BELLINGHAM — A high ranking U.S. Border Patrol agent was booked into Whatcom County jail Thursday after he was charged Wednesday with three counts of the third-degree child rape of a 14-year-old girl who was living with him and his wife, court documents say.
Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Joseph W. Giuliano, 55, who is second-in-command of the Border Patrol’s Blaine sector that includes the North Olympic Peninsula, allegedly admitted to investigators to having sexual intercourse with the girl at least 24 times since April, according to charging documents filed in Whatcom County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon.
Giuliano has recently had a high profile on the North Olympic Peninsula, commenting as a Border Patrol spokesman on the agency’s roadblocks in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
He attended the dedication of the Richard B. Anderson Federal Building in Port Angeles in September, and just two weeks ago announced that Port Angeles would get a homeland security base for patrolling the Strait of Juan de Fuca, although he didn’t know when the new substation for Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Services would be built or where it would be.
Michael Bermudez, Border Patrol spokesperson, said Giuliano was placed under indefinite suspension after his arrest. His employment status is under review, he added.
Giuliano faces up to five years in prison if convicted, but that sentence could be doubled because of the multiple counts, Mac Setter, Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office chief criminal deputy, said.
Bail is set at $50,000, and Giuliano’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 24.
The three counts Giuliano is charged with allegedly occurred in a vehicle and in his home.
Giuliano and the girl would coordinate meeting times by text messaging on their cell phones, charging documents said.
Setter said the girl’s father, who is dating Giuliano’s daughter, let her live with the Giuliano family because he did not have a place for her to stay after he and his wife separated.
Giuliano’s daughter is in her 20s, Setter said. He didn’t know her name.
The 14-year-old girl, who now has been placed with state Child Protective Services, began living with the Giuliano family in late February or early March, Setter said.
Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said Giuliano was arrested at 9:30 a.m. Thursday without incident at his home in Sudden Valley, which is a lake-front community east of Bellingham.
“It is reprehensible that a senior law enforcement official would exploit a child,” Elfo said.
“Any time a person in a position of trust acts like this, you are shocked.”
Elfo said each incident would count as a charge.
Additional charges are expected, he added.
Elfo said he has known Giuliano on a professional basis for about seven years.
This is the first case of a law enforcement officer in Whatcom County being charged with sexually abusing a child in his 12 years with the Sheriff’s Office, he added.
Tip on Monday
Elfo said the Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous tip on Monday, and followed it up with interviews with the girl’s classmates at Bellingham High School, who had been told about it by the girl, and with Giuliano.
According to charging documents, Giuliano began touching the girl while she slept in bed with him and his wife, Patty Giuliano, who was not aware of the alleged abuse.
Setter said the girl had been sleeping in the same room as Giuliano’s daughter, but didn’t feel comfortable with that arrangement and had asked to sleep in the parental bed.
The girl returned to sleeping in the other bedroom after Giuliano’s daughter moved out.
Sexual intercourse began on a family vacation to Arizona, the charging documents say.
Elfo said the Sheriff’s Office is in contact with authorities in Arizona.
Bermudez said Giuliano, as deputy chief of the sector, oversees Border Patrol operations in Western Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
Giuliano has been a Border Patrol agent since 1985, and was previously stationed in California, he said.
Bermudez said the Border Patrol will fully cooperate with the investigation.
“The Border Patrol places great emphasis on integrity, and does not tolerate actions that would tarnish or diminish the reputation of our agency,” he said.
A temporary replacement for Giuliano arrived Thursday, Bermudez said, but he did not know the replacement’s name.
Finding a permanent replacement could “certainly take months,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
