Two sex offenders share Mill Creek area home
Published 12:36 pm Thursday, February 21, 2008
This neighbor isn’t going to get welcomed with a fresh apple pie, and neither did his roommate when he moved in over a year ago.
Residents who live just outside Mill Creek city limits gathered at Oak Heights Elementary school in the Edmonds School District on the evening of Nov. 21 to find out how to protect themselves from Harold Brown, one of two Level III sex offenders who recently moved into a home near the 16600 block of 6th Ave. SE. Level III sex offenders are considered highly dangerous and likely to reoffend.
Brown’s residence was recently announced by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. He was classified as a Level III because of the way he committed his crimes and the fact that he re-offended while awaiting trial for child molestation charges, said Snohomish County Sheriff’s Detective Dave Coleman.
Brown’s roommate — Ronald Barnett — moved into the same home last year. Barnett was convicted of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl on numerous occasions in 1980. Barnett was staying with the girl’s family when he committed the crimes, and had lived there two weeks before he started to assault the victim. He is currently unemployed, officials said. Unemployment is one of the risk factors that could lead to him re-offending, according to the SCSO web site.
Barnett does not have any conditions imposed on him by the Department of Corrections, but he must register as a sex offender for life, according to SCSO documents.
Many of the approximate 75 people who attended the Nov. 21 meeting to announce Brown’s registration in their neighborhood had attended a similar meeting last year when Barnett registered at the same address.
According to official documents, Brown — the neighborhood’s latest Level III sex offender — pled guilty to two counts of child molestation, first degree, in February of 1992. He was also found guilty of Rape of a Child in the second degree in March of 1992. He was given 85 months (seven years plus one month) for the child molestations and 130 months (nearly 11 years) for the child rape charge, official documents state.
Brown served his entire sentence, Coleman said, but appears to be out early because he served the sentences concurrently, meaning the two sentences overlapped. Coleman said offenders serving concurrent sentences is “not uncommon.”
Brown’s first victim was a 5-year-old neighbor who reported Brown touched her under her clothing, documents state. The second victim was an 8-year-old girl. The little girl was sitting on Brown’s lap playing with the computer, and he touched her private parts over her clothing on several occasions, documents state.
Brown was released on personal recognizance on the charges related to violations against the 5 and 8-year-old. While awaiting trial on those charges, Brown met a 13-year-old girl over the Internet, documents state. He began contacting the girl and several of her friends before entering into a sexual relationship with her, documents state. For that offense, documents say, he was convicted of child rape.
While in prison, Brown completed sex offender treatment, anger and stress management and victim awareness classes, documents state. He is currently under supervision by the Lynnwood arm of the Washington State DOC.
Michael Woodruff, community corrections officer for the Lynnwood DOC, is one of the team that will oversee Brown for the 24 months he is under community supervision. After that 24 months is up, Brown will be required for the rest of his life to register as a sex offender whenever he moves to a new residence, documents state. But once community supervision has ended, Brown will not be required to live under conditions currently set forth by the DOC. Those conditions include:
• no contact with the victims
• no physical or prolonged visual or verbal contact with minor children
• shall not consume controlled substances, except pursuant to lawfully issued prescriptions
• shall participate in crime-related treatment or counseling services as directed by the DOC
• shall not date or establish a relationship with a person who either has minor children living with them or visiting them, without express consent from his therapist
• offender is to obtain and maintain employment or attend school or training
• offender shall not possess any sexually stimulating material
• offender shall not have access to any Internet systems
Brown’s supervision will include random urinary analysis tests to determine if he is using controlled substances, as well as polygraph (lie detector) tests that will help DOC officials find out if he is engaging in behaviors that would make it more likely for him to reoffend. Brown is not banned from using alcohol, Coleman said.
“We pursue these violations very diligently. If he is found to be in violation, he will go to jail,” Coleman told the audience Nov. 21.
Coleman said a stable living environment has statistically shown to reduce a sex offender’s likelihood to reoffend. That environment includes a place to live and a job.
Others on Brown’s supervision team agreed.
“Many of us don’t like sex offenders living in our community. But it’s effective for Mr. Brown and others to have a stable place in the community. He’s currently working and we want to help him keep working,” Woodruff said.
The location of where he works is not public information.
Neighbors were incensed that Brown was allowed to move into their neighborhood in the same home where Barnett already resides.
But Brown’s supervision team was convinced the partnership would be beneficial in each offender’s recovery program. Both offenders are with the same treatment provider, Woodruff said, and “they can help each other in successful transition” into a stable life.
Coleman added that sexual offenses are, by nature, secretive, so it is unlikely that the two would collaborate on a new crime.
The audience listened silently as Coleman and others presented information on how to safeguard their children and themselves from sex offenders. The overwhelming message of the meeting was that the potential danger from Brown and his roommate pales by comparison to the danger that exists from unknown sex offenders who mill about the community near schools and other places where children frequent, as well as sex offenders who have not yet been caught for their crimes.
The element that makes Barnett and Brown less of a risk is the fact that people know where they are and what they have done in their pasts, Coleman explained.
Brian McNair attended the meeting because his child lives in the neighborhood where Brown recently registered. He agreed with officials, stating, “I think basically the meetings are great because the best defense is the fact that we know he’s there.”
Sex offenders who undergo treatment while in prison, and continue treatment after their release, are taught the “tools” they need to avoid contact with children in order to avoid recidivism, officials said. The number of sex offenders who are convicted of another sex offense after they are convicted of a sex offense is 5 to 7 percent, Coleman said.
“Obviously, we’re not able to tell (what recidivism rates are) with the ones we don’t know about,” Coleman said.
Coleman described sex offenders as one might describe an alcoholic or drug addict. But their vice is children, so the training that they receive while in prison teaches them to avoid situations where they will be in contact with children. Some of that training includes avoiding places where children are known to frequent, and not visiting public places such as grocery stores at a time of day when a lot of children will be present.
“He should be putting himself in situations where he’s avoiding that contact,” Coleman said of Brown.
Neighbors don’t believe Brown got the message of that treatment. A few said they had seen him staring at children as they exited a school bus. Coleman said incidents like that need to be documented, and that officials cannot act on situations they don’t know about. However, that incident, Coleman said, was not in and of itself a violation of Brown’s community supervision conditions.
“We cannot prove a pattern in that violation,” Coleman said.
Brian Barney, risk management specialist for the Snohomish County arm of the DOC, said as offenders undergo treatment, they might not know it is inappropriate to do things like stare at children leaving the bus.
“He’s an adult. He should know,” interjected Monique Forbush, who lives in an apartment complex near the home Brown and Barnett share.
Forbush and Emma Johnson attended the event to inform themselves so they could feel safer in their neighborhood. But Johnson said she didn’t feel any better when she left.
“These officials seem like they’re defending the offender,” Johnson said.
Many perceived officials’ description of offenders’ rights the same way, and were very vocal about it during the meeting. One woman in the audience stood up to give her two cents on the issue, telling all that officials who were conducting the meeting could only enforce existing laws — only lawmakers can change it.
Coleman encouraged residents to call the DOC to report any behavior they deem suspicious, and assured them that if Brown violated any conditions of his community supervision, he would be jailed.
Some asked for clarification on exactly what would qualify as a violation.
“If this guy starts getting chatty with my daughter is that a violation?” one man asked.
Woodruff answered, “if Mr. Brown knows there’s a minor around the corner and he walks around the corner, that’s contact. If a minor sits down on the bus next to him, he is (instructed through his treatment) to move.”
One man alleged there was drug trafficking going on at the home where Brown lives, but said nothing had been done by authorities.
Coleman reiterated that if any illegal activity is reported to police and proven to be true, consequences will follow.
Coleman told the group that it’s hard to find housing for sex offenders. And, he said, once released from prison “these people can ask to live wherever they wish. We are constantly looking for places to house sex offenders. This is something that was his choice.”For more information about sex offenders registered in your neighborhood visit the SCSO web site at www.co.snohomish.wa.us/sheriff/ and click “sex offender search.”
