GRANITE FALLS — Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Granite Falls man this week for investigation of luring a child into his house and sexually assaulting her.
Other neighbors reported “grooming behavior” by the suspect toward other children in the past, according to a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office report.
On April 29, a preteen girl was playing basketball in the street in a neighborhood west of Granite Falls High School, the police report said. The basketball rolled away and she went to get it, when she was approached by a man, 58, who asked her to help him with his dog, detective Myles Bittinger wrote in the police report.
She agreed and the man led her into his house, which she described as brown with a silver truck in the driveway. She stated she saw a black dog “in the distance” but did not elaborate, the report said. The girl later told deputies the man sexually assaulted her inside his house, describing the incident in detail.
A nurse at Dawson Place in Everett notified detectives that the girl had arrived for a sexual assault exam Tuesday, the report said. The girl described the suspect as an older white man with a chubby build and mostly gray hair, balding on the top of his head, police said.
While deputies talked to the girl and her mother by phone, the girl became “violently ill” and could be heard vomiting, Bittinger wrote.
Deputies went to the Granite Falls neighborhood and located the houses. The truck in the driveway was registered to a man who matched the description provided by the girl.
A deputy talked to the girl’s father and stepmother, who said they immediately thought the man was the suspect based on the physical description. They had believed he was very nice and “always would give Popsicles to the neighborhood children,” the detective wrote.
Detectives got in touch with other neighbors whose children play with the girl. A neighbor told police he saw the man on the afternoon of April 29 talking to the girl and her brother. The neighbor said the suspect was asking the girl about her puberty.
Other neighbors told deputies they had seen the man invite children into his home without their parents, according to the report. Several parents reported confronting the man about his behavior, the report said.
Police contacted the man when he arrived at his home around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. He agreed to an interview with detectives, where he denied having any sexual contact with the girl, stating she had “never even been in his home,” the report said.
Of sexual abuse cases reported to law enforcement, 93% of juvenile victims knew the perpetrator, according to the national anti-sexual violence organization RAINN. In the police report, the man is described as an “acquaintance/neighbor.”
Deputies arrested the Granite Falls man for investigation of luring a minor or person with a developmental disability and second-degree rape of a child.
The suspect was previously convicted of fourth-degree assault in 2011, for shoving a cyclist in a road rage incident, separating his shoulder and breaking his ribs.
Everett District Court Judge Anthony Howard found probable cause for the charges and set bail at $250,000. As of Friday, the man was being held at the Snohomish County Jail.
Detectives are still investigating the incident. The sheriff’s office encourages anyone to report information of suspicious behavior. Tips about the case, or any other similar incidents, can be directed to the sheriff’s office at 425-388-3845, or dial 911.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly listed one of the charges as luring a minor with a developmental disability. The actual charge is luring a minor or person with a developmental disability.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.
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