Man held in July 4 groping

A Spokane man is in jail for allegedly fondling a woman as she was getting into a car July 4 in the West Central neighborhood.

The man, Mark Tillman Dayman, faces a count of forcible indecent liberties. He is expected to appear in Spokane County Superior Court later this week. In a jailhouse interview, Dayman said he was high on methamphetamine on July 4 and doesn’t remember the incident.

“I honestly do not remember doing this,” Dayman said. “I wouldn’t hurt nobody like that.”

The 20-year-old alleged victim said Wednesday that she was getting into a car in the 2400 block of West Mallon Avenue at about 3:30 p.m. when a man approached without her seeing him.

Court documents say the woman was groped and pressed against the car in the attack.

“Usually I have a lot of faith in people,” the woman said. “I’m a lot more cautious now, especially when I’m by myself.”

The Spokesman-Review does not name victims of sex crimes.

The woman was on her way to an Independence Day gathering with her boyfriend, her brother and his girlfriend.

“That guy came out of nowhere,” the woman’s brother said. “I was just astonished that someone could have the audacity to do that in the middle of the day.”

The brother, who had just gotten into a different car, said he saw the assault and pulled the man off of her. The man fled down the block, but then said he wanted to fight, the brother said. He eventually left the area.

“He said, ‘It’s fate. It’s fate. It’s all about fate,’ ” the brother said. “I was so angry, I wanted to hit him. But I didn’t.”

A few days later, the brother was driving with his girlfriend near the House of Charity, 123 W. Pacific, when they spotted the man who they believe assaulted his sister, the brother said. They called police and officers arrested Dayman.

“That guy had an unmistakable look,” the brother said. The woman said she later identified Dayman from a photo lineup.

Dayman, 34, said Wednesday night that he was visiting his wife on July 4 near Elm Street and College Avenue. That’s about six blocks from where the assault occurred.

Dayman said his problems started when he was charged with a domestic violence crime in spring 2004. He denied that he assaulted his wife in that incident. While he was in jail, his three kids were taken from his wife by the state, and he was been working since then to regain custody, he said.

Dayman blames government agents for keeping his kids from him.

“They’re setting me up so they can take my children,” he said of the indecent liberties charge.

Dayman has several convictions in Washington, Montana and California, said Spokane Police spokesman Dick Cottam in a press release. His past crimes include molesting a child under the age of 14, willful cruelty to a child, failure to register as a sex offender in California and endangering the welfare of a child.

Dayman said his only sex crime was a late 1980s misdemeanor in California.