The King County Prosecutor’s Office filed a charge Wednesday of third-degree child molestation against a 21-year-old Kent man in connection with a Dec. 16 attack of a 14-year-old girl along a trail near Kent-Meridian High School.
Blake Leonard Marter also faces charges on three counts of indecent exposure for three other incidents along or near the same trail during the last four months, according to charging papers filed in King County Superior Court.
Marter is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 4 in Kent. Marter posted bail and was released Monday from the Kent city jail. Bail had been set at $100,000.
Prosecutors requested and the judge ordered that as part of his release, Marter should have no contact with any of the reported victims, and that he is to stay out of all parks, schools and other areas where children congregate.
Kent Police arrested Marter Dec. 19 at his East Hill apartment for investigation of indecent exposure and child molestation. He lives less than a mile from the trail.
Police started to investigate the case after a 14-year-old Kent-Meridian female student reported that a man with sweat pants pulled down to just above his knees jumped out and grabbed her left thigh as she walked to school along a trail in a wooded area north of French Field.
The student broke free from the man and reported the incident to a teacher and Kent-Meridian Safety Services.
Detectives discovered after numerous interviews with other students and individuals near the trail that the man reportedly has engaged in lewd conduct as many as seven other times in the neighborhood since August, said Kent Police Sgt. Bob Burwell. The man allegedly has been seen in various stages of nudity on or near the trail.
Prosecutors charged Marter for three indecent exposure incidents, including Sept. 15 when a girl saw a man along the trail wearing a shirt but no pants; Nov. 16 when witnesses saw a man wearing a shirt and shoes but no pants running the trail; and Dec. 11 when a girl saw a man running nude on the east side of the Campus Park parking lot.
Police had a local sketch artist make a composite drawing of the man to help develop leads.
Members of the Kent Police Neighborhood Response Team as well as detectives from the major crimes unit worked to track down Marter, Burwell said.
In September 2008, Marter was arrested by Kent Police for investigation of indecent exposure, according to court records. Marter pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct and the charge of indecent exposure was dropped.
Marter received a two-year deferred sentence. One of the conditions of the deferment included no criminal law violations. He also was placed on unsupervised probation.
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