EVERETT — Rick Lowrey searched the county’s map of registered sex offenders before he bought his house on E. Grand Avenue in January.
When he didn’t find any offenders living nearby, Lowrey, who has a 12-year-old daughter, felt safer moving to the block with white picket fences and old homes overlooking the Snohomish River.
He was alarmed last week when a flier was delivered to his front porch.
It had a photo of the McManus mansion across the street with the headline “WHO is going to live there?”
The six-bedroom house was sold in June to a former Seattle police officer who is in business with a man who runs boarding houses for sex offenders who are also recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.
Last week, a 28-year-old high-risk sex offender moved into the house, which was built in 1893 for the prominent banker and state Sen. J.E. McManus, and has since fallen into disrepair.
Neighbors are concerned that more sex offenders could be coming and what that could mean for property values and quality of life.
“You can’t get away from it unless you move to the country and buy 12 acres. And who can afford that anymore?” Lowrey said. “I just don’t understand why they are integrating them into a neighborhood.”
The new tenant was convicted as a minor for raping a younger boy and molesting two others, according to the state Department of Corrections.
He is listed as a level 3 sex offender and is under court orders not to drink or make contact with children.
In prison, the man underwent sex-offender treatment, which statistically lowers his chance of a new sexual offense, law enforcement officials say.
Despite some people’s perceptions, providing housing for sex offenders makes the community safer, said Mike Westford, who rents rooms to dozens of sex offenders in a cluster of rental houses near downtown Everett.
Westford is business partners with Alex Thole, the former Seattle police officer. Thole in June paid $460,000 for the McManus house, which is on E. Grand Avenue near Everett Avenue, according to public records.
Westford declined to share plans for the McManus house. Thole could not be reached for comment.
Westford is known for hanging signs listing the Ten Commandments on his rental houses. Recently, one of those signs went up at the McManus house.
Neighbors are asking questions about what exactly is being planned for the house. At a meeting scheduled tonight, they will be speaking with neighborhood leaders and Department of Corrections officials. The 7 p.m. meeting is at the Everett Library Auditorium, 2702 Hoyt Ave., Everett.
While Westford won’t say what’s planned at the house, he does say that even convicted sex offenders need places to live. Corrections officials say stable housing can lower recidivism rates, but landlords often won’t rent to convicted sex offenders, who end up on the street where they are harder to monitor.
“I’m not an advocate for sex offenders,” Westford said. “I’m an advocate of their victims.”
There are 44 homeless sex offenders in the county, according to the Snohomish County sheriff’s office.
Westford said he rents rooms for as little as $350 a month. Without the cheap rooms, even more sex offenders would be on the streets, he said.
There are currently 1,620 registered sex offenders in Snohomish County, including 319 in prison or jail. The vast majority are men. They range in age from 13 to 95.
Most —1,347— are level 1 sex offenders, deemed by the state least likely to reoffend.
Before determining where offenders can live, state corrections officers look at conditions of supervision, said Katrina Lindell, a field administrator for the corrections department.
The state looks at the distance from schools, parks and childcare facilities.
“It’s a case-by-case basis when we look at our offenders,” she said.
Washington, like most states across the country, allows sex offenders to register as homeless.
When that happens, Lindell said the community is put at a greater risk.
In April, a high-risk sex offender was ordered to sleep under a bridge in Snohomish before he fled the state.
After completing a year’s sentence for failing to check in with police, state corrections officials were unable to find a place for David J. Torrence to live. Homeless shelters and hotels refused him and he told officials he wasn’t interested in staying with relatives.
Officials said they had no choice but to order Torrence to sleep under a bridge. It turned out the bridge was about 5 miles from the home of the woman Torrence raped.
Three days after being released, Torrence allegedly cut off a GPS tracking device and ran.
A few weeks later, on May 9, Torrence turned himself in to authorities in Arkansas.
People in the Riverside neighborhood acknowledge that sex offenders need somewhere to live. Still, they’re concerned about what it could mean for them.
Patricia Rodriguez bought a home next to the sagging McManus house a decade ago. While the house has had its share of rough tenants, including bikers who rode their motorcycles up the stairs, Rodriguez described the neighborhood as close-knit.
People watch out for each other’s kids and pets and aren’t afraid to keep their windows open on a hot night.
She’s concerned that’s about to change. Rodriguez said she has been telling her daughter to keep her granddaughters at home. She said she has also drawn her blinds shut more often.
“It’s going to be a big change in my life,” she said. “I feel like I live in a cave now.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Meeting on sex offender
People who live in the Riverside neighborhood in northeast Everett are concerned about a high-risk sex offender moving into a home known as the McManus mansion. They plan to meet tonight with Department of Corrections officials. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the Everett Library Auditorium, 2702 Hoyt Ave.
County sex offender database: www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Sheriff/Services/Sex_Offender.
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