A Seattle official is refusing to resign after defending a convicted pedophile sex offender nominated to a local homelessness board.
During a May 3 Zoome meeting of a subcommittee of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCHRA), Committee co-chair Shanee Conston shouted down a Marine veteran and sexual assulat survivor Kristina Sawyckyj, after she brought up that the candidate, Thomas Whitaker-Raven Crowfoot is a convicted sex offender who had “touched” her on a previous occasion.
“We have a code of ethics on this board and Thomas Whitaker-Raven Crowfoot is a sex offender — repeat sex offender — and I have had a bad experience with him,” said Sawyckyj, before an angry Colston cut her off and berated her for ‘outing’ the sex offender.
“That’s just not okay, at all. I won’t stand for that as a co-chair. We’re not here to discover people’s backgrounds,” yelled Colston. “And I’m actually glad that is the case that he’s here because sex offenders are another population that is most vulnerable that don’t have housing. People do change.”
“This is about equity and everyone, everyone, deserves housing. I don’t care if they’re a sex offender. I don’t care if they’re Black. I don’t care if they’re indigenous. I don’t care if they’re a criminal. I don’t care if they’re coming out of jail or prison. Everyone deserves housing,” she continued.
A second board member tag-teamed with Colston, asking Sawyckyj if she had taken the matter to the police – which she said she had.
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In case you are wondering, no this is not The Onion and yes, Crowfoot is a pedophile sex offender. As KATV.com reports, 38-year-old Thomas Whitaker-Raven Crowfoot, was convicted of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in 2012, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. Crowfoot was also charged with raping a minor in 2010, according to Publicola, and was also convicted of harboring a minor, who was a 13-year-old that he reportedly had sexual relations with.
Earlier this week, KCRHA Chief Program Officer Peter Lynn appealed unsuccessfully for Colston to resign over the issue, KOMO-TV reports.
The organization said in a statement that it “shares the concerns of our community about the nomination of a registered sex offender for the Continuum of Care Board, and does not support that nomination” of Whitaker to the board, Fox News reports. “We agree that the behavior by the current Board Co-Chair in shouting down the board member who identified that the nominee is a registered sex offender was unacceptable, and we immediately asked the Co-Chair to resign.”
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