Anthony Ray Brownfield of Sequim has been convicted of three counts of first-degree child rape for incidents that occurred more than a decade ago.
Clallam County deputy prosecuting attorney Matthew Roberson said the Tuesday convictions will come with a sentence between 13 and a half to 18 years. Brownfield is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 11, Roberson said, and before then, the state will submit a memorandum with recommendations to the court.
“On cases like this, telling the judge what we’re asking for and why,” Roberson said.
Once Brownfield has served his sentence, Roberson said he’ll go before the state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board.
Because of the types of crimes committed and aggravating factors, including ongoing sexual abuse of a minor, the board can choose to hold Brownfield for life if they feel he’s still a danger to society, Roberson said.
According to court documents, Brownfield molested and raped a now 22-year-old woman when she was between the ages of 5 and 9, between 2002 and 2006. The woman had initially accused Brownfield in 2016 but was unwilling at that time to proceed with charges.
In 2019, the woman agreed to proceed with charges and was interviewed by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office. Based on those charges, deputies obtained permission to intercept messages between Brownfield and the woman in 2020, and in those messages, Brownfield apologized for the incidents.
“Please forgive me for the way I behaved with you back then,” Brownfield wrote in a text message.
Brownfield was arrested and admitted to several of the accusations made by the woman. Despite those statements to law enforcement, Brownfield pleaded not guilty in 2020 to charges of child rape and child molestation.
According to court documents, Brownfield said he was using a lot of drugs including methamphetamine.
The woman said Brownfield would have her recreate scenes from adult magazines and told deputies it wasn’t until she was 8 and overheard adults talking about child molestation that she realized something was wrong.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God. What have I been doing?’” the woman told deputies. “I was like, ‘Um, OK, so this isn’t normal.’”
Brownfield was arrested in February 2020 and answered affirmatively when asked about incidents detailed by the victim.
“I’m glad it’s out now,” Brownfield told deputies. “I’m tired of being sick with myself.”
Brownfield was initially charged with four counts of child rape and one count of child molestation, but the charges were amended to include three counts of first-degree child rape and one count of first-degree child molestation, Roberson said.
The child molestation charge was dropped after a motion from the defense following the victim’s testimony, Roberson said.
Roberson said the state will submit its sentencing memorandum once the court releases its pre-sentencing information and consultation with the victim.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at psegall@soundpublishing.com.
