A sex offender released from custody in Utah last week because he was deemed “incompetent” to stand trial on 20 child sex abuse counts was added Wednesday to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s list of registered sex offenders.
Lonnie Johnson, 38, was listed as a Vancouver transient in the area of 6800 to 7800 St. Johns Road. Johnson is required to register as a sex offender because he pleaded guilty to the rape of a 16-year-old girl in Clark County in 2006.
Johnson will be monitored by the Washington Department of Corrections, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s Sex Offender Registration Unit and the Vancouver Police Sex Offender Tracking Unit, according to the sex offender registry.
There are about 50 offenders in the area who are transients, according to the registry.
“It’s a matter of monitoring them the best you can,” Sgt. Scott Schanaker said.
Level 3 offenders are considered the most dangerous and likely to re-offend. Stefani Meusborn-Marsh, a regional administrator for the DOC in Southwest Washington, said a risk assessment on Level 3 offenders is done to determine how often they should be seen by their corrections supervisor. Most Level 3 offenders, she said, are in face-to-face contact with their supervisor four times a month, including once at corrections.
If Johnson or any other supervised offender fails to show for a meeting, an arrest warrant would be issued. Meusborn-Marsh said she did not have details specific to Johnson’s supervision. Schanaker said he expected DOC would try to find a home for Johnson.
Area media outlets reported on Tuesday that Johnson registered as a sex offender in Washington County, Ore. Johnson had apparently planned to live in Hillsboro with his sister but she told The Oregonian he left after a two-day visit. She did not specify where he went.
Competency concerns
Last week, 4th District Judge James R. Taylor ordered Johnson’s release from the Utah State Hospital — despite pending criminal sexual assault charges — after doctors said they couldn’t restore his competency. Johnson had been at the hospital for more than two years, according to the Associated Press.
In Utah, Johnson faces nearly two dozen counts of rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual assault for alleged inappropriate contacts with his stepdaughter and her cousin over five years beginning in 2001. Both alleged victims are now adults. They came forward after Johnson was convicted in 2006.
Christy Danner, the mother of one of the alleged victims, told the AP she expected Johnson would leave Utah because he has relatives in both Oregon and Washington.
“We are afraid that he’s going to have access to other girls and before he gets back here in six months, this could happen again,” Danner told the AP on Monday. “And what if he doesn’t come back? Granted, they can put out a warrant for him, but the thought of more victims is scaring us.”
Johnson is scheduled to return to Utah to meet with new psychiatric evaluators in October and has a competency review set for Nov. 17.
Utah court records show Johnson has a cognitive disorder. Prosecutors charged him in 2007 and a judge deemed him incompetent for trial the next year and ordered him confined at the state hospital.
Two weeks ago, when it appeared Johnson’s criminal case might stall out over the competency issue, prosecutors petitioned for a civil commitment. A judge in that proceeding, however, said Johnson didn’t meet the legal criteria.
Under Utah law, a defendant is incompetent for trial if he suffers from mental illness, cannot understand the charges against him or is unable to participate in his own defense. For a civil commitment, a doctor must find that a person’s mental illness makes him a danger to himself or others.
Cindy Lorenz, Johnson’s sister, has said the Utah allegations against her brother are false and stem from a bitter divorce battle between Johnson and his wife. She has also told the AP that she believes her brother’s civil and medical privacy rights have been violated during the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
