Man deemed violent predator caught after removing GPS monitor, escaping and prompting 3-day search

SEATTLE (AP) — Officials are investigating how a man convicted of assaulting a woman was able to cut off his GPS monitor and escape from a restrictive housing complex in Washington state, prompting a multistate search until he was captured Thursday.

Damion Blevins, 33, was arrested outside a Portland, Oregon, convenience store after a three-day search and will be extradited back to Washington, the Seattle Times reported.

Blevins was convicted in 2017 of second-degree assault on a woman and was deemed a “sexually violent predator,” according to the newspaper. He was civilly committed to a barbed wire-ensconced treatment facility on McNeil Island, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of Tacoma, Washington. He had recently been granted court permission to live in less restrictive conditions in a Tukwila neighborhood.

The Department of Corrections and the Department of Social and Health Services will investigate what went wrong.

Department of Corrections spokesperson Christopher Wright said the agency is gathering details on what happened since he was last seen Monday at a Seattle station, where he likely took a train to Portland.

The incident is among the more severe lapses in supervision of community housing placements in recent years, the newspaper reported.

No attorney for Blevins was listed in court or jail records. He is scheduled for an arraignment hearing Monday in Portland.