The co-chair of a Seattle committee fighting homelessness has been sentenced to resign after raising objections to a pedophile joining their board, angrily shouting that she was “happy” the registered sex offender wanted to be part of their team – and force one of his victims to leave the meeting.
Shanee Colston chaired the monthly meeting of the Continuum of Care council, held via Zoom, on May 3.
The board is part of the King County Regional Homeless Authorityfunded by state taxpayers and federal grants.
Colston read out the names of those who wanted to join their board, including Thomas Whitaker, 38.
Whitaker, also known as Raven Crowfoot, is a registered sex offender known for preying on young girls.
Shanee Colston, co-chair of the Continuum of Care council – part of the King County Regional Homeless Authority. She chaired the council meeting on May 3
Colston can be seen on the Zoom yelling at a board member for objecting to a sex offender joining their board
In 2010, when he was 25, he was convicted of harboring a minor, a 13-year-old runaway with whom he had a sexual relationship, according to court documents obtained by Seattle-based independent news site Publicola.
In 2012, Whitaker was charged with raping a minor in a case involving a 15-year-old girl.
He pleaded guilty to communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, a felony sexual offense.
And in 2018, Seattle police found him in a tent near the Seattle waterfront with a 17-year-old girl, whose mother picked her up and took her home, according to Seattle court records obtained by the site.
When Whitaker’s nomination was announced on the Zoom call, a board member, Kristina Sawyckyj, objected.
Sawyckyj, a former Marine, was so seriously injured in an army assault that she ended up in a wheelchair, she said The urban planner in 2017.
She spent many years homeless and living in her van.
‘Can I say something?’ Sawyckyj asked.
“We have a code of ethics on this board and Thomas Whitaker Raven Crowfoot is a sex offender, a repeat sex offender and I had a bad experience with him.”
Thomas Whitaker, 38, is a registered sex offender who was nominated for the board
Kristina Sawyckyj, right, attends the May 3 Zoom meeting. She objected to Whitaker joining the board and was silenced by Colston and others
Colston Sawyckyj interrupted immediately.
“We can’t reveal people’s personal matters here,” she told her.
“And while that’s public notice, we have no right to incapacitate anyone in this room.”
Sawyckyj, seemingly shocked, tried to explain her objections, but then apologized.
Whitaker’s appointment to the board was approved, despite Sawyckyj’s complaint
Other people on the Zoom conversation jumped in to tell Sawyckyj that she couldn’t voice her concerns.
Colston, increasingly angrier, told the gathering, “Actually, if that’s the case, I’m glad he’s here because sex offenders are another vulnerable group that has no housing.”
Sawyckyj, audibly upset, said, “He touched me. So if there’s a meeting where he is, I can’t attend that meeting.’
Another board member told her, “Kristina, take this to the police.”
Sawyckyj replied, ‘I have. I have.’
Colston yelled her down.
‘Please stop. Kristi!’ she said.
“As co-chair, I tell you that you cannot talk like that in this meeting.
‘I won’t have that here.
“If someone wants to talk like that, you’ll be muted and even removed from this meeting. Board member, public or not.
“This is about equity. And everyone – everyone! – deserves housing.
“I don’t care if they’re a sex offender, I don’t care if they’re black, I don’t care if they’re Indigenous, I don’t care if they’re a criminal, I don’t know it doesn’t matter if they come out of prison… prison. Everyone deserves housing.’
The board voted to approve Whitaker’s nomination.
Sawyckyj, an activist and campaigner, has spoken several times about her struggles as a homeless Marine veteran and the assault that left her in need of a wheelchair
The day after the meeting, the chief program officer of King County Regional Homeless Authority wrote a letter to the board demanding Colston’s resignation as co-chair, Publicola reported.
Colston, who works as a collegiate counselor at the Downtown Emergency Service Center, allegedly “shouted” at Sawyckyj for her valid objections, Peter Lynn said.
Lynn said Colston “shouted down committee member Kristina Sawyckyj for determining that one of the future AC nominees was a registered sex offender, which is public information.”
‘Mrs. Sawyckyj was also yelled down by Chairman Colston when she said she was inappropriately hit by the nominee.”
It is not clear whether Colston has resigned yet. DailyMail.com has reached out to the board for comment.
The King County Regional Homeless Authority was established in 2018 and in 2022 applied for $14 million in federal funding for the next three years.
The funding would be directed to projects “focused on investment in programs that reduce homelessness, improve service delivery, health outcomes and housing stability by leveraging coordinated Housing First and public health principles to serve unprotected individuals and families .’
KCRHA is also funded by local taxpayers.
On Tuesday, the group announced that its founding CEO, Marc Dones, who was appointed in April 2021, is stepping down.
His firing was unrelated to the row over Colston’s actions, but rather to what some considered an impossible task.
In a letter to the members of the Authority’s Executive Board and Board Committee, obtained by The Seattle TimesDones cited burnout as the reason for dismissal.
“After five years, I’m tired of it,” Dones wrote of, among other things, the creation of the authority in the timeline.
“I believe it’s time to pass the baton.”
The KCRHA said the agency’s purpose and function of “unifying and coordinating policy and funding across King County for a regional approach to bring more people in” will remain the same after Dones steps down.