EVERETT — A sex offender’s scheme to overturn his conviction for raping a teenage boy a decade ago has fallen apart and has earned the former youth wrestling referee another felony.
Eugene Brian Garvie is serving a potential life sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. The defendant, who is known as Brian Garvie, admitted to detectives that he plied two teenagers with drugs and alcohol in exchange for sex. Police discovered videos and photographs documenting the crimes.
Garvie pleaded guilty in 2007 to child rape and sexual exploitation of a minor. Yet, he has tried to persuade the courts he was railroaded by the victim, prosecutors and police. He filed a personal restraint petition with the state Court of Appeals, seeking his release from prison.
Garvie recently agreed to abandon that petition after admitting that he filed falsified documents, including an affidavit by the young man he assaulted. Garvie and his father, Ralph Garvie, communicated with the man for months in attempt to buy his cooperation. They wanted the young man to recant his story, potentially opening the door for Brian Garvie to win his freedom.
Father and son were in court last week, pleading guilty to crimes tied to their illegal plot. Brian Garvie, 49, admitted he committed first-degree perjury when he submitted false documents to the state Court of Appeals. Ralph Garvie, 71, pleaded guilty to attempted tampering with a witness, a gross misdemeanor.
Both men are scheduled to be sentenced later this month. Brian Garvie faces another two years behind bars. He is serving a 13-year sentence for the sex crimes. He could be held indefinitely if he can’t persuade the state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board he’s safe to be out in the community.
Ralph Garvie faces up to a year behind bars. Prosecutors aren’t recommending any jail time for the Lake Stevens man. Instead, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp plans to ask for two years of probation.
The Garvies came to the attention of state Department of Corrections staff in 2012. The young man Garvie had assaulted then was serving time in Washington prisons for car theft and other property crimes. He told detectives he was a drug addict.
Staff noticed that he was communicating with Ralph Garvie via the prison email system and letters. It also appeared that the young man was having indirect contact with Brian Garvie.
Prison officials sent the emails to Snohomish County prosecutors for review. The messages discuss the young man recanting his story. In exchange, Ralph Garvie placed money on the man’s prison accounts and sent him gifts.
The young man later told police that he accepted money from the Garvies to support his drug habit, but never had any intention of going to court to support their claims that Brian Garvie was innocent. He confirmed that the younger Garvie had abused him.
Two of Ralph Garvie’s former employees, including a secretary, also told a sheriff’s detective about assisting in getting payments and gifts to the younger Garvie’s victim while he was behind bars.
Police later interviewed Brian Garvie at prison. He denied the accusations, saying “I once thought about contacting (the young man) and telling him what to say but did not,” Hupp wrote in court papers.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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