An AquaSox baseball game should be a wholesome, safe place to send a 12-year-old boy for an evening.
An Everett father found out last week that’s not necessarily true.
The boy was lured away from Everett Memorial Stadium after the game July 13 and was repeatedly abused sexually at an Everett motel, prosecutors alleged.
Edward Allen Hope, 20, of Everett was charged Monday with one count of second-degree child rape after he admitted he had sexual contact with the boy, deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said.
Hope’s bail was doubled Monday to $100,000 because “of the seriousness of the charge, the potential of additional serious charges being added and the defendant’s danger to the community,” Matheson said in court documents.
On the way into the stadium, Hope approached the boy and tried to talk him into going someplace with him. The boy refused and went into the stadium to watch the game.
Afterward, Hope met the boy again and “somehow the defendant talked (the boy) into accompanying him,” Matheson said.
The two walked to north Everett and Hope attempted to find a hotel room to rent, but was unsuccessful. Hope called a relative and talked him into renting a room. Matheson said Hope’s relative didn’t know Hope had a 12-year-old boy with him because the child hid.
Meanwhile, the boy’s parents were frantically looking for him, Matheson said. They reported him as a runaway.
On the next night, the boy’s father went to the AquaSox game looking for his son and found the boy by himself. The boy told his dad that he had spent the previous night with a man, and then he pointed out Hope to his father.
The boy’s father confronted Hope, and then called police.
Hope at first denied spending any time with the boy, but when confronted with other information, he admitted that they went to the motel, Matheson said. However, he then said that he made the boy leave because he “realized that what I was doing was not right,” the prosecutor said.
Later, Hope admitted sexual contact with the boy, and wrote a statement saying the boy became “sexually aggressive toward me,” Matheson said. Hope also told police all the sex was consensual.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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