A controversial house on Viking Way near Poulsbo which houses convicted sexually violent predators (SVP’s) will be gaining a fourth resident in the days to come.

At the end of a forum hosted by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, it was revealed that a fourth resident, Raymond Messmer, 66, will be moving into the Less Restrictive Alternative (LRA) house on Viking Way.

Messmer has a long history of offenses which includes violations at other LRA placements.

Messmer was first charged with attempted rape and burglary in the first degree in 1975 but was only convicted on the burglary charges. According to official documents, Messmer broke into a college dormitory on two consecutive nights and assaulted two different unknown women.

In 1982, Messmer was convicted of rape in the second degree and burglary in the second in the Snohomish County Superior Court and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. According to official documents, Messmer broke into an adult female acquaintance’s house and sexually assaulted her.

Messmer was again charged with attempted rape in 1993 and pled guilty to assault in the second degree with sexual motivation in King County Superior Court.

A year after being released from prison, Messmer sexually assaulted an unknown female. According to court documents, Messmer was walking home from a party when he approached the victim and spoke to her and took exception to the victim ignoring him. When the victim screamed, neighbors intervened and called the police.

In December of 1998, it was determined by a court that Messmer was not only a level III sex offender but an SVP, at which point he was civilly committed to the Special Commitment Center (SCC) on McNeil Island. Since then he has participated in sex offender treatment.

Over the course of the last five years, Messmer has been in and out of different LRA placements due to a number of violations that ultimately required him to return to the SCC. He became eligible for placement again in 2018.

There are two particular violations that stand out regarding Messmer’s behavior at previous LRA facilities.

In a notice of violation presented to King County Superior Court on Sept. 12, 2014, prior to being released to an LRA facility in the spring of 2015, Messmer was undergoing treatment at the Special Commitment Treatment Facility (SCTF) in King County. It was observed by staff and treatment professionals that Messmer had been “actively engaging in high-risk behaviors which parallel his offending cycle.”

These behaviors included fantasizing about specific women with whom he comes in contact on a regular basis such as female staff, and one of the nurses at a local medical clinic.

Rather than being honest and transparent about these behaviors while undergoing treatment, Messmer reportedly attempted to hide them while actively feeding them.

A second notice of violation dated Nov. 20, 2017, notes that Messmer superficially takes responsibility for some of his behavior, however, he continues to blame staff and other residents for the incidents that place him back into confinement. Some of those incidents include yelling at staff as well as threatening and arguing with the other occupants of the LRA’s he has been placed in.

Messmer was initially set to be placed in the Viking Way LRA sometime in December, no exact date has been specified as of yet.

The LRA is currently home to three other occupants Kim P. Daly, Elmer T. Gillis, and Michael D. Loyle.

One of the first residents to move into the Viking Way house, William Deaville, later requested to return to the SCC.

Gillis was briefly returned to the SCC in October, following a violation but was recently re-released to the Viking Way House.