PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. -- Gary Kunkle, 61, a convicted sex offender plead not guilty in court Monday afternoon facing felony charges of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

Kunkle allegedly approached an 11-year-old girl multiple times earlier this year giving her small gifts as she walked home from Narrows View Elementary school.

According to the girl, on March 1 Kunkle told the girl he would like to see her wearing a dress and gave her some candy canes, Dora the Explorer items and a headband.

As the girl walked away Kunkle asked her if she had a zipper on her pants and then asked if maybe sometime he could see them unzipped, court documents said.

“This is somebody that probably needs to be civilly committed or put away, because it just proves once again that you can’t cure these people,” Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

The girl told police Kunkle usually did yard work at one of the houses she passes while walking home and gave a description of Kunkle.

The girl positively identified Kunkle in a photo montage, court documents said.

According to police, they contacted Kunkle who denied all allegations and stated that he stayed away from “them.”

“He has a record, he’s a registered sex offender and he’s somebody that got caught and if he gets out he’ll probably get caught again,” Troyer said.

In 1994 Kunkle was convicted for indecent liberties and for indecent exposure in 2001.

Kunkle has also been arrested in the past for failing to register as a sex offender.