CRIME BLOTTER

Child rape suspect arrested in Tacoma

Mar 11, 2025, 2:30 PM

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Tacoma Police Department insignia on a police vehicle. (Photo courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department)

(Photo courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department)

A Tacoma man is under arrest for allegedly sexually assaulting his brother’s daughter.

According to court documents, 41-year-old Jose Gilberto Villanueva Orrego, an El Salvadoran national, sexually assaulted the girl between January 2023 and January 2024 — once in their Tacoma home and once in El Salvador.

“On March 5, our detectives, along with our SWAT Team, were able to serve a search warrant in the 2500 block of South I Street in Tacoma,” Shelbie Boyd with the Tacoma Police Department said. “They were able to take the suspect into custody without incident.”

Prosecutors allege Villanueva Orrego first groomed the girl and pressured her to have sex with him before the assaults started. He was arrested without incident.

“So at this point he’s been booked into jail, Pierce County for rape of a child in the first degree, two counts of it,” Black said.

 Villanueva Orrego’s bail is set at $500,000.

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