South Sound News

Teen raped after job interview at Tacoma store

TACOMA, Wash. — A teenage girl was raped by a man who offered her a ride home after they interviewed for the same job at a Tacoma department store, police said.

The 22-year-old man on Monday pleaded not guilty to second-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping and was ordered held on $1 million bail for the May 2 attack.

Charging papers give this account:

Both the defendant and a 17-year-old girl participated in a group interview in Tacoma, and he offered to drop her off at her study group.

After they got in the car, the man told her he needed to stop by his house and drove to Parkland.

He allegedly ignored her repeated requests to take her to the study group and continuously put his hand on her leg.

After pulling into a field, the man took her cellphone away and sexually assaulted her before the teen was able to get out of the car.

She called a friend to come get her, and then her parents took her to an area hospital.

When police spoke with the man later, he initially denied giving the teen a ride. When officers reminded him that there are surveillance cameras outside the department store, he admitted driving away with her and said they fooled around.

“He eventually told law enforcement he just made a mistake and should have known better,” records show. “He said his mistake was taking something too far and cheating on his girlfriend.”