Airway Heights man sentenced to life in prison for molesting friend’s children in 2018

A judge sentenced a 32-year-old man to life in prison last month for molesting his friend’s children when they were 7 and 10 years old.

According to court documents, Ryan Herman, of Airway Heights, used his position of trust to facilitate sexual acts with the boys while they stayed at his camper in 2018. Herman met the mother of the children in 2018 at an auto parts store his father managed, court records say. They became fast friends, and he would often watch them when she was away. He would take them out with him to run errands and then bring them back to his trailer where Herman would molest them, court records say. The two families would attend events and sports games together.

The boys never said anything to their mother about Herman touching them while they stayed at his camper in Airway Heights because Herman told them it was OK and it was “what people do when they love each other,” according to court records. Years later, the two boys were with their grandmother when she noticed a scar on one of their feet. The now-teenage boy replied, “That happened at Ryan’s house when he molested us twice and forced himself on us.”

The family immediately called police, court records say.

Herman was arrested in 2024 and charged with three counts of first-degree child molestation. He also has a prior conviction for molesting and raping a 7-year-old girl in 2012. His prior conviction is what led the state to request he be imprisoned for life, because he is a “persistent offender,” according to a news release from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.