A Bremerton man is facing a lengthy prison sentence after pleading not guilty to a charge of first-degree rape of a child, with prosecutors stating further charges could be added.
The 48-year-old man made his first appearance in Kitsap County Superior Court July 3. Bail, taking into account an extensive record of convictions and court appearances dating back to the 1990s, was set at $1 million.
These latest incidents were believed to have taken place sometime after September or October of 2022 which, according to probable cause papers, was around the time he obtained custody of his children from the state of California, a 9-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.
Those same children were granted into the custody of Child Protective Services June 12, just days after Bremerton police began investigating reports made by the daughter of “inappropriate touch between her and her father.”
The daughter on June 13 met with Special Assault Unit forensic interviewer Karen Sinclair and exhibited a strong desire not to speak. At one point, detective Mitchell Chapman wrote in his report: “She wanted to be hidden. She got onto the floor and crawled under the glass coffee table, curling up into the fetal position.”
However, further questioning led her to say her father had led her to perform sex acts on him multiple times in a hotel in California and in her room at her Bremerton home. Assaults later would occur regularly, documents say.
Following the gruesome details of the interview, the report goes on to address the criminal history of the father. Among previous convictions of theft, drug paraphernalia possession and similar charges, he had been convicted of first-degree child molestation in 1999 and sentenced to 68 months in prison. That victim was 10 years old. Other similar allegations included children as young as 3, a child of a friend of his, and abuse taking the form of some kind of game to the child.
The father appeared to be shocked by some of the readings, widening his eyes and placing his head in his hands.
