BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A convicted sex offender from Whatcom County is being detained again days after he was set to be released.
38-year-old Jake Unick spent 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to several instances of attempted kidnapping near north Bellingham in 2014. But ahead of his release on Sept. 5, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a petition to have Unick sent to the state’s civil commitment center for sexual predators on McNeil Island.
The Attorney General’s Office cites the state’s Sexually Violent Predator law that allows them to file the petition against violent sex offenders who pose a danger to society if they are released.
In Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Robert Olsen’s ruling on Sept. 9, he found probable cause to believe Unick is a sexually violent predator and ordered him to be sent to the island until his civil commitment trial.
The trial was pushed back and will likely take place at some point in the first half of 2025.
