Felon suspected of rape was being supervised by state

A longtime felon wanted in connection with the rape of a woman at knife point last month was under state supervision at the time of the attack, according to the Department of Corrections.

Before the attack, John Alan Carter, 51, had been on community supervision — the state's version of probation — since April after his release from prison, where he spent two years on a third-degree assault conviction, according to the Department of Corrections (DOC). He had followed the rules set out by his community corrections officer and was living in a halfway house for recovering addicts, a DOC spokesman said.

He had been regularly checking in with community corrections officer Carol Jones, most recently on July 21, according to DOC records.

Jones had given Carter permission to housesit in Covington. Carter is alleged to have raped the victim at the Covington house on the night of July 26 and the early morning hours of July 27 and then stole the woman's Jeep Liberty, according to the King County Sheriff's Office.

The vehicle was found abandoned in Medford, Ore. last week.

The King County Prosecutor's Office charged Carter with first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping July 28. An arrest warrant for Carter has been filed in a nationwide law-enforcement database, DOC spokesman Chad Lewis said.

According to court charging documents, Carter asked a 49-year-old woman he had met through Narcotics Anonymous to view the home. When they reached the top of the stairs, Carter punched the woman in her stomach, court charging documents said.

When the woman fought back, Carter punched her in the face then choked her until she lost consciousness and fell to the floor, charging papers said. Carter then threatened her with a knife, saying he would kill her and rape her daughter if she didn't comply with his demands, charging papers said.

Carter then bound the woman's ankles and wrists with plastic ties and raped her repeatedly for several hours, charging papers said.

Later, Carter ordered the woman to accompany him to an ATM so she could withdraw money for him. Dressed in just a T-shirt, the woman was ordered to get out of her Jeep and go into a Renton 7-Eleven store and get him cash.

Carter stayed in the Jeep, but told the woman that if she fled he would kill her and her daughter, charging papers said.

The woman withdrew $400 then told Carter to let her go. Carter ordered the woman to get into the vehicle, but she refused and he drove away.

A resident in an East Medford neighborhood called police on Friday to report seeing the car, unlocked and with a key in the ignition, said Medford police Lt. Bob Hansen. The resident told police that he first noticed the vehicle on Aug. 1, but didn't report it until Friday, Hansen said.

Medford police scoured the city but haven't found any sign of Carter, Hansen added.

"We've exhausted everything we can think of so far," Hansen said Tuesday morning.

Carter is white, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, with reddish blond hair and brown eyes. He has missing upper teeth, multiple tattoos on both arms and the tattoo "Robin" on one hand. He frequently wears glasses and speaks with a slight lisp, investigators say.

In the 2007 third-degree assault case, Carter threatened a woman at knife point in the Southcenter mall parking lot and cut her as she fled. He served two years in prison for the charge before his release in April, Lewis said.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com