For weeks, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies watched the small house in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, making sure their man was there.

He was a sex offender, convicted of second-degree rape in King County in the 1990s. Under state law, as a Level 3 offender – considered likely to offend again – he had to register with the county and state where he lived so his neighbors could be alerted.

The man told authorities he was a transient, meaning he had no fixed address. As required, he checked in at the Sheriff’s Department once a week, saying he slept in a tent on a trail head in the county.

But in what deputies say is an alarming trend, he in fact lived in the two-bedroom Hilltop house, a silver Mercedes parked out front.

Thursday morning, after weeks of surveillance, deputies moved to counter that trend, arresting three Level 3 sex offenders – including the Hilltop resident – who authorities said had lied about where they lived.

One was staying in an apartment complex near children. Another was in a home with a child. Another lived near an elementary school.

“These people have transgressed,” Sheriff Paul Pastor said. “They have transgressed big time. These people we need to keep an eye on.”

The Sheriff’s Department began the crackdown earlier this year, using $225,000 from a state grant for verifying sex offenders’ addresses. They organized a surveillance program, thought to be unique in the nation.

The idea is to determine whether the offenders are telling the truth about their whereabouts.

“If they register as a transient, they don’t have to say they are a sex offender,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. “It gives them the ability to live quietly anywhere in society, and that’s not what the law intended.”

There are 2,585 sex offenders registered in Pierce County, about 100 of whom say they are transient. Those offenders must come into the County-City Building in Tacoma and report on where they slept every night that week.

Some of those who claimed to be homeless weren’t, and detectives were able to find the homes where they’d stayed. On nights they claimed to have slept in a tent in the woods investigators found they’d slept in their own homes or with family.

Detectives built the cases for weeks to confirm they were violating the law.

“We want to make sure we have rock solid cases,” said detective James Loefflholz, who is leading the investigation.

The first offender deputies arrested Thursday was staying in his sister’s apartment on McKinkley Avenue. For months, he’d told deputies he was sleeping in a green Ford Windstar parked in the apartment parking lot.

When officers arrived, he was in a bedroom in the apartment. The van was in the parking lot, so full of boxes and possessions there was not room for anyone to sleep.

‘I knew he lived here, but I didn’t know he was a sex offender,” said Jim Hoag, who lives in the same complex and has barbecued with the man, who was convicted of first-degree child molestation.

“It’s scary,” said his wife, Shelley Hoag. The two have three children, all in their teens, and sometimes a 2-year-old grandchild stays over.

“He just seemed like a nice, quiet guy,” she said.

In the Hilltop arrest, deputies surrounded the home, banged on the door and had to force their way in. The man was arrested, and it turns out, didn’t come out because of a large marijuana growing operation inside the house.

Learning of the man’s presence wasn’t good news to neighbors.

“People should be notified,” said Alex Da, who lives nearby. “We got kids playing outside in this neighborhood.”

The last arrest of the day came at a duplex in the South End. Eight people lived inside, including a man convicted of two counts of first-degree child rape.

Inside the house was the man’s girlfriend and child, and a friend who deputies found was wanted on a warrant for assault.

Family told officers the offender had been homeless for about a week, but didn’t like it so he moved in.

He reportedly didn’t want to register his address because the family was worried that Child Protective Services would come.

When the man was arrested, the child was taken into protective custody.

The Sheriff’s Department plans to continue to investigate transient offenders as long as funds are available.

“This is what law enforcement is and ought to be about,” Pastor said.

Brian Everstine: 253-597-8374

brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime