Senator Steve O'Ban's petition to stop the release of 3 violent sex offenders
Dear Elected Leaders:
We recently learned of the potential release of three violent sex offenders from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island into adult family homes in the Lakewood community. We ask you to do everything in your power to urge the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to take every necessary step to ensure that this won’t happen. Convicted Level 3 sex offenders Robert Aronson, Daniel Holdren and Gerald Johnson should not be released to an unsecure residential setting in the City of Lakewood. These violent offenders should be placed in enhanced service facilities outside of Pierce County. Unless DSHS takes immediate action, it appears they will be released into the Lakewood community.
All three men have committed violent acts against children, including multiple sexual assaults, and even one of the offenders, Johnson, murdered an 11-year-old girl. To make matters worse, these offenders are not originally from Pierce County; they are from Spokane, Thurston and Mason counties respectively.
The proposed release of three convicted sex offenders to Lakewood has quite understandably generated significant distress in the local community. Lakewood-area adult family homes already house at least four other sex offenders, and the practice of disproportionately discharging these sexually violent predators to Pierce County communities is unacceptable, unsupportable and contrary to the best interest of public safety.
We ask you to do everything you can to urge the state to find an alternative course of action.