Thread: An Immigration Tragedy

An Immigration Tragedy
By Nathan Tabor
Saturday, July 28, 2007

For all those who protest any effort to crack down on illegal immigration…for those who claim that we should pursue an open borders policy at all costs…I can only hope that you will study the story of Zina Linnik and reconsider a course which is putting our children at serious risk.

Police believe that 12-year-old Zina was kidnapped on the Fourth of July while watching a fireworks display. She was a child who was enjoying freedom, and the best of what America has to offer.

Now, investigators are questioning a 42-year-old convicted sex offender from Thailand in connection with her death. Terapon Adhahn had been living in the U.S. illegally. And now police are wondering whether he caused the death of an innocent girl.

Adhahn, who was found guilty of incest about 17 years ago, is being held for questioning in relation to the Linnik murder.

During a news conference, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell stated, "Our hearts and prayers are with the Linnik family and we will continue to put forth our best efforts to bring the perpetrator of this senseless and horrific crime to justice."

Any suspect is innocent until proven guilty, and Adhahn is entitled to a fair hearing, if he is ultimately charged with Zina's death. He has, in fact, denied having anything to do with the girl's abduction.

Yet, Fox News is reporting that his conviction for incest should have prompted deportation. Let's be clear—court records indicate he is a diagnosed pedophile. In addition, a search warrant indicates that girl's undergarments--—a particularly damning piece of evidence--were taken from Adhahn's apartment. The police chief says that the discovery of Zina's body caused "great anguish" for her family, Tacoma police, and FBI agents. This is a tragedy which will cause unspeakable grief for all those who knew and loved her. The fact that an illegal immigrant may have been responsible makes the tragic death all the more difficult to bear.

This nation was built through the courage, strength, and commitment of untold numbers of immigrants. Most of us, in fact, trace our ancestry to foreign lands. An immigrant who enters this country legally, who's willing to sacrifice for the sake of his or her newly-adopted country, represents the epitome of what makes this country great.

Unfortunately, there are some foreigners who are violent criminals who have no business being on our shores. We may not even realize they're here—until tragedy strikes. Why is it that some public officials are willing to ignore our immigration problem until some horrific event occurs—an event which makes us realize just how vulnerable we are to foreign thugs who have no regard for our laws—and no regard for our kids?

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/Nath ... on_tragedy

Adhahn had slipped away twice

By Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporter

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department said Thursday it had two different opportunities to arrest Terapon Adhahn long before he was charged with the slaying of a Tacoma girl last month but each time failed to follow through.

On May 25, 2005, a sheriff's deputy, conducting a routine check of registered sex offenders, went to Adhahn's Spanaway home and found that he no longer resided there. Adhahn, a Level 1 sex offender, was required to register his address with police after a 1990 incest conviction.

The deputy wrote an "absconded" report, indicating the offender had left his registered address. But rather than follow up and try to find Adhahn and arrest him, the Sheriff's Department dropped the matter because deputies believed Adhahn had only a few months remaining in his legal requirement to provide police with his address, said Ed Troyer, sheriff's spokesman.

Because Adhahn had been convicted in 1992 in Tacoma Municipal Court for intimidation with a deadly weapon, the time requiring him to continue registering had been extended to September 2007, say court documents.

Troyer didn't say why the Sheriff's Department wasn't aware the time had been extended.

Adhahn, 42, was charged last month with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in connection with the July 4 abduction and slaying of Zina Linnik, 12. He is facing numerous other chargers stemming from attacks on two other girls and is considered a person of interest in the December 2005 abduction and slaying of 10-year-old Adre'Anna Jackson, of Tillicum, Pierce County.

Thursday's revelation by the Sheriff's Department comes a day after it conceded deputies failed to follow up on a 2004 report that Adhahn was raping a girl who was living with him.

In January 2004, Child Protective Services forwarded to the Sheriff's Department a report from an informant who claimed Adhahn was raping the 15-year-old girl. Detectives went to the home, but Adhahn no longer lived there. They made no additional effort to find Adhahn, in part because the Sheriff's Department often receives unfounded third-party reports, often from angry ex-spouses, Troyer said.

Explaining why the department didn't try to find Adhahn in 2005 after he failed to register as a sex offender, Troyer said his office monitors about 2,800 sex offenders. Of those, there are currently 123 absconded sex offenders of all levels and only three detectives, two full-time and one half-time, who must visit each home annually to be sure the offenders are living where they have registered.

Level 1 sex offenders are considered the least likely to reoffend.

"There are holes in the system," Troyer said.

In Adhahn's case, the lack of follow-up was one more lucky break.

In 1990, he pleaded guilty to incest, a charge reduced from second-degree rape, after attacking a 16-year-old relative.

After his 1992 conviction for intimidation with a weapon conviction, Adhahn could have faced deportation proceedings because of his two criminal convictions. A native of Thailand, he was a legal U.S. resident but not a citizen, and the second conviction should have triggered a deportation hearing. But immigration officials say they didn't know about the 1992 intimidation conviction because they weren't notified by Pierce County prosecutors.

"If we're not notified, we won't be able to do anything about it," said Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

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