19-year-old Jeremiah Christian Thompson was arraigned on Friday, charged with third-degree rape of a child, a Class C felony. Thompson is a registered sex offender and was convicted of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and fourth-degree assault in February 2010. He also accepted a plea deal at the time to a misdemeanor charge of communication with a minor for immoral purposes relating to allegations he molested a 7-year-old girl.
Thompson, a senior at Prairie High School in Vancouver, Washington, met the victim, a 14-year-old freshman, at the WinCo Foods grocery store near the school. According to court documents, the girl told the police that Thompson met her at the grocery store and took her to his home to have sex with her. After the incident the girl sought medical attention and requested a rape kit.
The age of consent inWashingtonis 16.
According to Q13 Fox News, when Jeremiah Thompson enrolled at Prairie High, the sheriff’s office notified the school that he was a registered sex offender, but the school was not permitted to notify parents or the other students due to state law. Now parents are upset to find out after his arrest.
Gregg Herrington, a spokesman for the Battle Ground School District, said, “We were aware of this student’s background, very much, and there was monitoring and so forth that went on. Part of the restrictions inWashington are to protect the student who’s the offender from harassment, maybe violence. We have to let them back into school, that’s part of the law, too.”
State Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, he has been trying to change the law for years to require schools to notify parents if a sex offender enrolls in their child’s school, reports Q13 Fox News. However, there have been concerns about privacy issues, and the potential for the possible bullying of kids who may be trying to get their lives back on track.
The state Department of Corrections testified against Pearson’s bill, saying the state already has some of the toughest notification rules in the country.
“As long as we don’t have stronger legislation in place, definitely it’s going to happen again, like it happened a couple of years ago inSeattleatRoosevelt,” Pearson said.
In 2010, Roosevelt High senior Jose Reyes, a convicted sex offender, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled 14-year-old girl, reports Fox News.
Should there be a legal requirement that parents and students be notified by the school if a registered sex offender is enrolled in the school?
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