SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — A 71-year-old man, who prosecutors called a “violent sexual offender,” has pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing images of child sexual abuse years after he was released from the Civil Commitment Center on McNeil Island.
Alan Lewis Meirhofer is facing a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence after a group of teen boys told investigators that Meirhofer was preying on them.
According to investigators, Meirhofer befriended teen boys in the Skagit County area by inviting them to hang out at his residence, where he provided them “gifts’ like food, clothing, alcohol, cash, and marijuana. When one of the boys borrowed a phone, he noticed that Meirhofer had sent members of a group chat images of his friends. The teen also saw images of child sexual abuse on the phone.
The teens mother alerted police and Meirhofer was arrested in March 2021 and his electronic devices were seized.
During that investigation, more than a dozen images of child sexual abuse were found, linked to accounts controlled by Meirhofer.
On July 17, 2024, Meirhofer was taken into federal custody.
Before this investigation, Meirhofer was a convicted sex offender noted as a high chance of re-offending.
In 1988, he was convicted of rape, kidnapping and burglary in connection to two sexual assaults on a boy, according to the Seattle Times. While police searched his home, they found jewelry and photographs belonging to the family of one of Meirhofer’s then-unknown victims.
According to the Seattle Times, Meirhofer was deemed “The North End Rapist.” It’s believed he started as late as 1986. Police say he would break into multiple homes and attack or rape victims while wielding a knife.
In December of 1986, the Seattle Times reported that he broke into a Green Lake-area home using a sliding door in the early morning hours. He was wearing a mask and carrying a knife, having earlier cut phone lines to the home.
Two women inside the home barricaded themselves in a bedroom as Meirhofer tried to get to them, the Seattle Times reported. A 13-year-old fled the home to get help.
Three weeks later, he broke into another Green Lake home and raped a 13-year-old girl, according to the Seattle Times. The Seattle Times reported that Meirhofer cut the phone lines again and entered the home when the girl’s mother left for work. The girl was made aware of his presence by his body odor.
Then in 1990, he was convicted again for first-degree burglary while armed with a deadly weapon and second-degree assault. He was then civilly committed to the sexually violent predator civil commitment center on McNeil Island.
McNeil Island is located southwest of Tacoma. From 1875 to 1975, it was owned by the government and was used as a federal penitentiary. It was then made as a state correctional facility before shutting down and becoming the special commitment center it is in the present for chronic and violent sexual predators.
He was released in 2017 as a registered sex offender level 3, the level with the highest risk of reoffending.
According to the Washington State sex offender registry, he never completed a sex offender treatment program when he was released.
The incident involving the teens was brought to investigators attention in March 2021.
He will be sentenced on June 2.
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