Child luring suspect now facing kidnapping charge

Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives rushed to keep a man behind bars on Friday after a prosecutor earlier in the day decided to let him go, citing a lack of evidence to pursue child luring charges against him. A charge of second-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation was filed against Konstantin A. Sergienko, 38, late Friday afternoon before he was let out of the Spokane County Jail, Deputy Mark Gregory said. Gregory declined to provide more information but said that additional information about the new charge would be released Monday. When Sergienko made a court appearance on the luring charges Friday, prosecutor Patrick Johnson told a Superior Court judge that he didn’t believe there was enough evidence to keep him in jail. “I’m not usually in a position to argue against probable cause,” Johnson said in court. “Luring requires something other than an invitation.” With Sergienko set to be let go with no restrictions, detectives hurried to complete paperwork on the new charge before he was released. Two Spokane Valley teenagers and a developmentally disabled woman reported that a man with a thick accent driving a red SUV approached them and offered them a ride. The woman told deputies that the man grabbed her arm Sept. 5 while she was waiting for an STA bus in the 13300 block of East Mission Avenue. She was able to pull away. A 13-year-old girl was approached as she waited Sept. 9 for the school bus near the intersection of Mission and Adams Road. A 15-year-old girl was approached in the 13600 block of East Broadway on Oct. 13 as she walked to school. After deputies identified Sergienko as a possible suspect, both girls picked Sergienko out from a photo lineup, according to court documents. He drives a red and silver 1998 Mitsubishi. After his arrest Sergienko reportedly told deputies that he had offered rides to “several” girls and had approached children and offered them coloring books, according to court documents. The Sheriff’s Office had no comment on the prosecutor’s actions. Deputies arrested Sergienko in November on a charge of trespassing at the Wal-Mart store at 5025 E. Sprague after several female employees reported that he followed them to their cars after work. In some cases he got into the women’s cars and made sexual advances, according to court documents. The case is still pending.