Man possibly tied to 3 restroom attacks
A Morton, Wash., man who allegedly attacked an 8-year-old boy in a public restroom in Castle Rock Saturday and allegedly performed a similar act last June is believed to have been involved in a third attack on a young boy, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s office said Friday it expects the State Patrol to forward information regarding a June 27 incident in which 22-year-old Steven R. Moulton allegedly attacked a 9-year-old boy at the Maytown Rest Area off southbound Interstate 5.
According to State Patrol Trooper Makayla Morgan, a 9-year-old boy was washing his hands when Moulton stepped out of a stall, put his left hand over the boy’s mouth and fondled his rear end. Moulton allegedly kissed the boy, smiled and ran out the door, Morgan said, citing investigators’ statements.
The child came out of the bathroom screaming, and his aunt wrote down a license plate number matching a vehicle belonging to Michael Moulton, Steven’s father. State Patrol troopers searched for a red pickup truck matching the vehicle’s description but were unable to find it – and later said they did not have enough information to make an arrest at the time.
Morgan said the child identified Moulton during a later investigation using a montage of six photographs of potential suspects. The State Patrol is in the process of filing charges against Moulton for assault on a minor with sexual motivation.
Meanwhile, Steven Moulton is being held in the Cowlitz County Jail on a $250,000 bond after being accused of first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation, first-degree child molestation and second-degree assault of a child with sexual motivation in the Saturday incident involving a Lacey, Wash., boy in Castle Rock.
In that incident, according to court records, Moulton went to a baseball tournament for boys 12 and under at the North County Sports Complex in Castle Rock with a man who was watching him for his parents. The man watched him enter a men’s restroom and, when he failed to exit several minutes later, went inside and found him in a locked stall with a screaming boy. After pounding on the door to get it open, the man found the boy sitting on the floor with blood in his mouth.
Last June Moulton allegedly assaulted an 8-year-old boy in a bathroom stall at a park in Morton. Morton police had no evidence of sexual assault and felonious violence. In November prosecutors charged Moulton with first-degree burglary, determining he had broke into the stall by sliding under the door.
Before Moulton entered a plea to the charge, a judge ordered he get a mental competency evaluation by Western State Hospital.