Ex-policeman faces rape charges
A former police officer who worked in several Eastern Washington towns appeared Monday in court on charges that he raped two girls over a period of about three years.
Spokane County sheriff’s deputies arrested Michael Wayne Hopkins, 41, on Friday for two counts of first-degree rape of a child and first-degree molestation of a child.
Court Commissioner Randy Brandt ordered Hopkins – who has no previous criminal history – held in the Spokane County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Hopkins has worked as a police officer in Omak, Benton City, Northport, Dayton and as a corrections officer at the Stevens County Jail, said Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan. Hopkins also was employed as a private security officer by a company in Walla Walla.
Brandt said he was concerned about the safety of the community based on the nature of the crime and Hopkins’ comments to a pre-trial services employee that he wanted counseling for sexual urges he has for one of the victims.
Hopkins didn’t give a statement during the hearing. His defense attorney, Rob Cossey, argued for a lower bond based on Hopkins’ ties to the community and lack of a criminal record.
“Some of those charges are two to three years old,” Cossey said of the rape allegations. “I don’t think a $500,000 bond is appropriate.”
Brandt said Hopkins’ private security job included providing surveillance for a Spokane company that was not named.
According to court records, a 14-year-old girl told investigators that Hopkins sexually assaulted her during the years she was 10, 11 and 12 while she was living in Spokane County.
Some of the allegations include touching, rape and forced masturbation, according to her statement to sheriff’s Detective Kevin Bechtold.
The other girl, who is 12, told Bechtold that Hopkins took her to bed and assaulted her between five and eight times when she was 9 and 10.
The girl told Bechtold that she would tell Hopkins “no” but he would beg her to continue.
During one of the incidents, the girl’s mother walked in on them. As a result, the girl and Hopkins went to see a psychiatrist three times.
After those meetings, the mother “and Hopkins told (the girl) they wanted to keep it … their secret. She kept that secret until (Friday) when Detective Bechtold interviewed her,” according to court records.
The secret recently came to the attention of investigators after the 14-year-old girl told a friend, Bechtold wrote. The friend told the 14-year-old girl that they had to tell her mother. The girl told the friend “that she hadn’t told before because she was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do,” Bechtold wrote.
Kelly Fitzgerald, deputy Spokane County prosecutor, said there is often a delay between the time children are sexually assaulted and when they report the crime.
“It’s often easier talking to a friend than your mom,” Fitzgerald said. “Once this came out, everyone was appropriate in reporting it. I think that anybody who encourages the victim to seek help or tell law enforcement should be commended.”