An Oak Harbor man is accused of kidnapping a teenage runaway, keeping her captive for weeks, raping her multiple times, beating and strangling her, and possibly causing her to have a miscarriage, according to court documents.
On June 22, the 14-year-old girl got away from the Northwest Rigging Street home and went to a stranger’s house for help, court documents state. After being reunited with her mother, she told police a harrowing story of captivity.
The suspect, 33-year-old Joshua Wiener, appeared in Island County Superior Court June 23. Judge Carolyn Cliff found probable cause existed to believe Wiener may have committed the crimes of kidnapping in the first degree with sexual motivation, rape of a child in the third degree, assault in the second degree, felony harassment, criminal impersonation in the first degree and unlawful harboring of a minor.
Cliff set Wiener’s bail at $150,000, but had to recuse herself from hearing the case in the future due to a conflict of interest. On Monday, Judge Christon Skinner reaffirmed the probable cause finding and bail.
Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom had recommended $500,000 bail, arguing that Wiener represented a danger to the victim if released because he had threatened to kill her if she went to police. He said Wiener could potentially face a life sentence if convicted of the charges.
In court Monday, Wiener’s attorney indicated that his client denies the allegations. Wiener told the police that the girl was only at his residence for a day or two and he let her stay because they were both high, according to a report by an officer with the Oak Harbor Police Department.
The police report states that the victim was in protective custody of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families when she left a school in Oak Harbor without permission on April 28. The police searched the area and checked her previous known addresses but did not locate her.
Earlier this month, an officer spoke with girl’s mother and grandmother, who reported hearing from the girl over Facebook Messenger but felt the messages were not really from her. The mother had moved from Oregon to Oak Harbor to look for her daughter.
On June 22, the police were notified that the girl had been reunited with her mother and that she had been held against her will at Wiener’s home, the officer wrote.
The girl told police that Wiener, a friend of the family, contacted her after she ran away from the school months prior and said he could get her back to her mother. Instead, he took her phone away, would not let her leave his residence and raped her multiple times on an air mattress, the report states.
The girl told police she became pregnant while being held captive and that she had a miscarriage after being assaulted by Wiener; she said he beat and strangled her, the report states. The police report noted that she was “riddled with cuts and bruises varying in age.”
The girl said she heard police come to the house looking for her, but Wiener pushed her under a sink and threatened to kill her, the report states.
On June 22, Wiener told the girl that he thought police were looking for him and told her to hide in a nearby woods, saying he would kill her if she ran off, the officer wrote. The girl, however, ran to the nearest house and got help from the resident.
Police executed a search warrant on Wiener’s home and found several articles of female underwear and other “female” clothing and an air mattress with what appeared to be blood on it, the report states.
The report indicates that police believe Wiener used the girl’s phone to message her family, pretending to be her and saying she wanted time away from them.
In 2020, Wiener, who previously lived in Freeland, was convicted of assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon, harassment, unlawful possession of a firearm and forgery, according to court documents. He had threatened a woman with a gun. He was sentenced to a year and five months in prison, which he served and was released.
