CHENEY – A woman convicted of molesting an 18-month-old girl and who admitted to having as many as 15 other child victims has relocated to Cheney.
Laura Faye McCollum, 62, was convicted of the molestation charge in 1990 and was civilly committed to the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island for violent sexual offenders in 2004. She was the first woman to be committed to McNeil.
McCollum was originally released to an apartment unit in Lakewood south of Tacoma last June after a psychologist filed a report in December 2018 saying she had made progress in her treatment and no longer met the criteria for civil commitment. A Pierce County Superior Court judge signed her release order in April 2019, according to a story in the Tacoma News Tribune.
In July 2019, McCollum was arrested and returned to McNeil for further treatment after she claimed she began having sexual fantasies about a 6-year-old girl in her Lakewood neighborhood. She was again released to Lakewood in October but returned in January of this year after violating terms of her release.
According to news reports citing court documents, she was again released from McNeil on April 14, 2020 after a psychologist’s interview in February determined she still suffered from a pedophilic disorder but couldn’t say with certainty that she was likely to abuse children again. Department of Corrections officials didn’t approve of her return to Lakewood, so McCollum moved to a residence in the 1400 block of North Lincoln Street in Spokane.
McCollum has since moved to the 100 block of 3rd Street in Cheney, near the Police Department. She is described as 5-feet-4-inches tall, weighing 220 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. No probation conditions were recorded on her page on Spokane County Sheriff’s Office website for tracking sexual offenders.
McCollum’s relocation to Cheney didn’t come from notification by the Sheriff’s Office but through an information item at the City Council’s June 23 meeting. Capt. Rick Beghtol told the council the department was also concerned about the lack of public notification and would work with the Sheriff’s Office to find ways to do so in the future.
According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, “Offenders are classified as level III offenders if his/her risk assessment and other factors indicate s/he is a high risk to sexually reoffend within the community at large. Level III offenders are published on the Washington State Sex offender Website.”
McCollum is one of six sex offenders residing in the 99004 zip code, and the second Level III.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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