State releases ‘special progress report’ on sex offender

Sitler reports seeking woman in a bikini on his lunch break

By Shanon Quinn, Daily News staff writer

Convicted sex offender Steven Sitler was the subject of a special progress report from the Idaho Department of Corrections to Latah County 2nd Judicial District Court Judge John Stegner Wednesday.

According to the report, Sitler contacted an Idaho Department of Corrections parole and probation office Sept. 6 and reported an experience he claimed to have had about three weeks before. If Sitler’s timeline is correct, that would have been the week of Aug. 17, when Latah County 2nd Judicial District Court Judge John Stegner ruled Sitler would still not be permitted to live with his wife and young son.

According to the report, written by senior probation and parole officer Daniel J. Pollick, Sitler reported driving through a residential area on his lunch hour at the University of Idaho, where he works as a graduate assistant at the College of Engineering, and caught sight of a woman in a bikini in front of one of the homes.

“He said this female caught his attention, and he could not stop thinking about her,” Pollick wrote. “He told me after purchasing his lunch, he returned to the area he had seen the female, however she was no longer visible, he parked there and ate his lunch and continued thinking about her and hoped to meet her.”

According to the report, when Sitler finished his lunch he drove by the Hamilton Lowe Aquatic Center, “did not see anything that interested him, did not stop and continued on his way.”

The Daily News was unable to ascertain Monday what, if anything would happen in the legal arena as a result of the report.

The Idaho Repository lists the special progress report under Sitler’s case file, which goes back to charges filed Sept. 1, 2003 for lewd conduct with a child under 16.

Sitler was sentenced September 2006 to life in prison with retained jurisdiction after he pleaded guilty to the charges under a Rule 11 plea agreement with the state of Idaho.

After serving one year of the life sentence with the Idaho Department of Corrections, and less than a year at Latah County Jail, Sitler was released from custody with a life term of probation.

One of the terms of that probation is having no contact with anyone under 18.

Sitler married in 2011 and the couple had a son in 2015.

Sitler was ordered to leave the family home last September after admitting during a polygraph test that contact with his infant son resulted in sexual stimulation.

He has been residing in a motel since that hearing.

According to documents from Valley Treatment Specialties, where Sitler receives treatment, there are 12 stipulations in a safety plan that must be in place before Sitler may return to the home.

These include Sitler never being left alone with, bathing or diapering the child, Katie Sitler maintaining line-of-sight of either her husband or child at all times, and both may take part in polygraph examinations if possible violations of the plan or other questions are raised.

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to squinn at dnews.com.