HANSVILLE — A level III sex offender has moved into a Hansville neighborhood, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department reports.
Michael John Sheehan, 57, registered with the Sheriff’s Department that he now resides in the 38000 block of Hood Canal Drive NE, Hansville. Sheehan is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches, 220 pounds, gray hair and green eyes.
“The person named in this advisory has been convicted of a criminal offense that requires registration with the sheriff’s office in the county of residence,” Sheriff Steve Boyer said in a news release. “Further, their previous criminal histories place them in a classification level that reflects the potential to reoffend.”
A community notification meeting concerning Sheehan’s residency is scheduled Jan. 3, 7 p.m., in the Greater Hansville Community Center, 6778 NE Buck Lake Road, Hansville.
According to court documents, Sheehan was convicted of second-degree burglary with sexual motivation in 2003, after being found in possession of items from inside a residence. It was determined that he had been peeping in the windows of that residence. In 2007, Sheehan was convicted of three counts of voyeurism after being caught peeping into residential windows in an apartment complex.
Sheehan declined to participate in sex offender treatment while in prison. Sheehan also has convictions for failure to register as a sex offender; possession of stolen property; attempting to elude a pursuing police officer; theft; criminal trespass, narcotics offenses and obstructing law enforcement.
As of Dec. 17, there are 21,024 sex offenders registered as required living in Washington state. Of this number, 542 are registered with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office living at county addresses; 272 are registered to addresses within the city limits of the four municipalities in the county, 102 level III offenders are incarcerated in jail or prison, and 17 are listed as being transient.
The 542 sex offenders have served the sentences imposed on them by the courts and have advised the sheriff’s office that they will be living within Kitsap County. These persons are not wanted by law enforcement at this time. According to the Sheriff’s Department, public notification is not intended to increase fear; rather, an informed public is a safer public.
The sheriff’s office has no legal authority to direct where a registered sex offender may or may not reside. Unless court-ordered restrictions exist, these offenders are constitutionally free to live wherever they choose.
“Sexual offenders have always lived within our communities,” Boyer said in the press news release. “It wasn’t until passage of legislation entitled the ‘Community Protection Act of 1990,’ which mandates sex offender registration, that law enforcement even knew where they were living.
“Abuse of information provided through the sex offender notification process, in order to intimidate, harass or threaten registered offenders, will result in an investigation and the filing of criminal charges against the perpetrators. Such abuse could potentially end law enforcement’s ability to conduct community notifications. The only person who ‘wins’ if community notification is halted is the registered sex offender, as sexual offenders derive their power through secrecy.”
The sheriff’s community resource officer, Deputy Schon Montague, is available to assist communities in establishing block or neighborhood watch programs and to provide the public with information on personal safety. He may be contacted at (360) 692-7746. For more information on registered sex offenders within Kitsap County, contact Detective Doug Dillard at (360) 337-5617.
