The city of Auburn was not informed that South Hill rapist Kevin Coe would move to the city and learned of his arrival through local news coverage, Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus said in a statement Wednesday.

“I am angry that Mr. Coe was released into our community,” Backus said in a prepared statement. “Auburn was not part of this decision, and we should not be asked to shoulder the consequences of choices made without consultation. Decisions of this significance must be based on safety, communication, and logic – not on convenience, reaction or circumstance.”

Backus is the latest official to raise concern over Coe living in their city after his release from state confinement. Now 77 years old, Coe was released last week – more than four decades after his conviction in Spokane – because he

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