A young boy who may have thought he was going to the circus, was instead enticed by a sex offender.
Reno police officers arrested a convicted child predator Sunday night, after he approached the boy at the Circus Circus casino. Investigators say 43-year-old Michael Kolkman is also wanted by law enforcement in Alaska on charges of attempted sexual abuse.
Statistically, it's not all that out of the ordinary to find a sex offender living downtown. Currently, hundreds of registered sex offenders have addresses within just blocks of downtown, plus more than 1,700 sex offenders in our area are un-registered and out-of-compliance, meaning, no one is really sure what they're up to.
Danny and Kathy Kennedy manage the Shamrock Inn across the street from Circus Circus, which is where police arrested Kolkman on felony warrant charges. The Kennedy's say when Kolkman came in to get a room, they had no idea he was dangerous.
"He was a nice fellow, nothing out of the ordinary," said Kathy.
Detectives say Kolkman bought the young boy a soda, made a few inappropriate comments to him, and then followed him through the casino. Luckily, the boy told his parents, and police were soon on Kolkman's trail.
Kathy says frankly, she's surprised this case is getting so much attention since this isn't the first time a sex offender has checked into her hotel. In fact, she says it's the fifth time in just five years.
"Sex offenders do come in. Unfortunately, they don't come in with tattoos or neon signs on their faces, so you don't know. They look like you or I. They just look like average people," she said.
Kathy's husband says if people are now worried about bringing their young children downtown, he thinks sex offenders should be the least of their concerns. Danny says he sleeps with one eye open, listening for trouble in the neighborhood, including, drunks, drug dealers and hookers.
Over the years, he says his life has been threatened more times than he can count. Most recently, a man pulled a knife on him after he told him to leave the property. He says the man was in the act of urinating on the hotel's wall.
"I've had a baseball bat pulled on me., a crowbar that someone got out of their trunk, a beer bottle, you name it," said Danny.
The Kennedy's say Circus Circus is not to blame, but that dangerous people and situations lurk in nearly every corner of the downtown area near Center Street. And they say no amount of redevelopment money, street lights, or fancy signs will change that.
"Downtown is not safe. That's what I got to say about it. It's not safe," said Danny.
As far as the young boy at Circus Circus goes, he wasn't harmed. The casino managers say he did everything right, as did their security guards. As a rule, minors are never allowed on the casino floor, and when they are spending time on the midway or elsewhere in the casino, their security staff is always watching for strange behavior--or in this case, suspicious people.
Kolkman is being held on more than $50,000 bail for annoying and molesting a minor and for failing to register as a sex offender. He'll also be forced to face the sexual abuse charges out of Alaska. Police believe he'd been staying in our area since June 4th.
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Information: http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/47241037.html
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