2010 assault was not his last
Almost four years ago, in July 2010, we did a controversial blog posting on a sexual assault that took place at the Seattle Tennis Club. The fact of the assault was a matter of public record; but because the perpetrator and the victim were both minors, no names were reported. Our story was controversial because some STC members did not want the matter discussed publicly. Others, however, felt that the story warranted reporting so that parents who were aware of an assault having taken place in the neighborhood would be informed that the danger was not ongoing.
The perpetrator, Lucas D. Trethewey, then 17 years old, was convicted of child molestation in the first degree and sentenced to several months of juvenile detention. He was also stripped of his membership in the Seattle Tennis Club. However, after serving his time, Trethewey soon perpetrated another criminal act, this time at the Northgate Toys 'R' Us store. In November 2011 he was convicted of voyeurism in that case, which involved the use of his cellular phone camera in a men's room. The incident was reported by the SeattlePI.com. Trethewey, as a registered sex offender, must report his address to the authorities, and according to the King County Sheriff's website, Trethewey now lives on Capitol Hill.
Trethewey is back in the news with a recent report by the Seattle P-I that he has been charged with second-degree child molestation resulting from an incident at GameWorks in November 2013. Trethewey, who is now 21, has not yet entered a plea.
In the Tennis Club incident, as reported by the PI, Tretheway, groped a nine-year-ol boy, who reported the contact to a passing adult, who both confronted Tretheway and called in an STC manager. Quoting from the the PI story:
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Trethewey said, according to court documents. “Sorry that this is happening, and I’m sorry that you had to get the manager.” Trethewey later told the manager he “had this problem in the past,” the Seattle detective told the court. When asked what he meant, Trethewey replied “with children” and added that he’d been through therapy. Interviewed by police alongside his parents, Trethewey changed his story and claimed he may have accidentally brushed by the boy on the way past him.
Trethewey plea-bargained after that initial incident. That option may not be available to him now, given this third alleged attack.
[Photo: King County Sheriff's Office.]
It's too bad that some STC members thought the initial incident should be downplayed. Shows where their priorities are, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the timing of your article. You could have written this after the Toys R Us incident in 2011. The P.I. article from that time covers the STC situation in full, yet the 2014 P.I. article barely touches on the STC incident.
Yes, we missed the 2011 article, which we could have reported on at the time. We were told about the recent incident and then did the Google search, which surfaced the PI story. The timing is related to the fact that many of us knew about the original incident but had never seen the details, and the perpetrator (who lives nearby) is apparently still in action.
DeleteWho are his parents?
ReplyDelete