EVERETT – A convicted sex offender who allegedly used the Mormon church he attended to lure boys, died Saturday while on suicide watch in the Snohomish County Jail, officials reported.
Correction officers responded around 4 a.m. to a single cell in the jail’s special custody unit, where David Herget, 62, of Mountlake Terrace had been held since Friday.
An officer was checking on Herget’s safety every 30 minutes, said Jim Harms, the jail’s public information officer.
Paramedics arrived about 30 minutes after an officer found Herget and unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him, Harms said. The cause of Herget’s death is under investigation pending an autopsy by the Snohomish County medical examiner.
Herget was the first man to die in jail custody since 2003, Harms said. “It’s extremely unusual,” he said.
Herget’s family members declined to comment.
Mountlake Terrace police arrested Herget on Friday on suspicion of sex crimes involving boys he met at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mountlake Terrace. Officers also searched his house Friday in the 5800 block of 225th Place SW.
“We did recover quite a bit of evidence,” Assistant Police Chief Pete Caw said.
Caw declined to comment on the items.
Herget faced 18 charges of sex crimes, including six counts of child rape, six counts of child molestation, three counts of sexual exploitation of minors, and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, Harms said.
Herget was being held in lieu of up to $345,000 bail, Harms said.
Officials put Herget on suicide watch after family members expressed concerns about the possibility that he might harm himself, Harms said. At the time Herget was found, one officer had been designated to supervise 35 inmates in the unit.
“The basic thing is to observe them. That’s why they’re designated to a single cell,” Harms said, adding that officers also check belongings inmates bring into their cells.
It was not clear what Herget took into his cell. Each inmate can bring different items, depending on the circumstances, Harms said.
Herget was convicted in 1993 of child rape and child molestation, police reported. He served time in jail and had been registered as a level 1 sex offender – considered the least likely to reoffend – since 1997 with the Mountlake Terrace police.
Jeff Werner, who has lived for about 10 months next to Herget’s house, said he knew nothing about Herget’s record until police told him Friday.
“It scared me. I questioned my boys when they got home,” said Werner, 42.
His sons, 12 and 15, said Herget did them no harm, Werner said.
Herget, who lived with his wife, daughter and son, often brought boys to his home and let them mow the lawn and do yardwork, Werner said Saturday standing outside his house.
“I know he had boys out there,” he said.
One day, Werner saw Herget through his kitchen window take pictures of boys with a digital camera, with one boy taking off his shirt.
“If I had known (Herget’s background), I would’ve called the authorities,” Werner said.
Officials should inform neighbors of sex offenders, Werner said.
“I would’ve had a second thought, moving in,” he said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@ heraldnet.com.
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