PORT ANGELES — A retired California firefighter accused of raping a teenage girl who said he has been abusing her for more than half her life will appear today in Clallam County Superior Court for the scheduled filing of felony charges.
Patrick Michael Callahan, 60, of Port Angeles was being held Wednesday in the county jail after $150,000 bail was set in Superior Court on Tuesday based on a 5½-page probable cause statement, which laid out three alleged assaults.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Roberson said Wednesday he routinely asks for $150,000 or more bail for sex offenses that involve children.
Roberson said Wednesday he expects to charge Callahan at a 3 p.m. hearing today with third-degree child rape and first- and second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.
A probable cause statement refers to incidents involving oral sex, intercourse and molestation that allegedly occurred when the girl was 14 or 15, after she turned 17, and on Saturday, after she said she gave Callahan a back massage.
In a recorded interview with Port Angeles Police Detective David Arand, Callahan denied ever assaulting the girl but corroborated her assertion that she gave him a back rub Saturday night.
When confronted with the girl’s allegation that he forced her to give him oral sex, he asked to speak with a lawyer, according to the statement.
Callahan, who is married, was booked into the county jail early Monday evening.
Port Angeles police began investigating the case Sunday after the girl claimed in a text to her boyfriend that Callahan assaulted her. A sexual assault nurse examiner examination was conducted at St. Michael’s Medical Center in Silverdale.
The girl, now 17, said Callahan, her former tutor, had been abusing her since she was 9 or 10, when they lived in California, according to the probable cause statement. She moved to Port Angeles when she was 11.
The girl said Sunday that the assaults occurred so many times while living in Washington state that she could not remember when they started, according to the statement.
“[The girl] said she was too scared to stop because she was afraid of what he would do … ” Arand said in the statement. “She said she just kind of ‘mustered’ through thinking she would get out when she turned 18 and she wouldn’t talk about it.”
First-degree child rape is intercourse that occurs when the victim is younger than 12, second-degree rape is when a person is at least 12 and younger than 14, and third-degree rape is when the victim is at least 14 and younger than 16 and the perpetrator is at least 48 months older than the victim. First-degree sexual misconduct with a minor occurs when the victim is between 16 and 18, if sexual intercourse occurs, if the perpetrator has a significant relationship with the victim, abuses their supervisory position to commit the assault and is at least five years older. It is a Class C felony.
The same elements are present for second-degree sexual misconduct, except sexual contact occurs. It is a gross misdemeanor.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
