Prosecutors dismiss rape charges against illegal immigrant

Snohomish County prosecutors have dismissed rape charges against an illegal immigrant whose arrest in Edmonds sparked outrage because he had been deported 10 times before.

Jose Madrigal-Lopez, 46, pleaded guilty to a single count of misdemeanor indecent exposure last month after prosecutors dismissed the second-degree rape charges after concluding that the sexual contact may have been consensual, Snohomish County Attorney Mark Roe said Thursday.

Madrigal-Lopez was arrested after a witness saw him standing, with his pants down, over a woman outside an Edmonds supermarket.

The woman first told police that he had offered her $35 for sex and then raped her when she refused. Jail records indicate that she told police she was screaming for help, but a source familiar with the investigation said she changed her story.

"The evidence was relatively equal on whether or not it was consensual, so we were not completely convinced," Roe said.

Madrigal-Lopez was sentenced to 90 days with credit for time served for the indecent exposure charge in the Snohomish County Jail. He is now in federal custody.

On Thursday, Madrigal-Lopez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Weinberg in Seattle on a new federal felony charge of illegal re-entry, which could land him in prison for 10 years.

Madrigal-Lopez has a long criminal record in the U.S. of mostly drug offenses, although he was convicted of theft of a firearm in California and unlawful sexual contact in Denver.

He was deported to Mexico 10 times between 1997 and 2004, but each time returned to the U.S., according to the court records.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com