Sex offender faces voyeurism charge

A Spokane County sex offender faces arraignment Tuesday on a charge that he committed voyeurism in the women’s restroom of a restaurant – while he was awaiting trial on an identical charge.

The defendant, 48-year-old Michael Burke Fleming, has a long criminal record for victimizing women since he was 21. He has been convicted of breaking into numerous women’s homes and of raping a woman on one occasion.

Many of Fleming’s crimes have involved alcohol.

Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno allowed Fleming to remain free while awaiting trial May 9 on a charge that he committed voyeurism last November at the Denny’s Restaurant at Sprague and Pines in Spokane Valley. He is accused of peering at a woman over the top of a restroom stall divider.

While he was free on his own recognizance, Fleming allegedly did the same thing at the Cyrus O’Leary’s restaurant downtown on April 5. A woman told police that Fleming draped himself over the top of a stall divider and stared at her, repeatedly flicking his tongue in a sexually aggressive manner.

According to court documents, Fleming fled when the woman screamed. Police said a female employee blocked Fleming’s path and kept him from leaving the restaurant until officers arrived.

Police said Fleming had a disposable camera, several items of women’s lingerie and several pornographic pictures when they arrested him. There is no indication in court documents that Fleming photographed the alleged victim.

Fleming remained in the county jail Wednesday in lieu of $30,000 bail.

He had pleaded guilty in January to the Denny’s Restaurant voyeurism charge and was to have been sentenced last month. He could have gotten up to a year in jail. However, Fleming was allowed to withdraw his plea because of a legal misunderstanding in his plea bargain.

This isn’t the first time Fleming has been accused of committing a crime while awaiting trial on another charge. In 1987, while awaiting trial on a second-degree burglary charge, he was accused of attempted second-degree burglary.

Fleming’s criminal career began in July 1978, when he broke into a woman’s house and pleaded no contest to second-degree burglary.

The victim wasn’t at home in that case, but another woman was in bed at 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 7, 1985, when Fleming broke into her north Spokane home and pulled the covers off her. Fleming fled, but the woman recognized him as someone who was often at her bus stop.

Fleming pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree burglary and was sentenced to four months in jail.

Less than a year later, Fleming and another man broke into a Spokane woman’s apartment while she was gone. They stole her wine and liquor and led police on a high-speed chase. Fleming pleaded guilty to attempted eluding, and a second-degree burglary charge was dropped.

Before another year passed, Fleming had again broken into a woman’s home. About 3:30 a.m. in June 1987, Fleming broke into a north Spokane home, stripped to his shorts and got into bed with a teenage girl. Fleming fondled the girl and was chased away by her bat-wielding brother.

While awaiting trial in that case, Fleming was accused of an unrelated attempted burglary. The new case wasn’t pursued because the victim didn’t want to press charges.

Fleming pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in the original case and was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He was out by April 1989, when he forced his way into a woman’s north Spokane home, ripped off her bath robe and raped her.

Charged with first-degree rape, Fleming pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and got four years in prison.

In January 1996, Fleming was charged with two counts of residential burglary and one count of attempted residential burglary at three homes in the same block of West Augusta. A jury convicted him as charged, and Fleming was sentenced to 81/2 years in prison.

In July 2003, Fleming was again charged with residential burglary for allegedly breaking into a woman’s home. According to court records, Fleming was surprised by the woman’s male cousin, who was house-sitting for her. The charge was dismissed.

A presentence report in the 1996 convictions says Fleming is a never-married alcoholic and drug user who dropped out of North Central High School after his sophomore year.

His misdemeanor convictions include assault, trespass, failures to register as a sex offender and violation of an anti-harassment order.