Originally published Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Danny Westneat
A bridge as a last resort
The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human...
![]() |
Seattle Times staff columnist
SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human habitation.
Unless you're a sex offender, that is.The underside of the 88th Street bridge, near this river town's greenhouses and horse farms, is where state government last week assigned a released rapist to sleep.
David J. Torrence, who assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1995, had completed his latest prison term (for failing to register as a sex offender.) He had no place to go. So officials gave him a sleeping bag and a rain poncho, then told him to stay under this bridge, 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., until further notice.
"We're not proud of it," says Mary Rehberg, parole officer for the state Department of Corrections. "We did it because this is what it has come to. Under a bridge is the best of the options we had left."
That we're now storing sex offenders under bridges is hardly the worst thing to happen in the long struggle over sex crimes. Not compared with what happened to the victims.
But it is a sign of a looming breakdown. There's got to be a better way.
Nobody wants sex offenders around. It can be infuriating to see taxes spent on their treatment or care. But putting them under bridges, like trolls? Set aside whether that's inhuman. It's about the worst outcome possible, for public safety.
Torrence was released from state prison at Monroe on April 20. He is a Level 3 — high risk for reoffending. He is not deemed so dangerous, or his crimes so serious, that he qualifies to be locked up longer.
Rehberg tried for months to find him a place to live.
He's barred by local ordinance from living in the town of Monroe (it bans all Level 2 and 3 offenders.) So she tried his relatives in another state. That state, like Monroe, rejected having him come there.
She called motels, shelters, landlords known to rent to sex offenders. All said no.
Almost any apartment building was likely to be off-limits because there would be families living there.
![]()
That's increasingly the way it goes. Sex offenders are the new lepers. She fitted him with a GPS bracelet and drove him to the 88th Street bridge.
"At least we could check on him," she said. "We could keep trying to find him a place. I'm sorry to say it, but it was the best we had to offer."
On the fourth night, he cut off his monitor and fled. So far he hasn't been found.
Some version of this sorry story is about to happen again. Rehberg is trying, but failing, to find housing for three more sex offenders, all due out soon.
The state has got to build some monitored halfway houses for sex offenders. Like you, I don't especially want one on my block. It also strikes me as unfair to pay for housing for criminals while many taxpaying folks are hurting.
But forget about fair. This system is shot. Our government just put a Level 3 sex offender under a bridge.
I asked Rehberg: Did you get much criticism for this?
"Not as much as we get when we actually find them a place to live," she said.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
dwestneat@seattletimes.com | 206-464-2086
Danny Westneat: Lee the Horse Logger found slow wagon shrank tumor
Danny Westneat: Right here, right now, history is incubating

Girls Soccer: Mercer Island vs. Glacier Peak
Mercer Island defeats Glacier Peak, 2-1, in a 3A state playoff quarterfinal on Saturday, Nov. 14.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Seattle U. Men's Hoops | Big recruit goes from Huskies to Redhawks
- Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
- Razor found in muffin an accident, 'mortified' baker says
- Suspect's family shaken by slaying of police officer
- Mountlake Terrace woman reports razor in muffin
- Man says he will protest city's gun ban by carrying gun into community center
- OSU game thread
704 - Seattle man to pack a pistol into community center to protest mayor's ban
358 - Kent man challenges Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' gun ban
137 - NYC trial for 9/11 suspects poses risks
136 - Band of advocates, activists now McGinn's likely insiders
109 - Licata looks at boosting traffic-ticket revenue
90 - Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
81 - Belmont game thread
75 - A politically correct — and dangerous — delicacy about the Fort Hood shooting
68 - Huskies no match for Oregon State, fall 48-21
65
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Washington in race for federal education funds
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Charles Krauthammer / Syndicated columnist | A politically correct — and dangerous — delicacy about the Fort Hood shooting






