By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
WHIDBEY ISLAND — As state juvenile officials continue to search for a permanent home for a 13-year-old sex offender, Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley criticized them for not performing a sexual predator evaluation before releasing the boy from juvenile prison.
Nicholas Stroeder currently is in a foster home for people with mental disabilities in the 3300 block of Best Road near Taylor Road. Sheriff’s personnel distributed fliers in the north Whidbey neighborhood alerting residents to Stroeder’s presence.
Stroeder is considered so dangerous that he is monitored around the clock by a male social worker. He has moved from one facility to another, until this week spending part of his time during the day at the state Children’s Services Division office in the Oak Harbor area.
"It’s my understanding he’s not going to the office now," said Steve Williams, a state Department of Social and Health Services spokesman.
Officials have been searching since October for a permanent place for Stroeder to stay.
"We have leads, it’s just a matter of connecting with people," Williams said. "We’re looking at a lot of places right now."
Stroeder was convicted of indecent liberties with forcible compulsion and went to Echo Glen, a state juvenile prison, on July 13, 2001, and served 16 weeks of a 15-to-36-week sentence, Hawley said. The boy was released Dec. 31.
While he was incarcerated there, Stroeder continued to engage in sexually aggressive behavior, the sheriff said. The staff noted in an evaluation summary that he continued to act out his sexual deviancy by allegedly telling female staff members that he’d like to have sex with them, including describing his fantasies, Hawley said.
In one incident, Stroeder became angry at one of the women. He allegedly wrote her name above a picture of a woman modeling undergarments and masturbated to the picture, Hawley said.
"It’s chilling to note that local Child Protective Service workers had not been made aware of this information until the sheriff’s office alerted them to these concerns," said Jan Smith, Hawley’s chief deputy for administration.
The Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration staff ranked Stroeder a Level II offender, or a moderate risk to commit more sex crimes.
They should have done a sexual predator evaluation on Stroeder prior to his release from Echo Glen, Hawley said. Had they done so, the youth could have been sent to an appropriate, secure facility, he said.
Any juvenile convicted of a sexually violent offense can be considered for involuntary commitment, said Todd Bowers, an assistant attorney general who prosecutes civil commitment petitions for some counties. Those petitions routinely are filed prior to the offender’s release from prison.
"He’s living in the community now. For persons who are living in the community, the state can’t just go in and file a sex predator petition," Bowers said.
To do so, the state would have to have evidence the offender had committed "a recent overt act" that creates reasonable apprehension that harm of a sexually violent nature is going to occur, he said. That’s unlikely to occur while Stroeder is being monitored at all times.
"We have no facilities in the special commitment center for anyone under 18," Williams said. "We’re building a new facility in the middle of McNeil Island. It will have separate facilities for men and women."
Civil commitment cases with juvenile sexual predators are different from adult cases because authorities use statistical data to predict when an offender is likely to reoffend, Bowers said.
"There’s very limited information to let us know what our risk factors are for juvenile offenders. We’re kind of hamstrung by our lack of science. There’s a lot of ongoing research. The science hasn’t caught up yet to the extent that it needs to," he said.
Stroeder now is supposed to undergo an evaluation, Hawley said.
The boy reportedly has a sexual disorder in which he is aroused by feces, sheriff’s officials said. While he was at the Children’s Services office he had hygiene problems that prompted complaints about the smell, and when he was allowed to go to the bathroom alone, he threw feces at female staff members, Hawley said. Those problems created a physical danger to people who used or visited that office, as well as a hygiene problem, he said.
Since the office has no shower, there was no means to have Stroeder tend to his own personal hygiene.
A relative of a caseworker last week called a Seattle radio station to say that caseworkers are frightened, traumatized and worried for the families that come to their offices, sheriff’s officials said.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
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