City revokes permit for sex offender home

CORNELIUS, Ore. - The City of Cornelius has revoked a conditional use permit for a sex offender group home that raised concerns with neighbors and prompted the Washington County Sheriff's Office to canvass the area so people would know about the house.

Connell House, a residential treatment center, is located on North 29th Avenue.

Three sex offenders from the state hospital who were deemed criminally insane - 44-year-old Matthew John Shipley, 32-year-old Jerry Allan Farstad and 41-year-old Harold Cox - were moved to the home recently.

Washington County Sheriff Rob Gordon was so concerned that he sent his deputies door-to-door to let people know.

Gordon said he was first alerted about the home by a district attorney who expressed concern about Matthew John Shipley.

"He ran across a 3-year-old girl, and he forcibly kidnapped and raped her in front of her brother and friends," Gordon said at the time, adding that the incident happened outside a convenience store in Tualatin that is similar to a store located right next to the Connell House.

A public meeting was held last week to address concerns and it drew a packed house.

The city decided to look into the home's land-use application, claiming the group never specifically told them the home would be used to house sex offenders when they got a conditional use permit.

On Friday, the City of Cornelius released a statement saying it had decided to revoke the conditional use permit it had granted to the facility, officially known as the Luke-Dorf facility (because it is owned by Luke-Dorf, Inc.).

"Neither the type of facility as described in Luke-Dorf's capital grant contract with the State of Oregon, nor the current use of this facility is consistent with Luke-Dorf's presentation in its application for land-use approval," Community Development Director Richard Meyer said in the statement.