PORT ANGELES — A Superior Court judge set a $1 million bail for a 28-year-old Clallam County man who was arrested for investigation of molesting a 7-year-old girl and failing to register as a sex offender.
Steven Virgil Scott Willmeth remained in custody at the Clallam County jail Wednesday after Clallam County sheriff’s deputies arrested him in a sting operation Tuesday at a tree farm off Deer Park Road.
Police said he allegedly molested the Clallam County girl at the trailer where he was living at the tree farm since November.
Willmeth has outstanding warrants for previous sexual assaults in Oklahoma and for failing to comply with the sex and violent crime offender registry, deputies said.
The Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office plans to file formal charges Friday.
Judge George L. Wood on Wednesday upheld Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall’s request for $1 million bail.
Wood also imposed a two-year sexual assault no-contact order between Willmeth and the victim.
Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores said Willmeth was convicted in Oklahoma on two rape charges involving separate women.
He was sentenced to prison and fled to Clallam County after being released on supervision, Moores said.
Responding to a tip, detectives drove to Willmeth’s residence in an unmarked vehicle and arrested him without incident on a private road.
First-degree child molestation is a Class A felony punishable by a maximum of life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
