Child rape suspect likely fled to Mexico

A Renton man accused of traveling to Whidbey to have sex with a 15-year-old girl is wanted on a $50,000 arrest warrant, according to court documents.

Prosecutors charged 29-year-old Vicente Campos Duenas in Island County Superior Court Jan. 14 with rape of a child in the third degree.

Under the definition of third-degree child rape, Campos Duenas is accused of having sex with a child who’s at least 14 but less than 16 years old.

The Island County Sheriff’s Office has asked the public for help locating Campos Duenas, who remains at large.

Detective Ed Wallace with the Island County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on Campos Duenas’ email account and found that he apparently went to Mexico, where he is a citizen.

The warrant for his arrest was recently extended to include all the Western states, according to Wallace.

Anyone with information can contact the Island County Sheriff’s Office via the dispatch center at 360-679-9567.

Detective Sgt. Mike Beech with the Island County Sheriff’s Office wrote in his report on the incident that the girl’s mother and a friend returned to their North Whidbey home Jan. 9 to see a strange man fleeing from the home.

It turned out that the man, identified as Campos Duenas, had befriended the teenaged girl a month earlier and had traveled to Whidbey to have sex with her, the report states.

Campos Duenas left behind plenty of evidence, including his cell phone with a photo of himself, his wallet with a driver’s license and a used condom, Beech wrote.

Officers from the Sheriff’s Office and the Oak Harbor Police Department responded to the scene and searched the woods for the man for about two hours. They didn’t find him, but found a cell phone he apparently dropped.

The alleged victim also had a cell phone she said “Vicente” had given her. It contained photos of a man the girl identified as the suspect, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

On Jan. 10, a relative of the alleged victim gave investigators a wallet that contained Campos Duenas’ drivers license and a Mexico federal ID card, according to detectives.

Oak Harbor Police are also investigating an incident in which Campos Duenas tried to pick the girl up at the Oak Harbor High School last December, court documents state.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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