MOUNT VERNON —December 09, 2014. For Immediate Release:
Prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit are in Mount Vernon, fighting to prevent a dangerous sex offender from being conditionally released into the community.
Michael Bargas, 57, was found to be a Sexually Violent Predator on Feb. 7, 2013, and has been committed to the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island. He was convicted of first-degree rape in 1987 and first-degree child molestation in 1997.
In the interest of public safety, prosecutors are seeking to prevent his conditional release to the community. Bargas is asking to be released as a less restrictive alternative to commitment in the secure facility on McNeil Island.
Washington’s Sexually Violent Predator law allows the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to petition for and defend the civil commitment of violent sex offenders who, because of a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder, are proven likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if released.
“The Attorney General’s Office works hard to protect our communities from sexually violent predators,” said Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
The trial begins today in Skagit County Superior Court, and is expected to continue through tomorrow.
In 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a law permitting the involuntary civil commitment of sex offenders after they serve their criminal sentences. The AGO’s SVP Unit was established shortly thereafter.
The AGO SVP unit is responsible for prosecuting sex predator cases for 38 of Washington’s 39 counties (King County being the exception). In Fiscal Year 2014, the unit tried 14 cases, won 9 civil commitments and secured one re-commitment. Three trials ended in hung juries and one trial involved an offender who didn’t meet the criteria to be committed as a sexually violent predator.
As of October 2014, 294 sexually violent predators are in the state’s Special Commitment Program.
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