UPDATE: Bail Set at $500,000 for Shoreline Man Arrested in Rape of 12-Year-Old Girl

UPDATE:

Jesse Ryan Guertin, also known as Jesse Ryan Gonzales, of Shoreline, appeared in King County Superior Court today, after being booked into the King County Jail on Wednesday on investigation of rape of a child. 

Guertin, 37, was arrested by Shoreline police Wednesday morning for raping a 12-year-old girl after breaking into an apartment in the 20000 block Whitman Ave. North.

The court set bail at $500,000.

Guertin lived at a house in the 22000 block of Whitman Ave. North about a block away from where the girl and her family lived.

The girl's mother arrived home from work about 3:30 a.m. to find Gonzales in their apartment. He hid his face and escaped on foot.

Evidence at the scene tied Gonzales to the case, Shoreline Police Chief Dan Pingrey said Wednesday. The evidence, a palm print from a vanity in the victim's bedroom was used to identify Gonzales via King County's Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

According to statement of probable cause, Guertin, "presumably entered the residence through the unsecured front door of the residence."

Guertin, under the name Gonzales, served time in state prisons from Dec. 1996 to July 1999 for residential burglary and second degree malicious mischief for crimes committed in Snohomish County. 

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Shoreline Police arrested a man this morning in connection with the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl that occurred in Shoreline's Echo Lake neighborhood early Sunday morning, the King County Sheriff's Office said.

The suspect is a 37-year-old man who was living in the 20200 block of Whitman Ave. N. near the apartments where the attack occurred. 

“We are extremely happy to have this predator off the streets”, said Sheriff's spokesperson Cindi West.  “The arrest was the result of team work and good police work."

The suspect was arrested after a traffic stop in the 19300 block of Meridian Ave. N. by a Shoreline Police officer about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday. The man has multiple prior arrests, said Shoreline Police Chief Dan Pingrey, although he declined to say what those crimes involved.

Police had been conducting surveillance on the home where the suspect was living with several others since early this morning before he was arrested.

The sexual assault occurred about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, when the victim was asleep and awoke to the man in her room. The victim’s mother came home during the assault and saw the man but he covered his face and fled on foot. 

The suspect is a 37-year-old Hispanic male, approximately 5-feet, 10-inches with a medium build. 

The girl was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and treated. She is currently living with relatives outside of Shoreline and receiving counseling from the Traumatic Stress and Sexual Assault Unit at Harborview.