A registered sex offender is violating state law by living within 500 feet of school property, Judge Stevan H. Thompson ruled recently.

The judge’s decision came in a civil lawsuit filed by Challis resident Derrick R. Lingnaw against Custer County Sheriff Stu Lumpkin.

Thompson’s ruling is advisory and does not have the force of law, the judge pointed out after the April 17 trial. The decision doesn’t prevent Custer County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Oleson from pursuing criminal a action against Lingnaw.

In a civil complaint filed last year, Lingnaw said he was wrongly arrested and told that his house at 201 S. Sixth St. in Challis is within 500 feet of a school. At issue was the definition of a school, which the statute does not define. Judge Thompson ruled that a gymnasium regularly used for junior varsity games and practices is “definitely” a school building.

Lingnaw testified he measured 502 feet and 504 feet with a laser rangefinder from the roof of his house to the smokestack of the gym building, and measured 258 feet from his house to the school district property line. The important measurement under law is to the property line of a school, Thompson ruled.

There was some debate about whether the middle school building meets the definition of a school, Thompson said. The judge did not rule on that question. Much of the building is leased to the Bureau of Land Management for use as offices. That side of the building is closer to Lingnaw’s property than the gymnasium. The auditorium in the middle school building is used periodically for school-sanctioned functions but hasn’t been regularly used since 2010, when it was an alternative school. The school district ceased holding classes there in 2006, according to testimony by Challis schools Superintendent Lani Rembelski.

The school district failed to post notices for registered sex offenders at all entrances at each building as required by state law, Lingnaw and his attorney Daniel Brown argued. No such signs exist, Rembelski testified.

But two large signs are on the front of the building indicating it is a school. The brick middle school building has two signs on its front, one which states “Challis Middle School, Home of the Vikings.” The second is a BLM sign and logo near an entrance. Lingnaw said he considers those historic signs, such as those posted on other Challis buildings as part of a historic walking tour that don’t necessarily reflect current use.

Lingnaw and his attorney argued that Challis Elementary School and Challis Junior-Senior High School are both a quarter of a mile from Lingnaw’s house. It’s the school district’s obligation to post the sex offender signs, Lingnaw said. Lingnaw said his sex offender supervisor checked on and OK’d the Challis house he bought in 2017 before he moved to Challis.

“I became aware it was school property after you arrested me,” Lingnaw said. Custer County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him the day he arrived to move into his Challis house in April 2017. “I got arrested because your reading of the law is different than mine.”

Lumpkin said that although he didn’t personally measure the distance from the corner of Lingnaw’s house to the school district property line, he is certain Lingnaw’s house is within 500 feet.

Lingnaw’s Sixth Street house is listed as co-owned with his wife on Custer County records. In 2018, his primary residence was listed on the Idaho sex offender registry as Arneson’s RV park at 24445 U.S. Highway 93, about three miles south of Challis, and his part-time address as the house on Sixth Street. The registry currently lists his primary address as 1665 Highway 93.

Lingnaw was acquitted of failing to register as a sex offender on Nov. 28, 2017. Former District Judge Alan Stephens ruled at that time the state failed to prove that Lingnaw lived in Custer County when he was arrested.