A 37-year-old Shoreline man arrested Wednesday morning in connection with the rape Sunday of a 12-year-old Shoreline girl was ordered held today in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Jesse Gonzales, also known as Jesse Guertin, was matched to the assault through a palm print found inside the girl’s bedroom, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office. Gonzales was arrested during a traffic stop around 5 a.m. on Interstate 5 near Shoreline.
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Gonzales is being held at the King County Jail for investigation of child rape, burglary and felony harassment. A spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that the filing deadline for criminal charges is Friday.
Sheriff’s Detective Michael Gordon wrote in the report released on Thursday that it appears Gonzales entered the girl’s home, an apartment in the 20000 block of Whitman Avenue North, through the “unsecured” front door. The 12-year-old girl and her two younger siblings were at home alone.
An uncle, who was supposed to be watching the children while their mother was at work, doesn’t believe he locked the front door when he left around midnight, Gordon wrote.
Sometime between 1 and 3:41 a.m., the girl awoke to a stranger in her bedroom. She told investigators that the man gagged her with a green kitchen apron, the report said.
When the girl’s mother returned home at 3:41 a.m. she found the front door was unlocked. The woman rang the bell and knocked, which apparently startled Gonzales, the report said. The girl told Gonzales that she had to answer, or the person would be suspicious. She then ran past her mother and said that a man had “touched her body,” the report said. The mother called for help.
The girl and her mother returned to the home to find the man inside. He was dressed and had a sweatshirt concealing his face, the report said. The man then fled, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Gonzales, who authorities say is a steelworker, previously served time in prison for firing gunshots at two men in Everett in 1996.