thank you so much so much so much for this information! i really appreciate it very much. we are considering Whittier preschool and this type of news is appreciated!

our kids are our future...

Pardon my ignorance -- is there a certain distance that level 3 sex offenders are supposed to maintain between themselves and elementary schools? Seems like that would be a sensible restriction, I'm just not familiar with the law.

Yes, he is not wanted by police, but I was told that we are to call 911 if we do see him in the area near or around children, or if you notice suspicious activity. This came to me from the Crime Coor. of the North Precinct.

Yes, if you see him near or around children, call 911. If you have any other information, you can contact Detective Tony Stevenson at Seattle Police at 206-684-5576 or e-mail anthony.stevenson@seattle.gov.

This is rather laughable, to be honest. While I have the utmost respect for law enforcement as a whole, this sex offender hysteria is based more on emotional reactions than realities.

The bottom line is that this report is missing details. You give a story about a man who may LOOK LIKE the registered sex offender, and MAY be cruising the streets looking for kiddies, to the point of giving the name and vehicle information in this blog. This information is available on the registry, I imagine, but if it is uncorroborated then it can be libelous.

Again, I put the safety of children paramount. But this ambiguous reporting, even in a personal blog, can obfuscate actual safety. It is ONE thing to say that "Based on his actions, we believe McFadden to be dangerous, so watch out for his ass." On the other hand, for you to provide the "someone who LOOKS like McFadden MAY have been sighted at the school, and somthing that LOOKS like his vehicle was driven."

If McFadden is not allowed to cruise (loiter) the school area, then report it. If McFadden is under probation, I"m sure that he can be searched for evidence at any time, as he SHOULD be, if the reporting about his suspected whereabouts are in fact true.

I guess what I'm saying is that we are crying wolf over someone who has committed a crime in the past, but in crying wolf, we actually reduced the safety of our children by ignoring other proven dangers, such as drugs, peer pressure, and drunk drivers. That's all I'm saying.

LOL.
Yes, I too believe the children are our future.

Teach them well and let them lead the way. ...

No problem, pastor Steve will offer him a bed and warm run.

...show them all the beauty they possess inside.

Sorry, I got distracted.
Anyway, when I got the e-mail from a local school list-serve, I was a bit surprised. it said the guy was at Saleh's, but they made it sound like he was sitting in his car right next to the school. could it be possible he was just getting a sandwich?

The dangerous offenders are the ones we DON'T know about. Nevertheless, I appreciate the heads up and this has reminded schools and parents to address safety with our kids.

....warm rub.

Have to agree with George here... a bit of alarmism!

Wasn't someone arrested near the school recently and maybe that's why they are on edge.

I told my friend Pat, who drives a red toyota p.u.- carpenter outfitted- to stay away from those areas-
he said "great, I'm doing a remodel a few blocks away from the school next week"
So go easy on the calling in any and all red trucks.
po

hysteria runs high when busloads of homeless get dropeed in our neighborhood to go to the food bank soup kitchen and stay the night at the church..what did you expect to happen? I don't fee safe with the Pastor or SHARE making all the new rules....

Remember, statistically speaking, most child molesters are in the child's family. So while we all need to be sensibly vigilant, let's remember where the greatest dangers lie.

@14 I totally agree! Seems like some decisions made by some "leaders" around here have not been the most well thought out decisions. I won't go in to that more, other than I think the homeless "comforts" are getting totally out of control here in Ballard.

Second, @15, totally agree there as well, statistically speaking.

But we have to remember that this man is a level 3 sex offender, the type MOST likely to re-offend. He also lives in Lynnwood (well over 20 minutes away)! And IF this sighting is correct (I'm hoping that this was based on a license plate # of the truck, not just on a visual sighting of him), then this is the 2nd time that we know of that he has been near and around children in Ballard.

If I wasn't a concerned neighbor, and if I didn't have kids MAYBE I wouldn't think about this too much, I mean there are plenty of sex offenders living right here in Ballard! BUT, I am a concerned neighbor (mom or not), and I do have young school-age children, so I feel that this information IS QUITE important to know about.

A big factor that went into reporting this story was the fact that nearly every school in our area, either from staff or through PTA, had emailed parents about this reported sighting.

As we emphasized in the post -- which was not emphasized in most emails -- this is an unconfirmed sighting, no criminal activity was observed and McFadden is not wanted by police.

Actually, I should clarify my statistical statement: most molestations are committed by family members or others known to and trusted by the family (coaches, youth leaders/pastors, etc.). And almost exclusively straight men.

There are enormous incentives for school officials to spread rumors like this--they can say they're doing something, and they won't get called on missing an offender. There is perhaps another reason: it directs attention away from school officials, who are much more likely to be molesters than any strangers. BTW, fuzz, "almost exclusively straight men" is to some extent probably a result of policing not monitoring women.

Krawk!

If you want to see the scumbag check out the WASPC website at

http://ml.waspc.org/offender.aspx?pid=159498&am...

He supposedly lives in Lynnwood. I'm sure he wasn't doing a thing wrong in the Loyal Heights neighborhood. Nothing here, move along.

The schools need to keep vigilant in protecting our children.

The ones who say they are being alarmists are the same ones who will say - why didn't you protect the kids?

Thank you for taking responsibility and keeping our children safe.

You people are total alarmists with nothing better to do than worry worry worry.

How many people of your ilk do you know who have ever been confronted/abducted/assaulted/etc by a known (or unknown) child offender?

How many, really? I am guessing none. There are far better odds of your kid getting flattened in front of your house by a speeding car down your street.

Come on. You're smart people. If you're that paranoid, stay close to your kid, teach them what to do, and let them be free.

My brother got molested book, when he was 10, by a stranger, in a park. Back in the good old days when everyone pretended these things only happened to bad kids and best be ignored.

A man living nearby tried to molest me once as a kid. Also my little sister and I were walking in a neighborhood once when a guy in his car flashed us, though we just thought of it as exceedingly rude.

My 7 year-old sister was attacked in broad daylight (this was the 70's which were a lot more dangerous for kids than now, no matter what hysterics want to say about "now") by an unknown assailant who charged out of some roadside bushes a couple of blocks from our house.

Just because the majority of abuse is from one source doesn't mean another source is safely ignored.

So Bookbinder, guess you guessed wrong.

"How many people of your ilk do you know who have ever been confronted/abducted/assaulted/etc by a known (or unknown) child offender?"

I'd guess around a quarter of my friends, all of them by known offenders, mostly family members. It's depressingly common. Seattle in general has an appalling street crime rate--the highest of any city I've lived in. We don't have enough police and we don't pay them enough--even the Stranger says so. One of those things we don't need government for, I guess.

Krawk!

One saturday about 2 months ago I noticed a red truck driving by our house a peculiar 5 times in the span of about 30 minutes. The fifth time I got a glimpse of the guy but didn't get the plate number. We live right across from Whittier Elem. and are always on high alert for suspicious activity.

I just checked out the photo of McFadden that is linked here... that is definitely the guy. So alarmist be on alert!

Information like this leads to awareness and community looking out for each other.

Ballard guy // Feb 27, 2009 at 4:54 pm

No problem, pastor Steve will offer him a bed and warm rub...

You are an A** hole. Move out of my neighborhood. You are not welcome here.
Am I kidding? Who knows, but you are way outta line with that comment and it IS liable.
The Geeky Sweeds are not doing their job on this blog if your statement and my response are left here.