Teenage rapist gets 3 years in custody as judge cites his "utter lack of remorse"

A teenage rapist was sentenced to more than three years in juvenile custody Friday by a judge who said his "utter lack of remorse" justified the exceptional sentence.

The 17-year-old Federal Way boy is one of four teens who pleaded guilty to raping a Bellevue girl in November 2007. Police said the teens later bragged about the attack in Internet postings.

While sentencing the boy in King County Juvenile Court, Judge Michael Hayden revealed that the victim, 16 at the time of the attack, became pregnant as a result and later had an abortion.

The boy, who will be 18 in October, rested his head in his hands and sobbed as the judge ordered him to be in state custody until he is 21. The Seattle Times generally does not name juvenile defendants.

"I just want to say I'm sorry," the youth sobbed. "I'm really sorry for what happened."

But Hayden said that what "struck me the hardest" was a section of a presentence report in which the boy was quoted as calling the girl a liar for accusing him of rape. Other presentence documents indicated the boy denied responsibility for the attack, was not amenable to treatment and showed no concern for the girl.

The boy's mother, speaking through a Russian interpreter, told the judge she disagreed with the reports.

"This is not the case," said the mother of her son's reported lack of remorse. "He is very upset about what happened. He would never do this against anyone's will forcefully."

The mother also said the family had discussed the matter among themselves and that they had agreed her son would marry the girl and raise the child. She said her son was angry that the girl had an abortion because it violated his religion.

"And rape doesn't?" asked Judge Hayden, getting no response.

The boy could have received as little as 30 to 40 weeks in custody. He pleaded guilty to second-degree rape in May.

The Bellevue Police Department launched an investigation after the victim's mother took her to a hospital in November, where it was determined she had been raped.

Detectives used Internet records from social-networking sites, including e-mail messages and MySpace accounts, to learn the identities of the four boys responsible for the rape.

According to police, the boys had boasted of the rape in the messages and had discussed killing the girl to prevent her from testifying against them.

The investigation found the boys had driven from Federal Way on the night of the attack, picked up the girl at her home near Crossroads, got her drunk and took her to a park, where each of them raped her in the back seat of a car.

Two of the other boys were sentenced to lesser terms in June, with one ordered to spend 52 to 65 weeks in custody after pleading guilty to second-degree rape and unlawful possession of a firearm. Another boy, who cooperated with police, was sentenced to 15 to 36 weeks in custody after pleading guilty to second-degree assault.

The fourth boy is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com