A 13-year-old Island County sex offender who gained public attention because authorities couldn’t find a permanent home for him is going to Kitsap County.
Nicholas Stroeder has moved from place to place, spending some time in a state Department of Social and Health Services office since Dec. 31. During that time, he had not had access to schooling or sexual deviancy treatment.
A private child-placing agency found a foster home in Kitsap County, DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears said Friday.
Stroeder is developmentally delayed in addition to being sexually aggressive and having behavioral problems that prompted state officials to have a male social worker supervise him around the clock, authorities said.
The Kitsap County home is in a secluded, rural location.
Stroeder was convicted of indecent liberties by forcible compulsion after he tried to rape a pregnant woman in a mall bathroom.
He was released from the Echo Glen juvenile prison on New Year’s Eve. DSHS officials had been searching unsuccessfully since October to find a permanent home for him.
Lynnwood
Sex offender warning: Snohomish County sheriff’s officials have issued a public warning about a Level 2 sex offender who lives in the 15000 block of Highway 99 in the Lynnwood area.
Jack A. Whitson, 42, was sentenced in July 1991 to prison for first-degree rape of a 3-year-old girl he was babysitting. In 1997, he was convicted of indecent liberties with a 5-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.
In 1973, while he was a juvenile, Whitson used his position as a babysitter to gain access to his victims, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said. In 1974, he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old neighbor girl.
Whitson is white, 5 feet 7 inches, 200 pounds, with hazel eyes and brown hair.
Sheriff’s officials will conduct a community meeting to discuss registered sex offender issues. The meeting will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lake Stickney Elementary School gymnasium, 1625 Madison Way in Lynnwood. Those with questions or seeking more information are urged to attend.
From Herald staff reports
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