Police suspect man awaiting trial on child rape charges has impregnated another girl

A 45-year-old man is under investigation for raping and impregnating his girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter while he was out of jail awaiting trial on a charge of raping a 7-year-old.

Major Hawthorne is suspected of raping the girl multiple times, beginning in May 2018. The girl then gave birth Feb. 2.

The allegations are in a search warrant filed Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

Spokane police Detective Wayne Downing spoke to the 13-year-old after she reported in November that she was raped multiple times by Hawthorne, first at the Downtowner Motel in downtown Spokane in May, a few weeks after she turned 13.

The girl’s mother also spoke to detectives after she learned about the pregnancy in November. She told detectives her daughter didn’t know she was pregnant until at least September and said she hadn’t had sex with anyone else.

In late November, police submitted DNA swabs of Hawthorne and the girl’s newborn baby for comparison. The results are pending.

Hawthorne, who also is facing several felony DUI charges, was arrested and charged in April with rape and molestation in a separate but similar circumstance. In 2015, the 7-year-old daughter of his ex-wife reported to officers that Hawthorne molested the young girl as she watched TV in her mother’s room.

After an investigation, he was not arrested until three years later, and the girl alleged she was assaulted by him multiple times after the first report.

Before Hawthorne was arrested in mid-April, the 13-year-old girl again talked to detectives and alleged he kept trying to fondle her. She said Hawthorne punched her in the side of the head after she resisted his advances.

Hawthorne’s attorney, Molly Nave with the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office, successfully argued for his release in May, and he was released without bond. A doctor at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center estimated the girl’s date of pregnancy was in May.

Attempts to reach Nave were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Hawthorne was arrested again, however, in June for a fifth felony DUI charge. He’s been at the Spokane County Jail since. Hawthorne’s recent criminal history shows only fourth-degree domestic assault from 2009 and a DUI. He has a history of assault and battery in California, but no sex crime convictions.

In July, he underwent a court-ordered forensic evaluation by Dr. Cedar O’Donnell at Eastern State Hospital after Hawthorne claimed he had no memory of his arrest and “woke up on June 2 here” in jail. Hawthorne also claimed to have voices inside his head that wouldn’t let him sleep.

O’Donnell concluded Hawthorne was competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense.

Hawthorne is scheduled to go to trial in May.