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Complaints force county to move sex offender
Friday, October 10, 2008 12:00 PM PDT
NORTH BEND — A registered sex offender convicted of sodomy, robbery and rape is essentially being driven out of a North Bend neighborhood after nearby residents learned of his presence.
Coos County Community Corrections director Roy Wright directed Frank A. Howard, 51, to move out of the Broadway Court neighborhood by 5 p.m. Thursday. He said he received several calls from a resident, and has chosen to relocate Howard.
“We’re not going to battle with the public,” Wright said.
Residents, including Jason Snelgrove and Tina Hickey, said they were not aware that the sex offender was living in their neighborhood until last Friday, although Howard has been staying there since July.
 Frank Howard
“This guy has talked to my wife before,” Snelgrove said. “I was afraid for my family.”
Howard was convicted in 1981 of three counts of sodomy, four counts of robbery and one count of rape after sexually assaulting and attempting to sexually assault six different women at gunpoint. According to a community notification on the Coos County Corrections Web site, all the victims of his crimes were strangers. The attacks were committed in Coos County. A Coos County Circuit Court spokeswoman said he also was convicted in 2007 of second-degree theft.
Wright said he did not know where Howard would be moved, as housing is often an issue in these cases. Typically, parole orders for sex offenders prevent them from living near schools, playgrounds, or other places where people under 18 years of age regularly congregate, the director explained.
“We’re out looking for a place right now,” Wright said Thursday. “We try to respond to the community. ... It’s not going to work with him living there, so he’s gotta move.”
The complaints he received were based on Howard’s presence not his behavior, Wright noted.
“Some people just don’t like sex offenders living near them,” he said. “This is a very infrequent event, this kind of response from a person in the community.”
When community members do share their concerns, corrections administrators respond in different ways, Wright said. He did not detail the variety of circumstances or responses.
Despite the severity of Howard’s crimes, Wright said he does not fit the criteria to be considered a predatory sex offender. His status was determined through a risk assessment instrument prior to his release from the Oregon State Correctional Institution in 2005. Howard returned to Coos County following his release.
According to the Oregon State Police Sex Offender Registration Web site, Oregon law defines a predatory sex offender as a person who exhibits characteristics showing a tendency to victimize or injure others, and who has been convicted of certain sex crimes. The predatory designation allows law enforcement, or a supervising agency, to notify the community about a particular sex offender. Offenders are assessed on an individual basis. Assessments are based, in part, on previous history and the facts surrounding sex offense convictions, the site said.
Wright added that predatory sex offenders have to register for life and notification requirements are more rigorous.
In cases of predatory sex offenders, Wright said community notification flyers are sent out to local law enforcement, libraries, school districts, colleges, swimming pools, malls and organizations involving children, such as the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Oregon, the North Bend Public Library, the Pony Village Mall and the North Bend School District, among others. Notice also may be given to local news agencies.
In non-predatory cases, notifications are sent to all law enforcement agencies in the area, the Department of Human Services and Child Welfare.
Although Wright said Howard is not considered predatory, Howard’s mug shot and name are featured under the heading Predatory Sex Offenders on one page of the county’s community corrections Web site.
Howard does not appear on the Oregon Predatory Sex Offender Inquiry System, which lists only predatory sex offenders, nor the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Web site, which is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
After Howard was released, Coos County Corrections didn’t completely trust the parole board’s assessment, Wright said, and notified his neighbors of his presence at the time.
“Pretty rough looking crime, wouldn’t you say?” Wright said.
But when he moved to another location, the county didn’t repeat its notification.
Snelgrove said he believes he and his neighbors should have been notified nonetheless. While he is pleased Howard is moving, he’s concerned for people in Howard’s next neighborhood.
“I want people where he goes to next to be notified that he is a predatory sex offender,” Snelgrove said. “The point is, anyone should be notified in this circumstance, and why aren’t they?”
He said he first learned of Howard after a neighbor said the sex offender was staying on another neighbor’s land. A property owner later found Howard on the predatory offenders list on the Coos County site.
Someone in the neighborhood handed out copies of that notice.
“Basically, I wouldn’t live here, if he was living there,” Snelgrove said. “How could you live with yourself if something ever happened?”
Tina Hickey, who lives about four houses away with her young daughter, said she found one of the notices on her front door.
“It’s pretty creepy,” she said. “I want him out as quick as possible.” |
