Bail is set at $75,000 for a Thurston County man accused of raping a drunk woman at a New Year’s Eve party in Chehalis.
Louie Edward Young, 31, of Rochester, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail just before 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 1, following an investigation by the Chehalis Police Department.
That investigation began at approximately 5:23 a.m. that morning, when the victim’s partner reported that Young had sexually assaulted the victim in an apartment complex on Second Street.
The victim reported that she, with her partner and Young, were celebrating New Year’s with “a lot of alcohol” in a Second Street apartment.
The responding officer confirmed that there was “a fair amount of consumed alcoholic beverages inside the room,” according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
When speaking to the officer, the victim indicated that “she felt very intoxicated, the room was spinning, and she didn’t know what happened because it was all pretty blurry and she only remembered certain parts.” She did reportedly say, “she felt as though she was forced to do things.”
The victim reported that Young brought her out to his car, sexually assaulted her and ignored her when she said she didn’t want to participate, didn’t know what was going on and wanted to leave, according to court documents.
Young allegedly repeatedly told her not to tell her partner about the sexual assault.
She later went to Centralia Providence Hospital for a medical examination.
Young was charged Jan. 2 in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of second-degree rape and indecency. Both charges are class A felonies punishable by up to life in prison, and are also classified as “strike” offenses in Washington state, which can trigger harsher sentences under state law.
While Young has no criminal history aside from an assault case that was dismissed, Judge Joely Yeager set relatively high bail due to the nature of the allegations.
Young indicated that he intends to retain an attorney.
A no-contact order in favor of the victim is in place. The victim has also petitioned for a civil protection order that is separate from the criminal case, according to Yeager.
