Warrant issued for sex offender who dumped monitoring device at Lynnwood apartment

Snohomish County authorities and the Washington State Department of Corrections are searching for a Level 3 sex offender who cut off his GPS bracelet Wednesday night and tossed it at a Lynnwood apartment complex. He was released from prison this week. David J. Torrence, 43, who served a one-year sentence for failure to register as a sex offender, was on active supervision with the corrections department in Monroe.

But that changed last night, when Torrence cut off his monitoring device, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

The items were recovered at an apartment complex on the 5800 block of 200th Street Southwest, police said.

The corrections department has issued a nationwide warrant for felony escape with no bail.

In 1995, Torrence pleaded guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court to raping a 16-year-old girl, according to the sheriff's sex-offender search Web site. He was sentenced to 89 months in prison.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.