Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks won a fight to force a child molester to continue registering as a sex offender.

Gary Woodroffe, a former Clinton resident, filed a lawsuit against Banks last year, asking to be relieved from the obligation to register as a sex offender. He is currently living in Florida and involved in a custody battle for his son.

On Aug. 31, the Court of Appeals sided with Banks, which means Woodroffe must continue registering.

Woodroffe was convicted of molesting both his stepdaughter and his biological daughter. He pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent liberties and two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in May of 1998.

In prison, he pleaded guilty, by way of an Alford’s plea, to one count of indecent liberties and one count of incest. An Alford’s plea means that Woodroffe does not admit the act, but admits that the prosecutor has enough evidence to convict him.

“He was a pretty bad character,” Banks said. “He abused his kids for years.”

Banks opposed Woodroffe’s request to be relieved of the obligation to register. Woodroffe claimed that he was rehabilitated and that he had never raped his stepdaughter, but the judges didn’t buy it.

A year ago, Island County Superior Court Judge Vickie Churchill rejected Woodroffe’s lawsuit. Woodroffe appealed to the Washington Court of Appeals, but a court commissioner denied his appeal.

Woodroffe has 30 days to ask the court to reconsider. Or he can start a new lawsuit.

Banks was happy with the ruling.

“Mr. Woodroffe is exactly the kind of offender that the registration laws were written for,” he said in a press release. “He is obviously not rehabilitated.”