Sex offender restricted from home near school

Published 1:08 pm Monday, March 3, 2008

A Level 3 convicted sex offender who was staying next door to North Sound Christian School in Mountlake Terrace can no longer visit the house and is being investigated for violations, authorities said.

Those facts were cold comfort to many of those who packed Mountlake Terrace City Hall to learn more about the offender at a community meeting in September.

“I live next door to that house and he has tried to talk to my children,” said a woman in the audience during the public comment period.

The offender, Timothy McKenna, stayed often at the house overnight and during the day. The house belongs to a former North Sound Christian School employee who was acting as McKenna’s sponsor. She has since been fired.

McKenna had the keys to the house and spent the month of July there while summer school was in session, said a woman in the audience at the Sept. 19 meeting.

McKenna’s Level 3 designation denotes potential to reoffend. He was found guilty in 1996 of rape of a 6-year-old. In 1991, McKenna pled guilty to rape of a pregnant 16-year-old girl, and while in prison disclosed 20 more victims who range in age from 4 to 50.

The house where McKenna stayed is right next to the school’s secondary campus, which teaches students in grades 6 through 12.

Audience members who spoke at the meeting wanted to know how it was possible that McKenna’s parole officer and other authorities didn’t know he was staying in Mountlake Terrace when he’s registered as living in Marysville.

Travis Dotzauer, McKenna’s parole officer, said he learned on Sept. 4 that McKenna was staying at the house and “took away the privilege” to visit or spend the night there.

“We’ll be researching that to make sure that has happened,” said Dotzauer, who works for the Department of Corrections, after the meeting. “I told him he can no longer go there.”

At the meeting, audience members asked angrily why more couldn’t be done to limit McKenna.

When he was convicted in 1996, McKenna was given “conditions” — limits on his activities — that he is not allowed to violate. For example, he can’t possess a firearm or use alcohol.

However, he can linger near a school. The Community Protection Zones Act, which mandates that offenders stay 880 feet from a school if convicted, didn’t take effect until July 2005.

McKenna was convicted in 1996, so the law doesn’t apply to him.

His “conditions” can’t be changed in retrospect, authorities explained to the audience.

Rep. Al O’Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, said that if McKenna had been convicted later, he would have received a harsher sentence. McKenna served 10 years for his crimes.

“With more recent legislation, he’d be in prison for 25 years,” said O’Brien. After serving his time, McKenna would, under current laws, have had to face a review board and convince them he would never reoffend. If the board wasn’t convinced, McKenna would not get out of prison, O’Brien said. But the new laws can’t be applied retroactively.

Audience members also asked why there wasn’t more investigation of sponsors to see if, for example, they live next door to a school.

Arkame Curry, McKenna’s therapist, said that she would review her whole policy of accepting sponsors and from now on, do a computer search to see where they live.

Victims of abuse can call Providence’s crisis line at 425-252-4800.