Police Arrest Sex Offender On Live TV

The task force cracking down on King County’s unregistered sex offenders made its first arrest on live television.

Troy Jude Williamson, host of a cable television public access program featuring pornographic videos, was arrested Monday night in the middle of the program for failing to register as a sex offender.

Williamson, 35, was convicted in 1991 of third-degree rape of a child, sexual exploitation of a minor and patronizing a juvenile prostitute.

He was released from prison March 22, 1996, but never registered in any county as a sex offender, said King County prosecutors.

One of the Seattle detectives who worked the 1991 case got a tip that Williamson was producing “Fulfilling Your Fantasies” on Channel 29, the public access station.

The program is not a regularly scheduled show, according to Public Access Director Scott Scowcroft, but has been airing about once a week for the past month or so, he said.

It aired with similar frequency for several months last year. Scowcroft said the public access channel is reviewing whether Williamson violated a rule initiated in late July against showing explicit sexual material before 1 a.m.

To produce a public access program on the station, you must certify that you are a King County resident, which he did. But because Williamson had not registered with King County as a sex offender, police began to investigate.

Seattle police vice officers tried to follow Williamson home from the Seattle studio a couple of weeks ago to verify his address, but lost him, according to Sgt. George Bray of the North Precinct Anti-Crime Team.

When he was arrested, Williamson told police he does not maintain a permanent address.

If convicted of failing to register, Williamson faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to prosecutors.

“When lawbreakers choose to publicize their whereabouts by going on TV, it makes the detective’s job easy,” Bray said.