Decade-old rape charge dropped

Published 10:56 pm Monday, May 11, 2009

EVERETT — Prosecutors dropped rape charges against a man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl nine years ago.

Wayne Falcon, 33, pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree assault in connection with the 2000 attack on a 15-year-old girl in Monroe.

The victim, now in her 20s, wanted to resolve the case without going to trial, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Chris Dickinson said.

Prosecutors first filed a rape charge against an unnamed person in 2003 based on genetic evidence collected during the investigation.

In September, the state crime lab reported that the sample matched the DNA of a man imprisoned in Montana.

Falcon was convicted in 2006 of forgery and burglary. As a felon, he was required to submit a DNA sample.

Falcon faces up to a year in jail.