Bikers stand guard outside Richland school near where sex offender lived

9-20-2012 Washington:

For the past week, Robert "Torch" Harvill and other bikers have stood guard near Sacajawea Elementary School as children arrive for class and when they leave in the afternoon.

Some of the bikers are Richland residents, but none live in the small house kitty-corner from the school at the intersection of Catskill Street and Rainier Avenue in north Richland.

Instead, Harvill and other members of Bikers Against Child Abuse were outside the school to make sure registered sex offender Jerry Sharp didn't encounter any students in the 600 block of Catskill.

"People weren't feeling safe, so we showed up," Harvill said.

Their efforts appear to have paid off. Sharp, 61, told a TV reporter Wednesday morning that he was tired of the scrutiny and was leaving the area.

Harvill said he and other bikers watched Sharp pack his belongings. Sharp told the TV reporter that he was going to live in his vehicle, and the vehicle is gone.

A woman who answered the door at the house told the Herald that Sharp moved out.

No allegations were made against Sharp while he lived at the home, but his short stay in the neighborhood raised questions about how a registered sex offender could be allowed to live so close to a school. And it also showed that parents, teachers and the community are committed to youth safety.

"I think it's becoming more and more common," said Donnie "Mr. Breeze" Landsman, a biker whose fifth-grade daughter attends Sacajawea. "People aren't leaving everything ...continued... by Ty Beaver, Tri-City Herald