Man facing sex assault charges in New York, Whidbey Island

An Oak Harbor man facing sexual assault charges in New York is accused of raping a 7-year-old girl, according to court documents.

On July 15, a judge in Island County Superior Court ordered 24-year-old Hardeep S. Lidder held in jail on $100,000 bail.

In the Whidbey case, prosecutors charged Lidder July 16 with rape of a child in the first degree.

A woman and the young victim reported to police that Lidder had sexually assaulted the child in the back seat of a car during a family outing July 13, the police report states.

When officers arrived at the family’s residence, they found family members knocking on the door to Lidder’s bedroom, where he had locked himself in after being confronted by a family members about the rape allegation, the police report states. Officers forced the door open and found him sleeping.

Lidder was charged in New York for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman while she was sleeping, the police reports says. A family member said the family members “wasted $30,000 on his stuff in New York” and didn’t think “he would do it here,” the report states.

Lidder had been scheduled to go back to New York later in July to deal with the case.