Accused child rapist wanted

A 43-year-old North Whidbey man accused of raping a child is wanted on a no-bail, nation-wide extradition warrant out of King County Superior Court.

King County Prosecutors charged Leendert “Leo” Schreuders with two counts of rape of a child in the second degree for allegedly raping his daughter “during a period of time intervening between Dec. 21, 1999 through Oct. 11, 2001,” according to amended charging documents. The victim was 13 years old at the time.

Judge Anthony Wartnik approved the bench warrant after Schreuders failed to appear at a pre-trial hearing Monday, according to King County Prosecutor’s Office Spokesperson Dan Donohoe.

According to court documents, the girl claimed that Schreuders sexually assaulted her when she was four years old. The case went to trial in Portland and Schreuders was found not guilty.

The report states that her parents got divorced and she did not see her father again until she was 11 years old. The girl told King County investigators that he started sexually assaulting her “directly after he came back into her life,” the report states.

The sexual assaults took place in Portland, Vancouver, Redmond, on the ferry to Whidbey Island and on Whidbey Island, the affidavit of probable cause states.

Jan Smith, spokesperson for the Island County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies arrested Schreuders in North Whidbey Sept. 3, 2003 on a $50,000 warrant out of King County. She said an investigator is looking into the allegations of abuse on Whidbey Island.

According to relative of his, Schreuders may have tried to get away in his yacht named KAZM. He lived in North Whidbey on Hubbard Hill Road, near Deception Pass, with his wife. Anyone who spots him should call 911.

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.

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