Level 3 sexual offender registers in Lincoln County
<p>Sex offender Kris Hedahl.</p>
Kris Knute Hedahl, 66, classified as a Level 3 sexual offender, has recently moved to an address on McKay Street in Libby, according to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office issued Thursday morning. Hedahl was released from the Montana State Prison Sept. 1 and registered in Lincoln County Sept. 3.
Hedahl was sentenced June 27, 1995, to a 20-year prison term after being convicted of one count of incest and one count of sexual assault in October 1994. He was paroled, but then sent back to prison for violating the terms of his probation with another count of incest in February 1988.
The Department of Corrections defines a Level 3 offender as an offender for whom “the risk of a repeat sexual offense is high, there is a threat to public safety and an evaluator believes the offender is a sexually violent predator.”
Montana Code Annotated, in sections 46-23-502(11)(a) and (b), defines sexually violent predators as a person who “has been convicted of or, in youth court, found to have committed or been adjudicated for a sexual offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality or a personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexual offenses; or has been convicted of a sexual offense against a victim 12 years of age or younger and the offender is 18 years of age or older.”
Sheriff Bowe, in the statement, cautioned residents that the Level 3 classification is not intended to predict a future offense by the offender, but to anticipate possible risks to society.
“There is no known way to accurately predict the future behavior of another person,” Bowe wrote. “The process of screening individuals in prison places them into risk categories. This does mean that the Department of Corrections has devised a way to predict future behavior. Rather, it means that a scientific way exists to evaluate an offender’s past behavior by comparing with other individuals who have been out of prison for a while. This shows how an offender might act once released from prison. Not all offenders with a high score on the risk test will commit another crime. However, they are more likely to commit another crime than an offender with a low score.”
Sheriff Bowe said he will continue to release information about any Level 3 offenders in Lincoln County, but cautioned residents that it is illegal to harass registered offenders.
“I believe the public needs to be aware of local level 3 sexual predators,” Bowe said. This community notification provides safety information intended to assist you and your family in avoiding situations that allow easy access to victims, and reduces the chance of future victimization by an offender. To be clear - it is against the law to harass a registered offender.”