SEATTLE — The 36-year-old man charged with allegedly kidnapping and raping a teenager at her Northgate bus stop Monday morning has a lengthy criminal record.
According to court documents released by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the 15-year-old was waiting for the bus near the transit center at around 9 a.m. Monday, when 36-year-old Joshua Kowalczewski walked up and started talking to her.
Prosecutors state that Kowalczewski threatened the victim and demanded she go with him to a nearby wooded area. Scared of what he might do, she went along, where she was then sexually assaulted.
New charging documents show the suspect has a lengthy criminal history, which includes 28 arrests and 13 convictions over a 19-year span.
Prosecutors say his convictions include assault, DUI, possession, theft and criminal trespassing.
Court documents show he also has nine active warrants across five jurisdictions. In total, court documents say he has had 46 warrants issued for failing to appear in court since 2008.
KIRO 7’s Madeline Ottilie asked prosecutors how someone with such a long criminal record is able to roam free on the streets.
“I think that’s really a question for the jurisdictions where those crimes are alleged to have happened,” said Casey McNerthney, Communications Director with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “There wasn’t any case that King County prosecutors had been referred as a felony, and no cases that we had that could have had him held at the time of this sexual assault.”
McNerthney said several, if not all, of his priors were misdemeanors.
“Prosecutors are bound by the sentencing guidelines from state lawmakers,” he said. “That’s what judges go off of when they make determinations. It’s pretty difficult to hold somebody on a misdemeanor in some instances.”
On May 6, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Joshua V. Kowalczewski with first-degree first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping.
Prosecutors were asked why Kowalczewski was not charged with rape of a child. They told KIRO 7 that the charges filed more accurately describe the defendant’s actions and carry more severe penalties if convicted as charged.
Taking into account his ongoing cases and conviction history, a judge set his bail at $1 million.
Kowalczewski is expected back in court on May 11.
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