Neighbors Concern Keeps Sex Offender Away

There is a school bus stop in front of the Green Bluff residence that would have been home to a habitual sex offender.

The possible dark horrors that sprang from that scenario prompted Green Bluff residents to mobilize in protest. In a day, 500 community members signed a petition.

As a result, the sex offender is still locked up in a state penitentiary and the Green Bluff man who was to sponsor Robin Gail Albrecht, a three-time sex offender, has decided to sell his house and move elsewhere.

“I believe in second chances, but I don’t believe in as many chances as this man has been given,” said Lisa Beckman, the Green Bluff resident who organized the protest.

The house Albrecht would have lived in is owned by Otis Manning. The residence, called The House of the Redeemed, was to be a halfway house for five convicts eligible for release. Convicts would have vocation training and biblical instruction to facilitate readjustment to society.

The idea for the house orginiated with the Spokane Christian Center’s local jail ministry, Manning said.

Manning’s first resident was to be Albrecht, who had been scheduled to catch a bus from Monroe to Spokane on Aug. 21.

Because Albrecht is a registered sex offender, state corrections officials visited Green Bluff families near the halfway house to give notification.

Until that time, residents of Green Bluff, a rural community of strawberry fields and orchards, had not known Manning’s plans.

“You can imagine what we thought,” said Helen Laws.

A day after learning of Albrecht’s pending arrival, Beckman spent four hours researching criminal records at the Spokane County Courthouse.

What she found horrified her. Albrecht, 44, has been convicted of six offenses, three of a sexual nature. The most recent conviction was for molesting a six year-old girl in Spokane in 1992.

A state psychologist at Eastern State Hospital diagnosed him “a sexual psychopath” who is “apparently unable to have control over his sexual urges.”

At a community meeting that night, Beckman detailed Albrecht’s record to the hundreds of residents in attendance. Manning was out of town on business and did not appear at a town meeting.

The next day, Green Bluff residents and Manning met. Within 48 hours, Manning had revoked sponsorship of Albrecht and told residents he was going to sell the house.

Manning said the House of the Redeemed board of directors, who he would not name, decided to sell the house after the extent of community outrage was understood.

He said he plans to open a halfway house elsewhere and has financial backing from donors “in nine states.” No site has been chosen.

Manning, father of two girls, said he understands community concern, but feels compelled to help convicts readjust. “I ask you this - would you rather have (sex offenders) roaming through your neighborhood or have them in a house where there is 24-hour supervision?” he said.

Released sex offenders have had difficulty in other parts of the state. In Tacoma, a sex offender’s home was burned. In Lynnwood, a man was run out of town by a similar group of outraged citizens.

Beckman said there was talk during the meeting about burning the halfway house if it opened. “I’m not saying we are not law abiding citizens, but there are a lot of rednecks up here,” said Beckman, mother of three.

, DataTimes