Mother of 13-year-old alleged rape victim is charged with helping 35-year-old accused rapist avoid arrest

The Washington state mother of a 13-year-old alleged rape victim was charged last week with helping the 35-year-old accused rapist avoid arrest.

What are the details?

The accused rapist was arrested last week on eight felony sexual abuse charges in relation to two 2021 incidents during which he allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl, the Chronicle reported.

The girl’s 34-year-old mother also was arrested last week for first-degree rendering criminal assistance for allegedly helping the man avoid arrest, the paper said, adding that both adults live in Centralia, which is about 90 minutes south of Seattle.

The Chronicle said it wasn't naming the defendants in order to protect the victim's identity.

Police began investigations on Feb. 2, 2021, after responding to a Centralia address for an unrelated dispute, and the alleged victim said she'd been raped, the paper said, citing court documents.

Law enforcement sent the victim’s clothing to a crime lab, which located semen on the crotch of her pants, the Chronicle said. The crime lab on March 24, 2022, said "lab results revealed strong support” for the accused man contributing to the fluid, the paper reported, citing court documents.

Police tried to contact the accused man on May 24, “but no one came to the door despite loud and extended knocking,” the paper said, citing court documents. Officers returned to the residence the next day, and the female defendant answered the door, the paper said.

When she was told of probable cause to arrest the accused man and asked to have him come outside, the woman reportedly “advised that he had been gone for a ‘while’ and that she did not know where” he was, the paper reported.

The woman allegedly said she was home when police knocked the day before but claimed she'd been "sleeping and didn’t hear the knocks, despite the fact that neighbors in the building could hear the knocking,” the paper said, citing court documents.

After several more unsuccessful attempts to locate the accused man at the address, police on Thursday morning “knocked on the door of the residence extensively and loudly, rang the doorbell rapidly on many occasions, announced police and specifically yelled for both [the male and female defendant] to come to the door, but no one answered,” the paper said, citing court documents.

A number of neighbors reportedly told officers they had seen the accused man staying with the woman at the residence, the paper said. They also said he would depart the address “mostly at night to avoid being detected," the paper said, citing court documents.

The property manager later told police he'd informed the woman several times over the last few months that the man in question “was not to be living there," the paper said.

Caught

Around noon Oct. 6, a neighbor told officers the accused man was in a vehicle heading south toward Harrison Avenue — after which officers stopped the vehicle and found the man in the back seat and the woman in the front passenger seat, the paper said, citing court documents.

The man and woman were arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail, the paper said, adding that the man's bail was set at $250,000 and the woman's bail was set at $25,000.

Of the eight felony charges against the man, two carry maximum penalties of life in prison, four carry maximum penalties of 10 years in prison, and two carry maximum penalties of five years in prison, the paper said.

As for the woman, first-degree rendering criminal assistance carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, the paper said.

Arraignments for both adults are scheduled for Thursday, the paper said.