Police release man accused in assaults

A Spokane man’s two-week stay in the Spokane County Jail ended Monday after his father made a convincing argument that Spokane Police had arrested the wrong person in connection to a string of three sexual assaults.

The father said his son, 25-year-old Jacob Ryan Harding, was at Geiger Corrections Center in October when two of the attacks were reported, Spokane Police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

“Geiger (officials) checked their dates and confirmed that he was in jail at the time two assaults occurred,” Cottam said.

After learning of the situation, Detective Neil Gallion requested that the charges against Harding be dropped, Cottam said.

According to court records, three women reported similar assaults during October. In each case, the suspect would run up behind the victim and reach under her pants or skirt. Only one of the three victims was able to get a good look at the suspect and provided enough information for a composite drawing.

Gallion then prepared a photo montage of six possible suspects that included Harding. The first victim picked his photo out of the lineup, Cottam said.

The detective then went to Harding’s apartment on South Cedar Street, and “as soon as I saw him I recognized him from the composite drawing,” Gallion wrote in court records.

Gallion showed the composite drawing to Harding and said, “That’s you.” Harding replied, “Yeah, it could be,” according to court records.

Gallion also wrote in his report that he checked security surveillance from an assault reported on Oct. 25 from Sprague Avenue and Madison Street “and the defendant appears to be in the footage.”

Based on the photo montage and the security tape, Gallion booked Harding into jail on Nov. 29 and requested that prosecutors charge him with two counts of second-degree rape and one count of indecent liberties.

Court records don’t indicate whether Gallion ever asked Harding where he was during the nights of the assaults or whether Harding ever told authorities that he was incarcerated during those dates.

“I don’t know how he worded it, but (the father) was the one who said his son was in jail,” Cottam said.