WA: Murders, sex abuse cases shook SK during year

By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN
Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer
Dec 31 2008, 12:00 AM

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/poi/news/36862514.html

Crime is nothing new to South Kitsap, but mercifully homicides are relatively rare events. However, 2008 saw a decidedly rare homicide — one within the city of Port Orchard.

On April 30, Linda Malcom was found dead inside her home on Sidney Avenue, after the small building had been destroyed by an early-morning fire. Upon examining the 47-year-old’s body, the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office determined that the woman did not die from the fire, but instead was stabbed.

“It is our belief that this is the result of a criminal act, and we are pursuing the investigation at this point,” said Port Orchard Police Commander Geoff Marti at the time, explaining that officers would begin interviewing anyone that had seen or talked to Malcom in the days leading up to her death.

The house, which Malcom was reportedly preparing to move out of before she was killed, has since been torn down. So far, no suspects have been arrested for the crime.

In contrast, two high-profile molestation cases in South Kitsap this year lead to suspects being convicted and jailed, one for more than a quarter of a century.

Former South Colby pastor Robbin Leeroy Harper was described as a predatory monster who wore “kid gloves over an iron fist” when he was sentenced in April after pleading guilty to molesting several of his young female church members.

Harper, 61, ran The Church of South Colby for many years out of a gated compound where he lived on Arvick Road. He was arrested in October of last year after one woman said the pastor began molesting her when she was 12, telling her and other girls that he was doing the work of God and preparing them for marriage.

Harper later pleaded guilty to all five crimes he was charged with — the most serious of which being first-degree rape of a child — and was sentenced in April to 26.5 years in prison by Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jay Roof.

“You have clearly violated (these victims’) faith, their bodies and their innocence,” said Roof. “Each story is a piece of the puzzle that paints a disturbing and horrifying picture of deceit and dishonesty.”

The judge then sentenced Harper to three more years than what the defendant’s plea agreement outlined, adding a year’s suspended sentence for a misdemeanor assault count.

“That way if you are ever released, you will have another year in jail to serve,” he said.

The following month, a former South Kitsap High School teacher was arrested for engaging in sexual contact with one of her students.

Ryann C. Springer, then 25, who returned to teach in the school’s athletic medicine department after completing the program herself, was charged with sexual misconduct after her affair with a 17-year-old female student was reported to school officials by another student.

Springer faced a maximum of 12 months in jail, but at her sentencing in July, Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Hall recommended she receive only half that time and commended her for “stepping forward and acknowledging her mistake.

Superior Court Judge Anna Laurie sentenced Springer to six months, which was reduced to four months after she received credit for time served.

Laurie allowed for Springer to serve her sentence outside of jail in either work release or home monitoring, however the judge did not agree to remove the order protecting the victim once she turned 18.

“It is clear that your judgment is suspect,” Laurie said, adding that while contact with the victim when she turns 18 may be “legally prudent, that does not make it morally prudent.”

Prosecutor Hall said that without being modified, the protection order would be in effect for three years from the date of the sentencing.


Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer Justine Frederiksen can be reached at jfrederiksen@portorchardindependent.com or (360) 876-4414.