Low-risk sex offender prompts meeting
By JESSIE STENSLAND
Whidbey News Times Assistant editor
November 9, 2009 · Updated 4:38 PM
The Island County sheriff is holding a public meeting in Oak Harbor Thursday, Nov. 12 to discuss a low-risk sex offender who is living out of his car.
Jesse Blankenship, 31, was convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense in Colorado last year after he inappropriately touched a 16-year-old girl at a grocery store when he was drunk.
Blankenship drove to Island County in September and failed to register as a sex offender, as required by law. He is in violation of his probation in Colorado, but the state will not extradite him at this time, the sheriff’s office reported.
Blankenship has been living out of a 1988 light blue Corsica on NE Koetje Street in Oak Harbor. Oak Harbor police contacted him last week and discovered that he’s not registered.
Even though he’s homeless, the sheriff’s office has categorized Blankenship as a Level 1 sex offender, which means he is considered a low risk of reoffending.
Blankenship is described as a white man, five-foot-six, 160 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair.
Sheriff Mark Brown will discuss Blankenship, sex offender laws and local law enforcement concerns at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Oak Harbor public works meeting room at 1400 NE 16th Avenue.
Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.Comment on this story.
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