Neighbors Keeping Watch Over Sex Offender’s Activities

Thu., Dec. 25, 1997

Amy Scribner Staff writer

A Level II sex offender who recently moved into a south Spokane neighborhood has sparked an unusually strong reaction among residents.

Allan Lukas, 31, was convicted of two counts of first-degree rape of a child in Pend Oreille County in 1989. One incident involved a 5-year-old. The other victim was 10.

Lukas was released in 1995 and moved to Spokane County, where he was cited for failing to register as a sex offender. In mid-November, Lukas moved into the neighborhood near Ben Burr Park in the southern tip of the city.

As is normal procedure with Level II offenders, police notified Spokane District 81 officials and neighbors within a three-block radius of Lukas’ residence. But many more showed up at an informational meeting held two weeks ago at Moran Prairie Elementary.

More than 70 residents crowded the meeting with Spokane Police Detectives Dennis Walter and Jerry Keller.

“Seventy-five people showed up,” said Keller. “It’s usually about 10.

“I just think they were totally shocked. I guess they didn’t figure sex offenders would be in their neighborhood.”

Many residents who hadn’t even seen the initial flier were present.

“It spread like wildfire,” said Illa Davis, an Echo Glen resident who has three young children. “I don’t think there was a household with children in the neighborhood that didn’t know.”

At the meeting, detectives answered questions and told residents how to keep their children safe. It is perfectly legal to let the sex offender know neighbors are keeping an eye on him, detectives said.

But, they added, Lukas had done his time and has the right to live in the area.

“We don’t think so,” said Davis. “He’s not a good candidate for this neighborhood. The whole development is filled with young children.

“He can look out his window and see 20 children between the ages of zero and 13.”

A level II offender means there is a medium risk of re-offending, Keller said.

As a result of the meeting, neighbors have formed several committees. They now take turns walking their children to bus stops.

Neighbors also signed up to take turns knocking on Lukas’ door, to let him know they’re keeping tabs on him.

“We plan to do that often,” said Davis. “We don’t want to be a neighborhood of paranoid parents, but we want to let kids know he’s there and he’s bad.”

, DataTimes

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