PORT ANGELES — An 18-year-old Sequim man who is charged with breaking into a house he used to live in to try to rape a pregnant woman appeared in Clallam County Superior Court on Monday, where he was ordered held on $250,000 bail.
Timothy Lytle Gaskill was arrested Sunday after being charged Aug. 30 with first-degree burglary with sexual motivation, fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation and attempted first-degree rape.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin told the court Monday that Gaskill has an extensive criminal history that appears to be escalating and that he has a “flagrant disregard” for following laws and court orders.
“He likes to burglarize people’s homes,” Devlin said, adding that previous burglaries have also included sexual motivation.
Devlin told the court that Gaskill poses a risk to the community because “he does not have a specific victim in mind,” and that “he picks people at random within walking distance.”
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour followed all of Devlin’s recommendations for conditions of release, including setting $250,000 bail, and scheduled arraignment for 9 a.m. Friday.
Court papers say the burglary happened Aug. 8 and was reported at 2:35 a.m.
The alleged victim, who was shaking when police arrived, told officers that she awoke to someone touching her leg and who made a statement to the effect of “you know what I want,” court papers say.
She said she did not know the man.
The woman — who Devlin said is in the third trimester of her pregnancy — told police the man said he would kill her three children, who were still asleep when police arrived.
She begged him to leave and convinced the man to walk out the front door. She closed the door and watched the man walk away from her home.
She later told police that at one point she tried to get the phone to call police, but the man told her “if you make one more noise, I will kill your kids in front of you,” according to court records.
Police at the scene saw that a screen had been removed from the bathroom window and that there were shoe impressions on a chair that was apparently used during the break-in.
Using a forensic sketch artist, police were able to develop a suspect pool that included people in the area with criminal history who resembled the drawing.
Among the possible suspects was Gaskill, who had a history of burglary convictions, one of which included breaking into a neighbor’s house and stealing a pair of panties. Police showed the woman a photo montage, and she identified Gaskill as the man who attempted to rape her.
She was “a thousand percent” sure it was Gaskill, she said.
Police then located Gaskill’s parents and learned that they had previously lived in the house that their son is now accused of breaking into.
Gaskill was released from Naselle Youth Camp, a state medium-security facility that provides educational and treatment services for male offenders, on Aug. 1 and since then he had been living in a tent in his parents’ backyard.
They had installed a camera system in preparation for his return due to his known thefts, court records say.
On Aug. 29, police contacted Gaskill and interviewed him, during which they asked Gaskill if he had gone to his former home since his release from the Naselle Youth Camp. Gaskill said he hadn’t been there for several years.
Investigators noticed during the interview Gaskill was wearing shoes that matched the description that the woman had provided. He allowed police to photograph the tread on his shoes, which they then compared to the shoe prints found at the home.
Police discovered that the tread pattern matched the shoe print left on the chair. Prosecutors filed the charges the next day, and Gaskill was arrested Sunday.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at [email protected].