West Seattle Crime Watch followup: ‘Flasher’ suspect due back in court Wednesday

A hearing is set Wednesday for the man arrested Friday night in connection with one of the recent “flasher” incidents. As reported here on Saturday, the 37-year-old man was jailed for investigation of indecent exposure and failure to register as a sex offender. We’ve learned a bit more about the case today, now that we’ve been able to check with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

This incident happened last Tuesday evening near Beach Drive and Orleans (map). The victim (whose comment here is the only reason we knew about the case) is quoted as telling police that she was walking north on Beach Drive when she saw a Nissan Pathfinder parked northeast of the intersection. A man inside yelled over to ask her if she knew where Hanford Street is; she walked closer and saw through its front windshield that he was exposing, and holding, himself. She walked away, making note of the license plate and other descriptive factors. Police responded and went to the Admiral-area home of the car’s owner, who told them his son had been driving the vehicle, a 1998 silver Pathfinder, parked there and still warm (though the suspect was not found). After further investigation, the suspect was arrested on Friday. The probable-cause document makes note of the two similar incidents in West Seattle over the past two weeks – one in Admiral on July 15th, in Gatewood on July 17th – but does not say if he is officially suspected; we’ll see what happens if and when charges were filed.

His status as a Level 2 sex offender is related to what’s described as convictions for arson and burglary with a sexual motivation in 2000; the court documents are not available online so we don’t have details of the case. He was reported to have moved out of state in 2007, apparently to Idaho, where he was found guilty of failure to register in 2008, and should have registered within three days of returning to this state, which might have been as long as two years ago. Since he was arrested Friday, a bail hearing was held Saturday, and bail was set at a total of $100,000; the suspect posted bond and was released from jail afterward, and is due back in court Wednesday afternoon, by which time we might know about charges in the case.

TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE: The suspect, Duane Atwood, is now on the sex-offender registry, so we are identifying him with this public information now published on the county website. No photo with the listing, though.

27 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch followup: 'Flasher' suspect due back in court Wednesday"

  • payrollgirl July 28, 2014 (5:06 pm)

    ARGH he made bail?!!!

  • BMC July 28, 2014 (5:26 pm)

    So it would appear he lives with his parents? And he is 37?

  • alki Resident July 28, 2014 (6:01 pm)

    He wouldn’t have made bail had mom and dad not paid it, some people need to stop being enablers for their kids. I still want a name and face.

  • JJ July 28, 2014 (7:12 pm)

    So this guy who doesnt follow the sex offender registration in Wa or Idaho comes back to terrorize our kids and neighbor is out on bail? Let me guess, he wasnt hugged enough as a kid or someone called him names. I think the judge shoud be held responsible for the crimes this guy commits after he doesnt show for court Wednesday.

  • John July 28, 2014 (8:54 pm)

    Why does our justice system allow these people to be on our streets! Public safety should never be endangered due to career criminals.

  • ws guy July 28, 2014 (10:27 pm)

    So he’s our on bail??

  • WSB July 28, 2014 (10:48 pm)

    Yes, I wrote “posted bond” in the last paragraph (and updated the original story Saturday night to say that he was out, though at the time his bail was listed as $50,000 – it turned out to be $50,000 for each charge). Will add the phrase “and was released from jail” after “posted bond.”

  • WestofJunction July 29, 2014 (5:47 am)

    Most crimes are perpetrated by residents and/or their relatives – a big sarcastic thanks to the parents of this person.

  • BMC July 29, 2014 (6:06 am)

    So, if the person who got the license number would publish that here we could all be alerted and Admiral residents could look for the Pathfinder parked at the parents home. If this guy won’t register, at least WE could all know where he is living….

  • newnative July 29, 2014 (9:54 am)

    So he has been charged? Then can his name and mug be shared?

    • WSB July 29, 2014 (10:03 am)

      NN, no, he hasn’t been charged.

  • ScubaFrog July 29, 2014 (9:56 am)

    There were a couple of stories of this pervert exposing himself as I recall. Wasn’t one of the victims a minor (who gave a description of said pervert and his silver suv)? And then there’s the victim on Beach Drive. He hasn’t registered as a sex offender, of course these are all very serious crimes. I hope that they’re all felonies, punishable by years in prison. Clearly he needs a long time locked away from society, and a substantial dose of treatment by seasoned professionals. He needs to really understand that it’s not ok to violate people EVER – and he also has to grasp the absolute necessity of registering himself as a sex offender.

    My thoughts go out to the victims. I’m not going to jump on the ‘blame his parents’ train – that’s a cheap copout. He’s 37, he needs to own everything he’s done, and pay for it accordingly.

    • WSB July 29, 2014 (10:02 am)

      We won’t know for sure until charges are filed but the probable-cause documents listed him under investigation for *felony* indecent exposure. And if you follow our crime coverage, you know $100,000 is a relatively high bail amount to set – it didn’t keep him in (and as those familiar with the legal system have explained, it’s not supposed to be out of reach, but for most we’ve covered, even a five-figure amount is enough to prevent bond being posted) but it’s a lot higher than we’ve seen for serial burglars, etc. – TR

  • WestofJunction July 29, 2014 (10:41 am)

    ScubaFrog, I’m not blaming the parents for what he is – I don’t know what went wrong. I’m blaming them for bringing him in our neighborhood.

  • Jim P. July 29, 2014 (12:51 pm)

    “Why does our justice system allow these people to be on our streets! ”

    Blame the pesky Constitution:

    8th amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

    Like it or not it protects all of us from being tossed in the pokey with multi-million dollar bails set at a whim.

    (And just for the record, I’m no form of liberal. I favor executing child molesters myself. But I also know that would simply result in a lot more dead children since the molester would have nothing to lose at that point by eliminating a prime witness.)

  • anonyme July 29, 2014 (2:03 pm)

    Whether he’s been charged or not, he should have been made to register before leaving jail – in which case, we, the taxpayers, should have access to that information. The fact that he is not yet on the Sex Offender Registry is an insult to all of us. We have a right to know, and with good reason. This guy is a perfect example of why.

  • alki Resident July 29, 2014 (7:59 pm)

    I am going to blame the parents, Im sure they are the ones who bailed him out. I doubt he has a job if he’s all over the neighborhood doing what he does. He couldn’t have afforded bail. So YES blame the parents.

  • sad state July 29, 2014 (10:00 pm)

    On the registry, the crime for which he was previously convicted is Residential Burglary, Sexual Motivation.

    That means he broke into someone’s home with intent to commit a sex crime – and now this guy is escalating again and less than a mile away.

    Lock up tight, folks.

  • BMC July 30, 2014 (9:05 am)

    Not sure if you can publish this, but I DO have the address of family with same last name on Belvidere. Its in a woodsy section, small home (its my paid job to have access and research these PUBLIC records). The parcel number of the house on the 2100 block of Belvidere is: 927570-3222. The person with the same last name also owns the adjacent small house at 915160-0382. So it would appear that the perp lives on his own in a house owned by, presumably the parents or relative with the same last name.

  • BMC July 30, 2014 (9:11 am)

    So it would appear he is a 1995 graduate of Seattle Lutheran High School.

  • Neighbor July 30, 2014 (12:31 pm)

    The house above is in the Fairmont ravine.
    This pervert needs to be incarcerated and then branded. Be it a tatoo or an ankle bracelet we deserve to know this person is right down the hill from us. How many women jog this street? How many kids walk home down this street.
    Screw the family for allowing him to live amongst us. They knew his crimes, they knew he was a threat and did nothing.

    If you have a neighborhood watch group or email list please send this info out.

  • Friendly Neighbor July 30, 2014 (1:21 pm)

    Interesting. Not a lot of houses on that stretch of Belvidere. Especially with a silver Pathfinder parked out front. Interesting.

  • WestofJunction July 30, 2014 (1:26 pm)

    BMC – and the Unibomber got his Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard. So?

  • anonyme July 30, 2014 (4:42 pm)

    Atwood was due in court this afternoon. Do we have charges yet?

  • BMC July 30, 2014 (6:14 pm)

    WestofJuncion – thinking someone out there knows this guy – thats all.

Sorry, comment time is over.