3 Spokane men sentenced for rape, imprisonment of runaway girl

Three men were sentenced Tuesday to more than 4 1/2 years in prison for their involvement in the 2018 rape and imprisonment of a 14-year-old girl in Spokane.

The victim reported being kept for four days in a downtown apartment, where she was coerced to smoke meth, not allowed to leave and sexually assaulted in April 2018.

The victim ran away from home and was befriended by William C. Jackson, 44, who gave her alcohol and brought her back to his apartment, where he, Harold W. Sherman, 60, and Curtis E. Burget, 56, detained and assaulted her.

The men pleaded guilty at different times over the last year to charges related to their treatment of the teen in Jackson’s apartment on the 200 block of West Sprague Avenue. Burget and Sherman also lived in the building.

Police said the men continued to get her high and took turns “watching” her to assure that she did not try to escape. On the fourth day, the victim was able to escape with the help of a good Samaritan, according to police.

The girl was reunited with her parents and taken to the hospital.

The Spokane Police Department’s Special Victims Unit got search warrants for the men’s apartments and collected their DNA, which linked them to the victim after testing.

Sherman pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance to a minor and third-degree rape of a child.

Burget pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment and possession of a controlled substance.

Jackson pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance to a minor and third-degree rape of a child.

Burget and Sherman had prior criminal convictions.

All three men were sentenced to 55 months in prison with 36 months of community custody.