PORT TOWNSEND — Chimacum High School Principal Rex E. Whipple, charged with voyeurism for allegedly surreptitiously videotaping a 15-year-old girl in various stages of undress at his Port Ludlow home, appeared before a judge Monday to counter allegations that he tried to obtain a passport while out on bail last week.
On Friday, Prosecutor Juelie Dalzell moved before Jefferson County Superior Court Judge Craddock Verser that a warrant be issued for Whipple’s arrest just four hours after he posted $25,000 bail from Jefferson County jail.
Two Jefferson County District Court clerks testified that a man matching Whipple’s description — one of the clerks saying she would lay her life on the fact that the man she saw was Whipple — tried to apply for a passport at the courthouse.
Although Verser didn’t issue the arrest warrant, he ordered Whipple to court Monday to clear up the discrepancy.
Receipt from hotel
Whipple’s attorney, Alton McFadden of Bainbridge Island, introduced into evidence Monday a receipt showing that Whipple checked into TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Kent on Friday at 2:24 p.m. — about the same time the court clerks said they saw him in the county courthouse.
McFadden also introduced into evidence a declaration by an employee of the TownePlace Suites who checked Whipple into the hotel.
The employee, Brian Hansen, said that the credit card used to check into the hotel had Whipple’s name on it.
Hansen declared that he checked the driver’s license of the man, and it, too, had Whipple’s name on it.
Verser took no action Monday, but reiterated to Whipple that he is not allowed have a passport, and that the court and McFadden must have an up-to-date address where Whipple is staying.
Whipple, 41, is due back in Jefferson County Superior Court for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Friday.