Man charged with raping girl, coercing her into prostitution

A Seattle man who police say coerced a 12-year-old girl into prostitution has been charged with two counts of second-degree child rape and one count of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor and could face 17 to 23 years in prison if convicted.

Steven L. Leonard, 23, met the seventh-grader on a sidewalk in Seattle on Jan. 9 and persuaded her to run away from home with him, according to charging documents filed Tuesday by the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

Leonard allegedly had sex with the girl several times and gave her tips on how to work as a prostitute, including how much money to charge for various sexual acts, according to charging papers.

A man then paid the girl for oral sex and she later handed over most of the cash to Leonard, according to the charging documents.

Leonard is being held at the King County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. He has been previously convicted of escape, theft, animal cruelty and possession of stolen property, and he has been booked into the county jail seven other times in the past 11 months.

Charging documents detail the five days police say Leonard spent with the girl before she was spotted by her uncle on the street in Seattle on Jan. 13 and taken to Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center. Leonard was arrested three days later.

After they met, Leonard and the girl took a bus to White Center, where they had unprotected sex and then spent the night with his 18-year-old fiancée, who regularly sneaked Leonard into her bedroom in the apartment she shared with her father, according to charging documents and information from the fiancée.

According to the documents, Leonard told the 12-year-old girl that he knew they shouldn't be having sex but he didn't care. Under state law, any sexual act between an adult and a minor under the age of 16 is illegal.

Leonard and the girl stayed at his fiancée's house a second night, sleeping on the floor together, charging papers say. The following day, Leonard took the girl to Federal Way, where she met a man who paid her for oral sex, according to the charges. When the customer asked her age, she said she "wasn't supposed to tell him," police said.

The girl gave the money she earned to Leonard, except for a small amount to buy food with, the documents state.

Leonard and the girl spent a third night in a backyard shed near West Seattle, according to the charges. The following night, they returned to the fiancée's home, according to the documents.

The fiancée told police that Leonard had made money from other girls through prostitution. Police also are investigating the fiancée's claim that Leonard also tried to coerce her into prostitution.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com