Former jail guard arrested on rape charges

COLFAX – After searching for two days, Whitman County sheriff’s deputies found and arrested a former Whitman County jail guard Thursday on three counts of second-degree child rape.

Howard Banks, 40, of Malden, resigned from his job at the jail nearly two weeks ago, at the same time investigators were looking into accusations that he had sexual relations with a minor. Additional information about Banks’ alleged conduct came in over the weekend, prompting deputies to seek him early this week for questioning.

According to Whitman County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Laverne, deputies had been looking for Banks to question him and later arrest him. On Wednesday,they learned he had left the area and taken a number of pills in an attempt to overdose, according to a Sheriff’s Office report. Police issued an all-points bulletin out of concern for his safety and the safety of the community, Sheriff Brett Myers said.

After receiving an anonymous tip Thursday afternoon, deputies found Howard had returned to his home. They arrested him when he came to the door.

According to a sergeant’s report, the Sheriff’s Office was investigating a claim that a 13-year-old girl had intercourse with Banks at his home in February. The officer interviewing the alleged victim this week reported that the girl said Banks initiated sex with her at his home on three separate occasions, at least once in the presence of his wife. The victim believes he may have had contact with other girls, said the report.

After deputies arrived at his home Thursday, Howard Banks admitted to having sex with the girl and said it was at her request, according to the report by Sgt. Rick McNannay.

Investigators were looking into the possibility of other victims, Laverne said.

Because the case is being investigated by deputies who work for Banks’ former employer, the Sheriff’s Office, the question of conflict of interest has come up, said the prosecutor. “But the deputies are a separate entity from the jailers,” she said, adding that to bring in another agency at this point might add extra time to an investigation that should be progressing quickly.

“We have a duty to investigate crimes in Whitman County as long as we can do it fairly and impartially,” Meyers said.

Banks is a former employee and those investigating him have no connection to him, he said. Banks had worked at the jail for seven years and had lived in Malden for six.

Banks was booked and given a bond hearing in Whitman County Superior Court on Thursday. At the hearing he told the judge he had planned to call the investigators, arrange a meeting and turn himself in by the end of the day. He asked to be released from jail to go home. “Your honor, you can call me every hour on the hour, I’ll be there,” he said.

Banks’ wife, Jacqueline, told the court she had been planning on a divorce but changed her mind. She asked that the judge release Banks so he could return to home. “I just want my husband back,” she said.

Judge David Frazier said that given Banks’ efforts to avoid police over the past few days and his attempt to overdose on pills, he might be a flight risk as well as a danger to others and himself. The judge set bail at $50,000 and issued a no-contact order for the alleged victim or any other girl under 18 without line-of-sight supervision of an adult.