PORT TOWNSEND — An 18-year-old Port Townsend man posted $5,000 bond this morning on a charge of second-degree rape of a 17-year-old girl.
Tanner O. Huntingford is slated for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court.
He had been held since Nov. 25 in the Jefferson County jail and was formally charged Wednesday.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office had requested $10,000 bond, James Kennedy, deputy prosecuting attorney, said this morning.
“We don’t have any particular concern with him being a flight risk,” Kennedy said.
Huntingford was arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged early-morning Nov. 22 incident at Huntingford’s home involving a longtime friend who had passed out after drinking too much alcohol, according to the probable cause statement.
The girl told police she had been at Huntingford’s home the night of Nov. 21 when she passed out and awoke the following morning as Huntingford was raping her.
She left Huntingford’s home at about 5 a.m. Nov. 22, went to a friend’s house, and told him what had happened, she said.
She later told police she and Huntingford had been friends for five years.
She said Huntingford had wanted to date her “but she has never liked him that way and has not led him on to believe otherwise,” according to the probable cause statement.
“She said neither her actions nor remarks insinuated consent for sex.”
Huntingford texted the girl a few times the next morning.
“[She] said Tanner pleaded with her to try to not send him to jail for something he doesn’t remember doing,” according to the probable cause statement.
The circumstances for second-degree rape include when sexual intercourse occurs by forcible compulsion and when the victim cannot consent due to being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.
According to the probable cause statement, the girl was incapable of consent by being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated by sleep or intoxication.
Second-degree rape is a Class A felony punishable by a term of up to life in prison.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
