West Seattle man charged with child rape
Wed, 11/03/2010
Todd Humberto Phelan, 34, was charged with third degree child rape on Oct. 29, according to charging documents released by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
The documents state another man was involved in the sexual assault and police are actively searching for him.
The documents charge Phelan with allegedly picking up two 15-year-old girls who had fled from a youth center, taking them back to his apartment in West Seattle and giving them alcohol before sexually assaulting one of the teens.
It was early afternoon on Oct. 23 when the two 15-year-old girls fled from Spruce Street Secure Crisis Residential Center in Yesler Terrace, according to the documents. Spruce Street CRC is a “community resource for runaway or street youth between the ages of 12 and 17,” according to their website.
The teens told police they walked to a nearby AM/PM gas station without shoes and wearing clothes marked with “Spruce Street CRC” when Phelan and another man offered them a ride.
The teen who later became the victim in the case told police they were, “desperate to get out of the area,” and accepted the ride.
Phelan allegedly took them back to his apartment on Delridge Way s.w. where the teens were offered Four Loko malt liquor energy drink and vodka. The victim told police she “got really drunk” and described herself as “zoning in and out” and falling down several times.
The victim told police her friend said, “Let’s go,” at one point but she responded that she was too drunk.
Her friend left and, according to charging documents, the sexual assault occurred intermittently over the next several hours. The victim identified both Phelan and the other man as being involved.
The victim eventually left the house and stopped at a former foster parent’s home before making it to her sister’s house in Renton where she told her sister what happened, according to charging documents.
The victim and her sister contacted the King County Sheriff’s office and she was referred to the Harborview Medical Center Sexual Assault Center.
According to charging documents, on Oct. 25 police went to Phelan’s apartment and apprehended him without incident.
When an officer interviewed Phelan on Oct. 26, charging documents state he said he “was scared and didn’t know what to do but he wanted to cooperate.” He told police that he believed the teens were both 18-years-old.
As he was escorted back to his cell, Phelan told the officer, “I got them drunk, that’s all I did. I didn’t have sex with them,” according to the documents.
Phelan is being held on $300,000 bail for suspicion of third degree child rape and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 8.
Court documents report that Phelan has been booked 17 times since 1995 and he had 22 warrants out during that time. His prior felony convictions include taking a motor vehicle without permission (1993), second degree attempted robbery (2005), possession with intent to distribute (1996, 1997, 1998) and second degree theft (1999).