‘Clearly an error’: SPD detective addresses Kent jail releasing convicted serial rapist
Aug 28, 2025, 6:17 PM | Updated: Aug 29, 2025, 1:44 pm
A Seattle Police Department patch is seen on an officer's uniform, July 17, 2016, in Seattle. (Photo: Ted S. Warren, The Associated Press)
(Photo: Ted S. Warren, The Associated Press)
Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers had to re-arrest a 50-year-old man convicted of rape.
The serial rapist was convicted by a jury in June but was mistakenly bonded out of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent on July 26 while awaiting sentencing, according to SPD.
“Typically, what is supposed to happen when someone is convicted, especially rape in the second degree, they’re to remain in custody, so this was clearly an error,” SPD Detective Eric Munoz told KIRO Newsradio.
Man linked to rape of woman in South Seattle
The man, whose name SPD did not provide in its news release, was investigated in a reported rape of a woman in an abandoned house in South Seattle in 2019. Detectives later referred criminal charges to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office after linking a positive DNA match from the crime scene.
After the man was released in July, community members reported him in the Seattle area, and detectives issued a be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) alert to SPD officers.
“Essentially, he got out of the Maleng Regional Justice Center, and he was on the run for exactly one month before Seattle police officers found him and arrested him,” Munoz explained.
The man was arrested Tuesday in North Seattle near North 141st Street and Linden Avenue North around 2:30 p.m. Officers saw the man standing on the sidewalk and detained him. The man gave officers the wrong name, but officers identified and arrested him.
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Serial rapist faces over 13 years in prison
Once re-arrested, the man was booked into the King County Jail for his felony bench warrant of rape in the second degree. He now faces more than 13 years in prison, which will soon be determined by the King County Superior Court.
SPD noted a new tool to report sexual assault. SEEK THEN SPEAK allows survivors to explore their options, connect with local resources, and begin reporting the assault.
Additional resources are available on SPD’s website.
Contributing: James Lynch, MyNorthwest
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