Man, 65, sentenced in rape of girl
A 65-year-old Spokane man was sentenced Friday to sex-offender treatment and six months in jail for raping and exploiting a girl for three years.
Donald Earl Evans was to be released from jail because he had already served almost nine months while awaiting trial. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of third-degree child rape and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, as charged.
Evans’ victim was 15 when he was arrested last July. He had been having sex with her since she was 12 and took numerous photographs of her naked and having sex with him and others.
Undercover Spokane police officers caught Evans while trolling an America Online Internet chat room for pedophiles. A male detective posing as a 13-year-old girl wound up talking with Evans’ victim, who was posing as a 19-year-old woman.
The girl sent nude photos of herself to the detective and told a female detective on the phone that her boyfriend took the photos and encouraged her to have sex with other girls.
When the girl gave the detective her phone number, he traced it to Evans’ home at 6117 N. Cambridge Drive. Officers were familiar with Evans and his victim because of a complaint she made when she was 12. The earlier investigation didn’t produce enough evidence to charge Evans.
The girl, whose family considered Evans a friend, had been living with him off and on for a year when he was arrested.
On Friday, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin accepted a joint recommendation by Deputy Prosecutor John Love and defense attorney Carl Oreskovich to sentence Evans under a special program for first-time sex offenders.
To be eligible, Evans had to admit his guilt, serve six months in jail and agree to three years of treatment. In addition, Austin imposed a 10-year sentence that Evans will have to serve if he fails treatment.
A half-dozen relatives and friends were in court Friday to support Evans.
Upon his release, Evans is to live with his wife, Lisa, and his brother, Bernie, at his home on Cambridge Drive. He is required to register as a sex offender.