PORT ANGELES — A July 21 jury trial has been set for a Port Townsend man accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl in a pool at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center in May.
The Clallam County Superior Court hearing last week for Joshua David Larson, 39, comes as Larson also faces a child-molestation charge in Snohomish County based on allegations he abused a child at a Thanksgiving dinner last year in north Snohomish County, according to a June 6 Everett Herald article.
Larson was charged in Clallam County Superior Court on May 29 with a single count of child molestation and pleaded not guilty at Friday’s hearing, according to court documents.
He remained in the county jail Sunday on $25,000 bail.
A Sequim Police report gave this account of events on May 18 leading to Larson’s arrest in the Sequim case:
Sequim officer Maris Turner spoke with a 9-year-old girl who told her a man who was a stranger to her touched her inappropriately while they were in the pool at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, or SARC.
The girl told Turner she had been playing with the man, later identified as Larson, and his son in the small pool and that Larson had repeatedly touch her.
After Larson was identified based on SARC surveillance footage and the girl’s description, he was arrested without incident at his Port Townsend home May 23.
In an interview with Sequim police, Larson denied intentionally touching the girl but said he could have accidentally done so while they were playing.
The Herald reported that a Snohomish County Superior Court judge issued a $500,000 arrest warrant for Larson late last month, securing his transfer to the Everett jail if he’s released from the lockup in Clallam County.
The judge in the Snohomish County case had released Larson without bail, the Herald reported, following Larson’s arrest March 27 for the north Snohomish County case.
The Everett Herald reported that Larson also denied the north Snohomish County allegations, which were made in December by a girl he knew to her family.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
