A registered sex offender who was supposed to be staying with a relative in the Scatchet Head area got a one-way ticket back to his home in Yakima last week.

Louie Watson Charles was arrested Friday night after the Island County Sheriff’s Office discovered that he was not staying with a sister who lives on Maple Point Drive. Charles, a convicted rapist who lives in Yakima, was allowed by his parole officer to travel to and stay on Whidbey Island recently on a travel permit. That permit, according to Russ Lindner, chief of investigations for the sheriff’s office, specified that he must reside with his sister while on the island.

Charles was supposed to be on South Whidbey to visit family and to look for a job.

Lindner said Charles was found to be staying with a girlfriend in Clinton, not with his sister. With that information, deputies arrested him at his girlfriend’s house at Friday and had him booked into Island County Jail by 7:30 p.m. He was sent back to Yakima through a law enforcement interagency transportation program.

Lindner said it is unlikely that Charles will be allowed to return to the island in the future. His parole officer has revoked his car trip permit.

Lindner also noted that Charles’ sister received an undue amount of comments from her neighbors based on the original thought that her brother was living with her.

Rated as a Level 2 sex offender, Charles caught the attention of the sheriff’s office shortly after arriving on Whidbey. Last week, sheriff’s spokesperson Jan Smith said Charles would be assessed a higher re-offense risk factor if he lived in Island County.