Convicted sex offender arrested

Jen Lawson

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

Metro Police on Wednesday arrested a 58-year-old convicted sex offender on suspicion that he molested three children and recorded the activities using digital and Web cameras.

Police are trying to determine whether southeast Las Vegas resident William Levi Thompson distributed the material via the Internet, and if there are other victims who have not yet come forward.

"The worry is that these aren't the only children," Sgt. Leonard Marshall of Metro's sexual assault detail said Thursday. "We're asking anyone who has any information to contact us or Crime Stoppers."

Thompson's prior sex offense conviction wasn't considered serious enough to require him to register as a sex offender, police said. He was arrested and charged with a more serious offense, but later pleaded guilty to lesser crime.

According to state law, only information on the most dangerous offenders is made public.

Donna Coleman of the Children's Advocacy Alliance said all sex offenders should be made public so parents can protect their children.

"I don't think this is a crime that we should have the luxury of pleading down, especially crimes against children," Coleman said.

"What I am very worried about are the sex offenders who have slipped through the cracks," she said. "We're now having to wait until they re-offend before we can give them 20 to 25 years or life in prison."

The children in the current case are two girls and a boy, all under 9.

Acting on a tip, police obtained a search warrant and raided Thompson's home in the 5700 block of Missouri Avenue, near Hacienda Avenue and Stephanie Street, and then took him into custody.

Thompson, who is disabled and doesn't work, is being held in the Clark County Detention Center on six counts each of sexual assault and lewdness of a victim under 14 and promotion of sexual performance of a minor.

In the search of his home, detectives found several computers, digital recording equipment and pornography, police said. Investigators are doing a forensic examination of the computers.

"He does have the classic signs and symptoms of a child molester," Marshall said. "He has fetishes for porn, nudist camps and lots of photos of young children that are not porn, but it shows he could have an infatuation with young children."

It's not clear when the alleged molestation began. Thompson is a longtime resident of his neighborhood, police said, and has lived in Las Vegas for 18 years. If there are any victims they most likely live in his area, police said.

Anyone with information on Thompson is asked to call police at 229-3421 or Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.