level 3 sex offender teaching BJJ/MMA in Tacoma/Puyallup

I recently wrote about integrity. How little did I know at the time how justified I was with my concerns. Cindy Hales, a Gracie Barra black belt and a very active member of the Seattle area community posted the following to several major online grappling forums. I’m taking the following from a thread on Lockflow.com:

Hi all,

I recently found out that Shon K Baker (aka K “the Hawaiian Hitman” Baker) from Team Psycho MMA is a level 3 registered sex offender. Please see the attached flyer for information regarding his crimes.

It scares me not just because it is the lowest crime imaginable but because Shon runs a kid’s program. I know Shon from BJJ tournaments and the kids from my team have grappled his kids many times. Being a coach is a position of trust and should not be held by someone with his history of abusing children and who is considered highly likely to reoffend. Please pass this information on to anyone you know. I don’t want anyone to not know who Shon really is and mistakenly put their kid’s in his program.

I have spoken with Det. Curtis Wright who handles Shon’s case. He stated that he would be checking in with Shon. But also told me that the laws in Washington State don’t clearly prohibit Shon from working with children. He was going to follow up with a prosecuter to make him aware of his involvement with young children but stated that once his time was served and he was no longer being monitored that they could not restrict his work. This doesn’t seem right to me and I am planning to look further into what the laws are regarding Level 3 sex offenders.

Thanks,
Cindy

The following is taken directly from the Pierce County website:

Level 3 Offender

NOTE: The person shown below is not wanted for any current offense. This notification is provided under the Sex Offender Notification Act to alert the public to a convicted sex offender that is believed to be a high risk to re-offend. This notification is not provided as punishment for the offender and any action by anyone as retribution towards the offender will be investigated by local law enforcement. The Sex Offender Registration law allows for the tracking of sexual offenders. It does not, however control the location of where offenders choose to live.

NAME: Baker, Shon Koolau
AGE: 32
RACE: B
SEX: M
HEIGHT: 6′ 00″
WEIGHT: 250
HAIR: Black
EYES: Brown
CRIME(S) OF CONVICTION: Child Molest 1
DATE OF INITIAL REGISTRATION: 2007 06 18
LOCATION: 7** block of S. Sprague

DETAILS:
BAKER , Shon K. is currently under the supervision of the Department of
Corrections. BAKER is required to register as a sex offender for two
convictions of sex offenses. BAKER sexually molested two family members: one
four-year-old male, and a five-year-old female. BAKER did not participate in
Sex Offender treatment while incarcerated, and is evaluated to be a serious
risk for molesting young children. BAKER criminal history includes a 1987
Attempted Robbery 1st Degree.

BAKER s criminal history and psychological profile have led authorities to
classify BAKER as a Level 3 sex offender. This allows the Pierce County
Sheriff s Department to disclose relevant, necessary, and accurate information
to the public at large.

The Sheriff´s Department does not have the authority to allow or disallow an
offender to live at any address. If the offender is on active supervision by
the Department of Corrections, they may have residence restrictions or
stipulations regarding living near a school, which would be enforced by the
Department of Corrections. If an offender has completed community supervision,
they would not have such restrictions.

First, as a dad, I’m shocked, angry and sad all at the same time. I’m shocked that this could happen, where someone who has abused a trust with children in such a heinous manner could be legally allowed to open a school to teach kids a grappling art. I’m angry that this person would use a Christian banner under which to run his school. Shinja is a Christian martial arts organization, and from what I can tell “Coach K’s” black belt is in an art called Krav-Jitsu awarded by the guy who founded Shinja. And I’m sad that parents who have trusted this individual to teach their children have been deceived.

The school in question is Team Psycho MMA. I was going to post a link to the website, but it’s down. Fortunately, Google cached the site.

I’m not going to editorialize on this any more, if I can help it. Instead, I encourage everyone in the grappling and martial arts communities to read about this as it unfolds and come to your own conclusions.