Police find rape suspect with girl

Spokane police attempting to interview a man accused of raping a teen found him in bed with another girl.

Franklin A. Hicks, 23, was booked into the Spokane County Jail this week on a count of third-degree child rape. The 14-year-old girl that police found in his house denied that they had sexual contact, court records say. No charges have been filed in connection with her, but an officer removed her from his home.

An officer went to Hicks’ home after a 15-year-old girl told detectives on Monday that he raped her July 15 at his home in the 2900 block of East Queen Avenue, according to court records. She said that she met Hicks through a friend.

Hicks declined to be interviewed Wednesday at the jail. He was released Thursday morning because prosecutors did not file paperwork to keep him there.

The teen told police that Hicks gave her and a friend hard alcohol and that she became intoxicated, records say. She said that she told him “no, no, no” when he started making sexual contact with her, fell asleep and later awoke to him raping her.

The friend of the 15-year-old, who was at the home when the incident occurred, told police that the girl made statements to her that indicated that the sexual contact was consensual. Consensual sex between a 14- or 15-year-old and someone four years or more older is considered third-degree child rape in Washington.

The Spokesman-Review does not name victims of sexual assault.

Police spokesman Dick Cottam declined to discuss the specifics of the case, but said detectives are continuing to investigate.

Hicks told police that he had sex with the 15-year-old but thought she was a year older, court records say. He also told investigators that he liked “young females” and wanted help for his “problem,” records say.

In 2001, Hicks was convicted of third-degree assault and second-degree malicious mischief for beating a man in an alley with a rake handle. The same year, he also was convicted of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance. He was given a year sentence behind bars.