King County prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old Kent man, a registered sex offender and convicted rapist, with first-degree child molestation after he allegedly had sexual contact in July with a 9-year-old girl swimming at Lake Meridian Park.
Michael Anthony Martin is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, Aug. 23 in King County Superior Court in Kent. He remains in the county jail at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center with bail set at $500,000.
Martin lives in the 27300 block of 144th Avenue Southeast, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office website listing of sex offenders. That address is right across the street from the park, a popular summer hangout for children because of its swimming beach.
The sex offender website lists Martin as a Level 2 offender, which is described as “offenders have a moderate risk of re-offending. They generally have more than one victim and the abuse may be long term. These offenders usually groom their victims and may use threats to commit their crimes. These crimes may be predatory with the offender using a position of trust to commit their crimes. Typically these individuals do not appreciate the damage they have done to their victims.”
Martin was convicted as a juvenile in February 2008 of three counts of first-degree child rape in connection with a 2007 case. Martin was 13 when convicted.
As far as the Lake Meridian Park case, senior deputy prosecutor Cecelia Gregson wrote in the charging papers filed Aug. 8 that Martin “sought out a poorly supervised child at a community park and preyed upon her trusting acceptance of help to learn how to perform swimming tricks.”
Martin allegedly approached a 9-year-old girl on Tuesday, July 17, according to charging papers. The girl told a child interview specialist that Martin assisted her during a back flip in the water and during that process poked her and rubbed her with his fingers outside and inside her bathing suit.
The girl then said she told Martin “No.” She exited the lake and told a staff member what had occurred. The girl was at the park on a field trip with the Federal Way Boys and Girls Club, according to court documents.
Later that day, the girl’s mother called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report her daughter had been touched inappropriately. Kent Police then contacted the mother.
Kent detectives took over the case Aug. 3 and learned that Martin lived near the park. The girl picked Martin out of a photo montage as the man who touched her.
Police arrested Martin for first-degree child molestation on Aug. 6 at his residence. Martin told detectives he recalled the July 17 incident at Lake Meridian Park and admitted to helping the girl do back flips. He denied that he touched the girl inappropriately. He said he placed one hand on the girl’s back and one on the back of her leg, although he then changed his story to placing his hand on her stomach.
Detectives also learned that Martin had been the subject of several “acting strange” complaints from people at the park, including a suspicious subject call on July 17, the date of the alleged incident. Officers responded to that call but the suspect had left the park and could not be located.
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