Level 3 sex offender caught propositioning teens in Kirkland
According this article in the Seattle Times, “a convicted sex offender with a history of harassing teen and preteen girls in public has been charged with propositioning two 15-year-old girls as they walked toward downtown Kirkland in January. Prosecutors say that when they later arrested Kevin B. Wagner, 53, he was carrying pictures of naked girls and a stack of index cards with notes about unnamed girls.”
Apparently, the two Lake Washington High School girls were walking from the downtown Kirkland transit center toward Wendy’s on Central Way when Wagner offered to buy the girls breakfast. When the girls declined the offer, Wagner propositioned them and made lewd comments about their anatomy.
The Times continues,”Then in February, Wagner was arrested on a Metro bus in Kirkland for showing preteen girls pornographic photos. He ended up getting in a scuffle with a passenger who intervened. He was later convicted of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct for that incident.”
According to the SeattlePI.com, “On Friday, King County Prosecutors filed felony indecent communication with a minor charges against Wagner. Requesting that he be held on $50,000 bail, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor said in court documents that Wagner has been “arrested numerous -food businesses and other locations.”
“Wagner pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and disorderly conduct in the February incident and remains in jail. He has been classified as a level three sex offender in a 2003 rape conviction.”
Educate yourself and protect your family
The City of Kirkland currently lists one person on its Police Department Level III Sex Offenders page.
The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) website provides the ability to search for registered sex offenders living in your neighborhood. The site also provides information on “Non-Mappable Offenders” — offenders with an un-mappable or incomplete address. Visit this page and you will discover there are 1,592 offenders listed without an address in Washington.
Using the site to map sex offenders with mappable addresses, the database revealed two sex offenders living within a 2 mile radius of Kirkland City Hall. Another search found 9 offenders with mappable addresses living within a 2 mile radius of 14800 Juanita Woodinville Way NE.
The Washington State Sex Offender Information Center (WSSOIC) provides an alternative way access to similar or perhaps the same data to that of the WASPC site.
NOTE: The WSSOIC site is easier to extract relevant data, but seems to be out of favor since the URL http://ml.waspc.org/ re-directs to the WASPC site. The WASPC site limits searches to a maximum 2 mile radius of any given address while the WSSOIC site allows for more flexibility.
That said, the advanced search ability of the WSSOIC site is still accessible and shows the following data categorized by zip code:
- 98033 2 level II sex offenders
- 98034 6 level II sex offenders and 2 level III sex offenders
Sex offenders are classified into three levels
According to the King County Sheriff’s website, sex offenders are classified into three levels:
Level 1 The vast majority of registered sex offenders are classified as Level 1 offenders. They are considered at low risk to re-offend. These individuals may be first time offenders and they usually know their victims.
Level 2 offenders have a moderate risk of re-offending. They generally have more than one victim and the abuse may be long term. These offenders usually groom their victims and may use threats to commit their crimes. These crimes may be predatory with the offender using a position of trust to commit their crimes. Typically these individuals do not appreciate the damage they have done to their victims.
Level 3 offenders are considered to have a high risk to re-offend. They usually have one or more victims and may have committed prior crimes of violence. They may not know their victim(s). The crime may show a manifest cruelty to the victim(s) and these offenders usually deny or minimize the crime. These offenders commonly have clear indications of a personality disorder.
Disclaimer: The sex offender level is determined by the law enforcement agency in which the sex offender resides. The King County Sheriff’s Office is not responsible for the sex offender rating completed by another law enforcement agency. Any questions regarding a sex offender’s level should be directed to the law enforcement agency in which the offender resides. Please Note: This database contains information about Level 2 and Level 3 offenders only.
One final piece of disturbing information
There is a loophole in the system. Sex offenders often register their address as homeless. Tracking these homeless registered sex offenders is extremely difficult if not impossible for law enforcement officers. As a result, the public is ill-served and the current law makes a mockery of public safety. Since there are 1,592 registered sex offenders in this state without addresses, the public can have little assurance of the number or location of registered sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.
Kevin B. Wagner’s address is listed as “FAIL TO VERIFY KING CO, WA”.
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Posted by Admin on Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 1:06 am
Filed under Headlines · Tagged with Crime, Seattle P-I, Seattle Times
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