Officials Warn Of `Predatory' Man -- Tacoma Authorities Name Former Described As Having `Homicidal Tendencies'

TACOMA - Saying they can't wait for passage of a law to help protect communities from sex offenders, Tacoma police have taken the unprecedented move of publicizing the name and whereabouts of a ``predatory'' man being released from jail to South Tacoma.

Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg and Tacoma Police Chief Ray Fjetland yesterday released a description of William Aschenbrenner Jr., 21, after a state social worker called them to say Aschenbrenner was predatory and had ``homicidal tendencies.''

Released yesterday after serving 66 days in the Lewis County Jail, Aschenbrenner went to his grandfather's house near South 72nd Street and Wapato Street, a few blocks from Arlington Elementary School.

Authorities called Aschenbrenner dangerous, but provided few details about his criminal history. Police spokesman Mark Mann said he had been serving time for an assault committed in a Lewis County juvenile detention center and had sex crimes and threats on his juvenile record.

Police at first incorrectly released information about Aschenbrenner's father, also named William, who is serving time at the state corrections center in Shelton for statutory rape and indecent liberties.

The announcement sent television crews scrambling to the neighborhood and to the airwaves armed with the wrong description.

``We're just going to have to be a lot more careful next time,'' said Mann, who said the mistake was made in the department's push to get the word out quickly.

The younger Aschenbrenner is described as blond, 6 feet 2, 240 pounds and slightly mentally retarded. He could not be reached for comment last night.

To protect a person's privacy, area police departments usually have quietly handled the release of criminals who are considered dangerous, notifying school officials and community leaders but withholding details.

Mountlake Terrace police broke the silence by calling a news conference last July when an 18-year-old offender from the community was released from a Centralia juvenile facility. The man, who had been found with a detailed plan for abducting children, is now confined at Western State Hospital. Mountlake Terrace police did not release the man's name.

But when Tacoma police named Aschenbrenner and divulged part

of his juvenile record, they violated privacy laws, said Jerry Sheehan, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.

``We considered the liberty interests,'' Chief Fjetland said. ``We think the safety of the community outweighs that.''

Gordon Schultz, a spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services, said he could not talk about Aschenbrenner directly because of strict confidentiality laws. Nor would he reveal Aschenbrenner's history in the system or the specific crimes he committed.

But Schultz confirmed that department caseworkers were concerned about an inmate being released in Tacoma. He said social workers had attempted to have the man involuntarily committed upon his release, but that Lewis County mental- health officials had said the man did not qualify.

``We're concerned because of this person's record of assaultive behavior and sexual offenses of a violent nature,'' Schultz said. ``This person's history is not just one or two situations.''

Existing law requires that a person be mentally ill and dangerous to society to be committed.

Now before the Legislature is a sexual-predator bill, stemming from the recommendations of a governor's task force, that would allow indefinite confinement of offenders who are judged ``predatory'' or likely to repeat their crimes because of a mental or personality disorder.

The bill also calls for increased public identification of sex offenders who have been released.

Mann, the Tacoma police spokesman, said his department intends to inform neighborhood groups and schools as well as Safe Streets, Pierce County's citizens crime-fighting organization, of Aschenbrenner's release. Mann said he intends to pass out photos of Aschenbrenner.

A 25-year-old cousin of Aschenbrenner's, who asked not to be named, said his family was angry that police were singling out his relative.

The cousin said Aschenbrenner has been in and out of institutions since age 8, when he was sent to Rainier School, a facility for the developmentally disabled in Buckley. Aschenbrenner later assaulted a guard in a burst of anger but is not dangerous, according to his cousin.

``There's not going to be any problem,'' his cousin said, standing outside the South Tacoma house.

Aschenbrenner won't leave home without being accompanied by a family member, the cousin said.