Adhahn's past prompts call for tougher sex offender laws
Zina Linnik's death, which led police to Terapon Adhahn and subsequently to a new lead in old rape cases, may now lead to changes in the state's sex offender laws.
Republican leaders plan to call for an emergency legislative session on Monday. They want to toughen up state laws to crack down on offenders, and they say Adhahn is the reason the issue can't wait until next year.
Adhahn was a convicted sex offender long before the Zina Linnik case surfaced. In 1990, he served two months in jail for raping a female relative and completed five years of sex-offender treatment.
Police say he raped two more girls a decade later, but they didn't know about it until this month.
"He was able to produce all this carnage relative to children and deaths and sex offenses. He was supposed to be monitored," said Jim Hines, a victims' advocate.
Hines says Adhahn proves the state's laws against sex offenders do not work. Hines plans to join Republican leaders on Monday to call for immediate changes to the law.
"The state has a responsibility to have a program and tracking (to make sure) that works. I would argue that 1,338 people missing is not working," he said.
That's 1,338 sex offenders Hines says is missing. Police haven't found them because they have not registered.
Hines wants a mandatory one-year jail sentence for those offenders, along with a GPS device to monitor each one. Level-three sex offenders would also receive the same treatment.
Hines says he's familiar with the behavior of repeat offenders.
"If they're willing to turn their nose up at the registration system, it means they've got something to hide, they don't want to be monitored," he said.
Accused killer Joseph Duncan served time for raping and torturing a teenager in Washington, but failed to register as a sex offender when he moved out of state. Then, two years ago, he murdered Brenda Groene, her boyfriend and son. Police say he also kidnapped and raped Shasta Groene, and murdered her brother, Dylan.
"Get rid of these guys who are violent toward people that can't protect themselves - the children, the elderly, the mentally-ill," Hines said. "Don't give them another chance."
Critics of the proposed law say police don't have the resources to carry it out. Some departments only have one officer to track all the offenders in the entire county.
Republican leaders are calling for a special two-day session in September. They plan to lay out their ideas at a public meeting in Federal Way on Monday.
Republican leaders plan to call for an emergency legislative session on Monday. They want to toughen up state laws to crack down on offenders, and they say Adhahn is the reason the issue can't wait until next year.
Adhahn was a convicted sex offender long before the Zina Linnik case surfaced. In 1990, he served two months in jail for raping a female relative and completed five years of sex-offender treatment.
Police say he raped two more girls a decade later, but they didn't know about it until this month.
"He was able to produce all this carnage relative to children and deaths and sex offenses. He was supposed to be monitored," said Jim Hines, a victims' advocate.
Hines says Adhahn proves the state's laws against sex offenders do not work. Hines plans to join Republican leaders on Monday to call for immediate changes to the law.
"The state has a responsibility to have a program and tracking (to make sure) that works. I would argue that 1,338 people missing is not working," he said.
That's 1,338 sex offenders Hines says is missing. Police haven't found them because they have not registered.
Hines wants a mandatory one-year jail sentence for those offenders, along with a GPS device to monitor each one. Level-three sex offenders would also receive the same treatment.
Hines says he's familiar with the behavior of repeat offenders.
"If they're willing to turn their nose up at the registration system, it means they've got something to hide, they don't want to be monitored," he said.
Accused killer Joseph Duncan served time for raping and torturing a teenager in Washington, but failed to register as a sex offender when he moved out of state. Then, two years ago, he murdered Brenda Groene, her boyfriend and son. Police say he also kidnapped and raped Shasta Groene, and murdered her brother, Dylan.
"Get rid of these guys who are violent toward people that can't protect themselves - the children, the elderly, the mentally-ill," Hines said. "Don't give them another chance."
Critics of the proposed law say police don't have the resources to carry it out. Some departments only have one officer to track all the offenders in the entire county.
Republican leaders are calling for a special two-day session in September. They plan to lay out their ideas at a public meeting in Federal Way on Monday.