate Torrence.
Torrence pleaded guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court in 1995 to second-degree rape. He was accused of assaulting a 16-year-old girl he grabbed off the street, according to court records.
A nationwide no-bail warrant has been issued for Torrence’s arrest, Hover said.
Anyone with information about Torrence’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Everett: Boy remains in critical condition
The Everett boy hurt in a skateboarding accident Tuesday afternoon remained in critical condition Thursday in intensive care at a Seattle hospital, officials said.
The 15-year-old was being towed by a pickup when he apparently hit a manhole cover and fell. He was run over by the truck.
The boy was unconscious when he was taken by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he has been treated for the past two days.
Police continue to investigate. Another 15-year-old also was hitching a ride from the pickup on a skateboard, and the vehicle was being driven by a 17-year-old, Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
In 2006, one boy died and two were seriously hurt in skateboarding accidents in Snohomish County.
Seattle: 3 sentenced in Monroe gun thefts
A federal court judge Thursday sentenced three area men to long prison terms after they pleaded guilty to breaking into a Monroe gun shop in December 2006 and stealing 11 firearms.
Michael J. Keyes, 19, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. He will have to serve that sentence after he gets through with a nearly six-year term for an assault conviction in King County Superior Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Stephen A. Larson, 39, of Monroe was sentenced to a little more than six years. Duane L. Miller 26, also of Monroe, was ordered to serve 1 1/2 years in federal prison after he completes a similar term in state court for a gun possession charge.
The sentences were handed down by U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman. The men pleaded guilty to conspiracy in breaking into Sky Valley Traders and stealing firearms. Some of the weapons were sold or traded to others.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cornell argued that the gun theft put the community at risk.
“The effects of their deliberate and dangerous conduct continues to ripple throughout our community by way of the stolen guns that still have not been recovered,” Cornell said.
From Herald staff reports
