A little more than a dozen sex offenders registered in Federal Way were reminded by police and Department of Corrections officers Oct. 31 that under no conditions are they to have contact with children.

Federal Way Detective K.C. Krusey is in charge of tracking all of the city’s 241 registered sex offenders. He visits the offenders’ listed addresses and ensures they are complying. As of Saturday, 200 of the city’s offenders had recently been contacted by Federal Way police. Saturday’s emphasis focused on offenders who were sentenced in Superior Court and recently paroled. They are currently monitored by the DOC.

“These ones have recently been released from jail or prison, and they are the ones that are new to the community and new to the public,” Krusey said.

He and four teams of police and DOC personnel visited the offenders’ registered addresses, looking for parole violations and reminding them that Halloween is no excuse to interact with trick-or-treating children. This is the second consecutive year Federal Way police and DOC partnered to undergo a Halloween emphasis. Level one, level two and level three offenders were contacted.

Teams knocked on doors, asking to speak with the sex offenders registered there. At the Club Palisades apartment complex, a man who answered the door told police the offender did not live there, but upon a search of the home, he was found in a back room. The offender told police he was sentenced for the rape of a teenager.

Police reminded him he must comply with his parole stipulations, which include confirming his address every 90 days. The man was also reminded to ensure his father, who answered the door, knows that lying to officers about his son’s location could result in a warrant for the offender’s arrest on the basis for failing to register. The man was given strict orders to dispose of the Halloween candy stationed near the apartment’s door. He was verbally reprimanded and told to contact his corrections officer Monday, but was not arrested.

At a home on 14th Avenue Southwest, police gave one family some disturbing news. The homeowners had just bought the place and were unaware a sex offender had the residence listed as his home address. After ensuring the man was not hiding inside the home, the police took a statement from the couple and left the family wondering if the man who showed them the house was the listed offender. A DOC check later revealed the man had recently registered a new address, but the information had not yet been passed on from the county to Federal Way.

At the Federal Way Motel, a manager told police one offender was not home. Officers left a business card on the door and left. A later check revealed he had come and gone. Because police did not personally speak with the offender and confirm his address, officers will soon again attempt to contact him.

Overall, the emphasis resulted in two arrests. The arrests were made on outstanding warrants, not parole violations.

Though some minor violations were found, they did not call for an arrest, Krusey said. Everybody contacted was in compliance, he said. At the few residences that had candy at the door, the offender was not handing out the sweets and was located in another room of the home, Krusey said.

“We didn’t find anybody that was in true violation,” he said. “There were some minor violations but nothing worth booking.”

Monitoring offenders

Federal Way police’s regular confirmation of sex offenders registered at Federal Way addresses is especially important this year. The DOC, due to the state’s budget constraints, stopped tracking nearly 10,000 of the state’s roughly 30,000 criminal offenders, said DOC corrections officer Justin Childers.

Sex offenders being tracked are now monitored for 36 months, rather than the previous 48 months, he said. Though they are not monitored by DOC, they are monitored by local law enforcement for a prolonged number of years, Krusey said.

“DOC doesn’t monitor those guys; however, we do,” he said.

Level one offenders registered in Federal Way are contacted at least once per year. Level two offenders are contacted at least twice per year. Level three offenders, the most likely to re-offend, are contacted every 90 days, Krusey said.

“We try to check on them a little more frequently than that,” he said.

Learn more

To view a map and a list of sex offenders by address, visit www.familywatchdog.us.