PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man faces formal charges today for allegedly molesting three girls.
David Randall Chesser, 48, was arrested Tuesday for investigation of first- and second-degree child molestation after the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office interviewed three alleged victims.
The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will consider filing formal charges at Chesser’s next court appearance at 1 p.m. today.
Chesser was being held Thursday in the Clallam County jail on $100,000 bail.
Port Angeles High School officials reported Nov. 8 that a 16-year-old student had disclosed that she had been molested by Chesser, according to the affidavit for probable cause.
The alleged crimes occurred when the girl was between the ages of 12 and about 15, Deputy Joshua Ley wrote in an arrest report.
The girl came forward when she found out there were other alleged victims “because she wanted to prevent it from happening” to younger children, Ley said.
On Nov. 14, a second girl told investigators she had been molested by Chesser when she was about 11 or 12. The girl told Ley that she also remembered being molested by Chesser was when she was about 5 or 6.
The girl wrote a short story for school about being molested by Chesser and shared it with another girl, who said that she, too, had been molested by Chesser, according to Ley’s report.
On Nov. 21, the third alleged victim said she had been molested by Chesser roughly seven or eight times when she was between the ages of 6 and 8, Ley said.
In a recorded phone conversation with the first alleged victim, Chesser on Tuesday “never denied that he touched all three girls” inappropriately, Ley said.
“He maintained that he was sorry to all three of them,” Ley wrote in his report.
“When confronted on details, he said that would be for a later conversation and that it would become a legal issue.”
Chesser was arrested at his Gasman Road residence Tuesday afternoon.
Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly on Wednesday granted Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin’s request for a $100,000 bail for Chesser, court papers said.
Melly also signed pre-arraignment sexual assault protection orders preventing Chesser from having any contact with the three alleged victims.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
