Reporter Central Kitsap
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FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013 | Vol. 28, No. 30 | www.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.com | 50¢
Volunteer officers lend a hand to sheriff’s office Citizens go on Patrol
By Leslie Kelly lkelly@soundpublishing.com
Leslie Kelly/ staff photo
Mike Kennedy, left, and Emil Ellis often patrol together as volunteers with the Kitsap County Sheriff ’s Office Citizens on Patrol program. Volunteers have been patrolling the county for 14 years.
They wear uniforms and drive county cars. They are put through an exhaustive training program and they have to pass proficiency exams. And they issues tickets. They are the Citizens on Patrol unit of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s office. “We’re all volunteers,” said Mike Kennedy, training coordinator and volunteer officer with the Citizens on Patrol (COP) unit. “But we are an important part of what the sheriff’s office does and we take our job very seriously.” Kennedy has been with COP for almost 10 years. As a retired service and repair man for AT&T, he saw an advertisement in a local paper and decided to respond. “I wanted to do something for my community,” he said. “I saw this ad and as I looked at it, the list of things
that were included in the job enticed me. So I applied.” The COP program has been around in Kitsap County since 1999. It was begun by a group of four volunteers who wanted to enforce the disabled parking laws, because the sheriff’s office didn’t have the time or manpower to do so. The four got Sheriff Steve Boyer to sign on to the idea and used their own cars. “They’d attach a magnetic sign to the side of their cars, put on a hat and a vest and out they’d go,” said Kennedy. Kurt Corey, one of the original four, said the idea of having citizens on patrol met with favor. “People would always come up to us and thank us for what we were doing,” Corey said. “The only complaints we ever got were from the offenders who were getting a $250 ticket for wrongly parking in disabled spots.” Within two years, the sheriff ’s office decided to make the program more professional and with seven
See CITIZENS, A13
Police break up sex ring By Kevan Moore kmoore@soundpublishing.com
Since December of 2012, detectives with the Bremerton Police Department have been working a rape and human trafficking investigation involving two juvenile victims (ages 16 and 17) and one adult victim. To date, five individuals have been arrested and charged for their involvement and are currently in-custody at the Kitsap County Jail. Two others have been charged with felonies, but are currently out of custody. The charges on these individuals range from second degree rape, second degree trafficking, promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor, tampering with a witness, to commercial sexual abuse of a minor. “This kind of activity will not be tolerated in our community, and we will aggressively investigate anyone involved in exploiting kids,” said Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan. He added, “The young girls are victims, and the pimps, their adult employees, and the Johns are nothing but predatory criminals.” Here is a rundown of arrests in the case so far, according to police: • The leader of the criminal organization, 23-year-old Allixzander Park was arrested Dec. 31. Park has since been charged with second degree rape, second degree trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor. Park is being held on those charges at the Kitsap
County Jail. • On Jan 17, 25-year-old Andre Herron was arrested and has since been charged with second degree trafficking. Herron is also incarcerated at the Kitsap County Jail. • On Jan. 23, 22-year-old Victoria Pangelinan, who police refer to as Park’s girlfriend, was arrested and has since been charged and convicted of tampering with a witness. Pangelinan is currently incarcerated at the Kitsap County Jail. • Trista Chisholm, 28, was arrested Feb. 5. Chisholm has been charged with promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor and is in custody at the Kitsap County Jail. • Detectives arrested 23-year-old Demario Jones March 16. He has since been charged with second degree rape and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor. He, too, is in custody at the Kitsap County Jail. Two customers (also known as “Johns”), who allegedly had sex with the juvenile victims in exchange for money, according to police, have been charged: • The first “John,” identified as 64-year old Stephen Wilson of Port Townsend, has been charged out of Kitsap County with commercial sexual abuse of a minor. • The second “John” was identified as 45-yearold Scott Surma of Yelm. Police say the Thurston County Prosecutor has charged Surma with comSee Trafficking, A13
The Norm Dicks Government Center in downtown Bremerton.
Kevan Moore/staff photo
County refinances building By KEVAN MOORE kmoore@soundpublishing.com
Kitsap County is poised to save big bucks after refinancing bonds for the Norm Dicks Government Center in downtown Bremerton. Kitsap County Treasurer Meredith Green says that by taking advantage of good interest rates, the county and Housing Kitsap will save $102,000 per
year over the next 20 years. The county will also refinance two other bonds from 2003 and 2004. The savings on those is expected to be $234,000 per year over 15 years, Green said. In 2003, the county partnered with the City of Bremerton and the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority, now known as Housing See building, A13