Seattle Hilton Hotel
01-11-2007, 07:07 PM
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Seattle Hilton Hotel
This is from the Seattle PI. Someone on the board told me once that FedEx puts its crew at the Hilton on a SEA layover. Be careful out there! Good thing this fella is at McNeil now.
A high-risk sex offender working at a major Seattle hotel allegedly tried to get inside a woman's room at 3 a.m., raising questions about how much access he had to unsuspecting guests and whether he should have had such a job at all.
It happened a month after Kyle Christenson was hired at the downtown Seattle Hilton. Hotel officials had been told he was a Level III sex offender, deemed very likely to repeat his crimes, and shouldn't be allowed near guests' rooms.
But according to a police statement, Christenson, 23, said he used a passkey -- one that had been assigned to him to assist guests -- in the wee hours of Sept. 11 in an effort to get inside the woman's room.
King County prosecutors, who are now seeking to have Christenson locked away as a sexually violent predator, are concerned that he had a job with so much public contact in the first place.
"A Level III sex offender with a history of forcing his way into people's houses for sexual assaults having a job at the Hilton is like handing matches and gasoline to an arsonist," said Deputy Prosecutor David Hackett. "We were very surprised that the Hilton hired him."
Complicating the situation, the woman had willingly let Christenson into her room several days earlier for what turned into a sexually charged encounter, though prosecutors say she had no idea he was a convicted sex offender.
The hotel's general manager, Adriano Corsini, said a criminal record does not necessarily bar employment, and he believes steps were taken to maintain a safe working environment for employees and guests.
Christenson was hired only after his state community corrections officer -- who was supervising him after his latest crime -- met with the hotel's human resources manager to discuss his responsibilities.
A condition of his employment -- described as a bellhop in court papers and a doorman by Corsini -- was that he work at the door or in the main lobby and not on any of the floors where guests stay.
Corsini, who noted that Christenson was promptly fired, disputed some details in police and court documents. He said Christenson was not on duty at the time of the incident and was not allowed to have a passkey.
"I don't show any records from my end that a key had been issued to him," he said. "We, as an employer, have not done anything wrong."
Prosecutors say Christenson reported for work about four hours before the incident, took a break and tried to get into the woman's room when he returned to his shift.
The woman acknowledged that Christenson approached her in the hotel bar a few days earlier, and that, while drunk, she allowed him into her 19th-floor room and even let him take topless photographs of her, according to court documents.
But when he demanded sex, she said, she refused and told him to leave. She told police that a few days later, he was suddenly banging on her door at 3 a.m., alternately calling her room from a hallway phone and insisting that she let him in.
She told police she tried to ignore him but got scared when he started wiggling the door handle, trying to get inside. He allegedly continued the effort for 15 minutes while the woman called the front desk three times, bringing security.
Christenson later told his corrections officer that he realized the woman must have had her secondary "privacy lock" secured, but he kept trying anyway, wanting to have sex, according to police.
"This is very concerning information given (Christenson's) history," Seattle police Detective M.S. Ditusa wrote.
Christenson is now confined at the Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island, a state facility to confine and treat sexually violent predators, as he awaits trial to determine if he will face that designation. If so, he could be locked away indefinitely.
His attorney, Dennis Carroll, said he didn't think that was appropriate.
"He's done a lot of impulsive things; he's misread a lot of social cues," Carroll said. "But we don't think he meets the criteria for commitment."
The incident at the hotel was "an attempted, consensual sexual encounter," the attorney said. "He was rebuffed, and that was it."
Hackett, however, said Christenson "is putting himself in places where he's obviously not paying much attention to the danger he presents to others -- and is taking actions that confirm that danger."
Christenson has been convicted of two sex offenses. In one, he persuaded a 15-year-old girl to let him inside her house and then attacked her, held her captive and repeatedly tried to take off her clothes.
In the other, an intoxicated 18-year-old woman awoke to find him straddling her and her clothes partially removed. She tried to push him off, but he held her down, according to court documents.
The state Department of Corrections confirmed that his corrections officer met with the hotel's human resources manager before Christenson was hired. The officer "made it very clear what the risk is, what the employer needed to be aware of and the parameters," said community corrections supervisor Brooks Raymond.
Raymond said it's important for convicted sex offenders to get jobs -- in part to help pay for costly treatment -- but they often struggle, repeatedly running into employers who aren't willing to hire them.
If given the chance, many become reliable workers who don't cause any problems for themselves or the people around them. But employers should be aware of what behavior might signal a possible relapse -- perhaps drug use, calling in sick or efforts to be alone with certain people, he said.
Christenson "needs to be supervised at work," Raymond said. "He was probably very fixated on this person and did whatever he needed to do to get access to her."
Sex offenders can be "very impulsive," he said. "We were getting good reports, and then that quick, they can act out."
A high-risk sex offender working at a major Seattle hotel allegedly tried to get inside a woman's room at 3 a.m., raising questions about how much access he had to unsuspecting guests and whether he should have had such a job at all.
It happened a month after Kyle Christenson was hired at the downtown Seattle Hilton. Hotel officials had been told he was a Level III sex offender, deemed very likely to repeat his crimes, and shouldn't be allowed near guests' rooms.
But according to a police statement, Christenson, 23, said he used a passkey -- one that had been assigned to him to assist guests -- in the wee hours of Sept. 11 in an effort to get inside the woman's room.
King County prosecutors, who are now seeking to have Christenson locked away as a sexually violent predator, are concerned that he had a job with so much public contact in the first place.
"A Level III sex offender with a history of forcing his way into people's houses for sexual assaults having a job at the Hilton is like handing matches and gasoline to an arsonist," said Deputy Prosecutor David Hackett. "We were very surprised that the Hilton hired him."
Complicating the situation, the woman had willingly let Christenson into her room several days earlier for what turned into a sexually charged encounter, though prosecutors say she had no idea he was a convicted sex offender.
The hotel's general manager, Adriano Corsini, said a criminal record does not necessarily bar employment, and he believes steps were taken to maintain a safe working environment for employees and guests.
Christenson was hired only after his state community corrections officer -- who was supervising him after his latest crime -- met with the hotel's human resources manager to discuss his responsibilities.
A condition of his employment -- described as a bellhop in court papers and a doorman by Corsini -- was that he work at the door or in the main lobby and not on any of the floors where guests stay.
Corsini, who noted that Christenson was promptly fired, disputed some details in police and court documents. He said Christenson was not on duty at the time of the incident and was not allowed to have a passkey.
"I don't show any records from my end that a key had been issued to him," he said. "We, as an employer, have not done anything wrong."
Prosecutors say Christenson reported for work about four hours before the incident, took a break and tried to get into the woman's room when he returned to his shift.
The woman acknowledged that Christenson approached her in the hotel bar a few days earlier, and that, while drunk, she allowed him into her 19th-floor room and even let him take topless photographs of her, according to court documents.
But when he demanded sex, she said, she refused and told him to leave. She told police that a few days later, he was suddenly banging on her door at 3 a.m., alternately calling her room from a hallway phone and insisting that she let him in.
She told police she tried to ignore him but got scared when he started wiggling the door handle, trying to get inside. He allegedly continued the effort for 15 minutes while the woman called the front desk three times, bringing security.
Christenson later told his corrections officer that he realized the woman must have had her secondary "privacy lock" secured, but he kept trying anyway, wanting to have sex, according to police.
"This is very concerning information given (Christenson's) history," Seattle police Detective M.S. Ditusa wrote.
Christenson is now confined at the Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island, a state facility to confine and treat sexually violent predators, as he awaits trial to determine if he will face that designation. If so, he could be locked away indefinitely.
His attorney, Dennis Carroll, said he didn't think that was appropriate.
"He's done a lot of impulsive things; he's misread a lot of social cues," Carroll said. "But we don't think he meets the criteria for commitment."
The incident at the hotel was "an attempted, consensual sexual encounter," the attorney said. "He was rebuffed, and that was it."
Hackett, however, said Christenson "is putting himself in places where he's obviously not paying much attention to the danger he presents to others -- and is taking actions that confirm that danger."
Christenson has been convicted of two sex offenses. In one, he persuaded a 15-year-old girl to let him inside her house and then attacked her, held her captive and repeatedly tried to take off her clothes.
In the other, an intoxicated 18-year-old woman awoke to find him straddling her and her clothes partially removed. She tried to push him off, but he held her down, according to court documents.
The state Department of Corrections confirmed that his corrections officer met with the hotel's human resources manager before Christenson was hired. The officer "made it very clear what the risk is, what the employer needed to be aware of and the parameters," said community corrections supervisor Brooks Raymond.
Raymond said it's important for convicted sex offenders to get jobs -- in part to help pay for costly treatment -- but they often struggle, repeatedly running into employers who aren't willing to hire them.
If given the chance, many become reliable workers who don't cause any problems for themselves or the people around them. But employers should be aware of what behavior might signal a possible relapse -- perhaps drug use, calling in sick or efforts to be alone with certain people, he said.
Christenson "needs to be supervised at work," Raymond said. "He was probably very fixated on this person and did whatever he needed to do to get access to her."
Sex offenders can be "very impulsive," he said. "We were getting good reports, and then that quick, they can act out."
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