Police: Sex offender raped random Seattle woman

A Seattle woman returning from work was raped by a sex offender with a history of indecent exposure, prosecutors say.

The incident happened about 3:45 a.m. May 19 in the 100 block of Third Avenue South. The victim, 33, had consumed a number of drinks before heading home from her bartending job on Capitol Hill, police said in an incident report. As she was using a key to enter her building police said Anthony Phillip Hawkins ran from behind and grabbed her.

The victim had never seen Hawkins, who forced the woman to the sidewalk and climbed on top of her. Court documents described a graphic scene.

“The defendant’s recidivism and escalation is alarming,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carla Carlstrom wrote of Hawkins. “He was released from jail on Nov. 5, 2012, after serving time on a conviction for felony indecent exposure. Nine days later he committed another felony indecent exposure when he aggressively approached individuals in Columbia City and then began masturbating in front of them.”

At the time, KIRO 7 reported Hawkins had been arrested 84 times. He pleaded guilty to that case last June and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

In 2012, Hawkins was arrested after police said he was masturbating in an East Cherry Street parking lot and charging toward a 19-year-old woman.

Court records show Hawkins was released April 14 – less than a month before the current rape case – and Hawkins was still on community custody.

A citizen who noticed the victim in distress called 911 and patrol officers found Hawkins at a nearby intersection. In a police interview, Hawkins denied the attack, claiming there was consensual sex and that he met the victim’s roommate.

The victim’s roommate was adamant to police that the story wasn’t true.

“The current offense is a major escalation in violence from his previous acts,” Carlstrom wrote in charging documents.

Hawkins, 37, has seven felony convictions for drugs and indecent exposure, 12 gross misdemeanors and 20 misdemeanor convictions, according to court records.

He “poses an extreme danger to the community,” Carlstrom wrote. Hawkins is being is lieu of $500,000 bond and is scheduled to have an arraignment, where he’ll enter a plea, in June.

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