Sex offender moving to Soap Lake

EPHRATA - Keith B. Roberts, 39, is a Level 3 sex offender and will move to a home on state Route 28 in Soap Lake.

Roberts is not wanted for any crime, stated Grant County Sheriff's Deputy Jay Atwood. The information is being released in accordance with state law.

Roberts was convicted in Grant County Superior Court in 1997 on 10 felonies, including rape of a child in the third degree, four counts of rape in the first degree, child molestation in the third degree, two counts of kidnapping in the first degree, attempted rape in the second degree, and indecent liberties, according to the Grant County Sheriff's Office.

"Roberts was in his early 20s. One of his victims was 16 years old, the other 17 years old, both female," Atwood stated.

His prison sentence ends June 21 and he will be supervised by the state Department of Corrections for two years.

"During his time in prison he did not participate in a sex offender treatment program. A risk assessment tool has scored Roberts as a Level III sex offender, likely to (offend again)."

The Community Protection Act requires that people convicted of sex offenses or kidnapping must register where they live and have the in formation be provided to the public to assist law enforcement agencies' efforts to protect their communities, Atwood stated.

"An informed public is a safer public," stated Atwood. "Sex offenders have always lived in our communities and law enforcement has no legal authority to direct where sex offenders may or may not live ... an offender is constitutionally free to live wherever he or she chooses."

Atwood warns there are legal penalties for harassing, intimidating or threatening sex offenders, and it could result in the termination of public notification of where registered offenders live.

"The only person who 'wins,' if community notification is halted, is the registered sex offender, as sexual offenders derive their power through secrecy," Atwood stated.