Sex offender surrenders in Arkansas

A registered sex offender who lived under a bridge in Snohomish County for three days before cutting off his state-issued GPS tracking ankle bracelet and disappearing turned himself in to police in Arkansas on Friday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

David Torrence, a Level 3 offender, had been released from prison on April 20 after serving a one-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender.

Department of Corrections (DOC) officials were unable to find adequate housing for the 43-year-old offender, so he was fitted with the tracking device, given a sleeping bag and permitted to live beneath a bridge in Snohomish. The bridge is less than five miles from the home of a woman he raped in 1995.

His ankle bracelet was found April 24 at an apartment complex near Lynnwood, Snohomish County sheriff's deputies said.

It was only after Torrence's disappearance that the woman he raped 13 years ago learned that he had been living so close to her. She said she was angry with the DOC for not letting her know his whereabouts.

On Friday, the woman said she was relieved to hear that Torrence was back behind bars.

"I hope he is incarcerated for a very long time," she said.

Torrence is believed to have fled to live with family in Camden, Ark., authorities said.

Since the incident, the head of the DOC ordered that victims of sex crimes be notified when those convicted of attacks remove their tracking devices.

Torrence was one of nearly 90 Level 3 sex offenders who had been assigned to GPS monitoring since the program began late last year, according to the DOC. Of those offenders, at least four have removed their ankle bracelets.

The DOC started using GPS tracking late last year in reaction to Gov. Christine Gregoire's promise to keep people safe from sexual predators. Gregoire pushed for changes after 12-year-old Zina Linnik, of Tacoma, was abducted and killed by convicted sex offender Terapon Adhahn.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com