Shocking video footage showed the co-chairman of a taxpayer-funded Seattle committee angrily defending the nomination of a pedophile for a role – and shouting at a colleague who accused the pervert of assaulting her.
Shanee Colston was seen on the May 3 Zoom call furiously shouting that she was “happy” that registered sex offender Thomas Whitaker wanted to be on their team.
And she angrily accused another member of invading Whitaker’s privacy by highlighting his sex crimes.
She was angry when Kristina Sawyckyj, a veteran who says she was left in a wheelchair by a sexual attack in the 1980s, spoke out in protest and claimed Whitaker sexually assaulted her.
Shanee Colston, co-chair of the Continuum of Care Council – a subdivision of the King County Regional Homeless Authority. She chaired the board meeting of May 3
‘Can I say something?’ Sawyckyj asked.
“We have a code of ethics within this council and Thomas Whitaker Raven Crowfoot is a sex offender, a repeat sex offender and I had a bad experience with him.”
It prompted a furious rebuke from Colston, who said she was “happy” to support Whitaker because sex offenders are “vulnerable” people prone to homelessness.
Interrupting Swayckyj, Colston said, “We can’t divulge people’s personal affairs here.”
“And although this is a public disclosure, we have no rights to anyone in this space.”
Sawyckyj, seemingly shaken, attempted to explain her objections, but later apologized.
Kristina Sawyckyj, right, takes part in the May 3 Zoom meeting. She objected to Whitaker joining the board and was silenced by Colston and others
Sawyckyj, 53, was serving in the Marines when she was raped. The attack, in the early 1990s, left her in a wheelchair
Whitaker board appointment approved, despite Sawyckyj complaint
Other people on the Zoom call chimed in to tell Sawyckyj she couldn’t voice her concerns.
An increasingly angry Colston told the meeting: “I’m actually glad that if that’s the case that he’s here because sex offenders are another very vulnerable population who don’t have no accommodation.”
Sawyckyj, visibly upset, said: “He touched me. So if there’s a meeting he’s at, I won’t be able to attend that meeting.
Another board member said, “Kristina, you have to take this to the police, then.”
Sawyckyj replied, “Yes. I have.’
Colston shouted her down, his voice growing louder as his rant continued.
‘Please stop. Kristy!’ she says.
“As co-chair, I tell you that you cannot talk like that in this meeting.
‘I won’t have that here.
“If anyone wants to talk like that, you will be muted and even removed from this meeting. Board member, or public, or not.
“It’s a matter of fairness. And everyone – everyone! – deserves housing.
‘I don’t care if he’s a sex offender, I don’t care if he’s black, I don’t care if he’s indigenous, I don’t care if he’s a criminal, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter if they get out of jail… jail. Everyone deserves a home.
The drama erupted at King County’s monthly continuum of care council meeting, held via Zoom, and led to calls for Colston to resign.
THE the council is a subdivision 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 38-year-old Thomas Whitaker.
Whitaker, who also goes by the name Raven Crowfoot, is a registered sex offender known for preying on young girls. Sawyckyj – who sits on the board Whitaker wants to join – claims he also sexually assaulted her, only to be furiously accused of violating her privacy by Colston.
Colston is seen on Zoom yelling at a board member for raising objections 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 records obtained by the independent news site Seattle. 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 criminal sex crime.
And in 2018, Seattle police found him living in a tent near the Seattle waterfront with a 17-year-old girl, whose mother picked her up and brought her home, records show. Seattle court records obtained through the site.
Sawyckyj, a 53-year-old former marine, was so badly injured in a sexual assault while in the armed forces that she ended up in a wheelchair, she said. The town planner in 2017.
She joined the United States Navy in 1987 and served as a member of the hospital corps until 1992.
She said she was raped while on the ward and suffered chronic physical injuries that put her in a wheelchair, she said King5 News.
She spent many years homeless, living in her van.
Thomas Whitaker, 38, is a registered sex offender who was appointed to the council
Sawyckyj, an activist and campaigner, has spoken on several occasions about her struggles as a homeless Navy veteran and the sexual assault that forced her into a wheelchair.
The day after the meeting, the program manager for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority wrote to the board and called for Colston’s resignation as co-chair, Publicola reported.
Colston, who works as a peer counselor at the downtown emergency services center, allegedly “yelled” Sawyckyj for her valid objections, Peter Lynn said.
Lynn said Colston “yelled to committee member Kristina Sawyckyj for identifying that one of the potential CA candidates was a registered sex offender, which is public information.”
‘SP. Sawyckyj was also shouted at by President Colston when she spoke about her experience of being touched inappropriately by the candidate.
It’s unclear if Colston has ever resigned. DailyMail.com has approached the board for comment.
The King County Regional Homeless Authority was created in 2018, and in 2022 applied for $14 million in federal funding for the next three years.
The funding would be spent on projects “that focus on investing in programs that reduce homelessness, improve service engagement, health outcomes and housing stability using coordinated principles of housing first and public health to serve homeless individuals and families”.
KCRHA is also funded by local taxpayers.
On Tuesday, the group announced that its founding CEO, Marc Dones, appointed in April 2021, was stepping down.
His resignation was not related to the dispute over Colston’s shares but rather to what some considered an impossible task.
In a letter to members of the Authority’s Implementation Council and Steering Committee, obtained by Seattle weatherDones cited burnout as the reason for his resignation.
“After five years, I’m tired,” Dones wrote, including the Authority’s creation in the timeline.
“I believe the time has come for me to pass on the baton.”
The KCRHA said the agency’s goal and function of “unifying and coordinating policy and funding across King County for a regional approach to getting more people indoors” will remain the same. after the departure of Dones.
