FORT LEWIS -- A young Army wife believed that Fort Lewis would be the safest place to raise her family. Instead, she found out danger lives just around the corner.

The Army knows a registered sex offender lives at Fort Lewis, but never warned her - or anyone else.

The Fort Lewis neighborhood teems with kids. Hillside Elementary is just down the block, and every morning, every afternoon, the streets are filled with the sounds of children. What they don't know, and what their parents don't know, is that in one of these houses lives a level 2 registered sex offender.

"Honestly it scared me," said Jillian Thomas-Ross.

She found out about the sex offender purely by accident. Her husband is currently serving his third tour in Iraq, so she helps fill in the time by taking a criminal justice class.

For a class assignment, she checked her neighborhood for sex offenders. "And one was red and I noticed it was right near my house."

Then Thomas-Ross saw the 18 year old had been convicted twice for child molestation involving kids he'd been babysitting.

"The first thing I thought about was I was scared for my children; I was worried about where my children were playing now," she said.

And she wondered why the Army never warned her about the offender. In fact, the Army never warned anyone.

"I came to you because I'm not getting any answers anywhere," says Thomas-Ross. "The public needs to know that there's an individual, individuals living on post who are registered sex offenders."

We found that sex offender notification is a top priority in Pierce, King, and Snohomish Counties. For level 3 offenders, those considered the highest risk to re-offend, law enforcement officials notify television news stations and newspapers, and they hold sometimes contentious community meetings.

For Level 2 offenders, like the man living at Fort Lewis, police typically mail or hand out flyers with the sex offender's picture to all nearby neighbors.

Fort Lewis tells us, it's their policy to not notify anyone.

"I'm very angry," says Thomas-Ross, "I'm very angry at all the answers I've gotten from everybody on post."

Fort Lewis would not do an on camera interview, but they did send a written statement which says in part, that Fort Lewis is in "full compliance with Washington law," that they do not allow any level 3 offenders on post, and that their "law enforcement maintains a keen awareness of sex offenders who may be on the installation at any time."

"There's too many ands, ifs or buts," says Thomas-Ross. "The public has got to know, my neighbors have to know, their neighbors have to know, everybody has the right to know."

Police typically don't tell the media about level 2 offenders, that's why we're not naming him. Although our story should serve as a warning to everyone at Fort Lewis to check the State's sex offender database.

Here's a link to check your neighborhood

Also, Fort Lewis adds in its statement that it is considering procedures to notify families when a sex offender moves on post.