KENT, Wash. — Kent police have located a 50-year-old man wanted in multiple counties for child rape.
According to Kent police, an officer was on a routine patrol on Saturday, Aug. 15 when he got an Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) notification that a vehicle registered to the suspect was near E. Smith and E Titus Roads, near the Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks Park.
Two days earlier, the same officer assisted the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office in an attempt to arrest the suspect, but the man in question was not home at the time.
The suspect is a Kent man, but was wanted by Thurston County for investigation of second-degree rape of a child, police said.
When the Kent officer ran the plate that was picked up by the ALPR, he saw the same man had a warrant out of Grays Harbor County for second-degree rape of a child, first-degree trafficking, and commercial sex abuse.
The vehicle was registered to the suspect, Kent PD said.
The officer “notified his crewmates of the situation and advised that based on his home address being so close to where the ALPR notification was made, the suspect was likely headed there,” Kent PD said.
When officers got to the man’s home, the vehicle was in the driveway.
Officers made announcements over a PA system telling the suspect that he was under arrest.
According to Kent PD, he eventually left his home of his own accord and was taken into custody without incident.
He was booked into King County Jail, where he awaits extradition to Grays Harbor County.
Thurston County deputies were notified that the suspect was booked.
“Nice work by [the Kent PD officer] and his crew immediately responding to the ALPR hit and to the suspect’s home. He had been elusive up this point but is now captured. We are happy to help other agencies on all cases, but especially ones where the suspect is alleged to have caused harm to children. Don’t hide in Kent. The officers will find you,” Kent police wrote on Facebook.