Pierce County prosecutors have charged a 35-year-old man in connection with two sexual attacks on teenage boys.

Dwayne Clark was charged with first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation and third-degree child molestation in connection with the abduction in May 2007 of a 15-year-old boy. Clark was charged with indecent liberties and second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in an attack on an 18-year-old man Wednesday in Lakewood.

In both incidents, Clark is accused of contacting the victims as they walked down the street. It appears neither victim knew Clark, according to court documents.

Charging documents provide the following information:

On May 16, 2007, a 15-year-old boy told Pierce County sheriff's deputies he was walking in a parking lot when he was contacted by a man. The man was standing near a maroon truck.

The man talked to the boy about the Army and work. During the conversation, the man grabbed the teen, shoved him into the passenger side of the truck and took off. The victim told deputies he couldn't get the door open.

As the man drove around the Parkland area, he fondled the victim. He also took photographs of the victim with his cellphone.

"The suspect gave (the victim) a note with his phone number on it and stated they should do this on a regular basis," court documents state.

The man drove to Spanaway Lake Park and got out to use the restroom. The victim was able to get out and took the man's cell phone with him. He fled into the bushes and later went home.

A Pierce County sheriff's detective tracked the cell phone and phone numbers of the boy's attacker. Clark was developed as a possible suspect and the victim picked him out of a photo montage. The day after the incident, Clark reported his cellphone and credit card were stolen at Spanaway Lake Park.

The detective reported he could not locate Clark.

On Wednesday, Clark reportedly was in Lakewood. An 18-year-old man told Lakewood police he was walking home from American Lake when a man pulled up and offered him a ride. The young man accepted and told the driver where to go.

"While en route, (the victim) told the defendant he made a wrong turn," court documents state.

Clark went down a side street, then tried to sexually assault the young man. The victim pushed Clark away and fought off other advances.

Clark pulled out a knife and lunged toward the victim, who was able to get out of the truck and run. Clark tried to chase him but eventually got onto the freeway.

The victim reported the incident to Lakewood police and gave officers a description of the truck and his attacker. While the victim talked to the officer, Clark walked within sight. The victim told the officer the man was the one who attacked him.

Officers found Clark and his truck nearby and arrested him. Clark asked why he was being arrested and reported he was "a hard working citizen and had done nothing wrong." He claimed he was in the area to get a haircut.

Clark is being held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Jennifer Rice, the former Tacoma teacher convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old student, was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison Friday.

There was no argument over the what Rice's punishment would be. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Gary Steiner followed state statutes in imposing the sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

"This was a terrible violation of trust," Steiner told Rice before imposing her sentence. "I think the acts themselves speak to the significance of the crime."

Rice made no excuses for her behavior and recognized the hurt she's caused to many people.

"I am desperately sorry for what I have done," Rice said. "My behavior was careless, impulsive and selfish.

"I am here today as a result of my poor decisions."

Steiner convicted Rice in April of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree rape. He found the kidnapping and child molestation charges were predatory offenses because the victim was a student. The predatory designation - required when a teacher is accused of certain sex crimes - meant Rice faced stiffer sentencing requirements.

Prosecutors contended that Rice had a sexual relationship with the 10-year-old boy for several months while she was a teacher at Tacoma's McKinley Elementary School. The ordeal came to light in August 2007, when Rice sneaked the boy out of his home and drove him to Ellensburg. The two had had sex at a rest stop before she returned him to his home, court documents alleged.

During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered Rice also had sex twice with the boy's older brother in July 2007.

Rice chose to have a "stipulated facts" trial during which an agreed upon set of facts in the case was presented by prosecutors and Rice's defense team to Steiner. The judge then reviewed the facts before making his decision. The victims did not have to testify.

Neither the victims nor their parents attended Friday's sentencing hearing. Attorneys for the family, which has sued the Tacoma, Bethel and Yelm school districts, did attend but declined to comment afterward.

The family's civil suit alleges the schools districts negligently hired and supervised Rice and didn't do enough to protect the students from her.

Thirteen friends and relatives of Rice, including her parents and husband, attended the sentencing hearing and reiterated their support for her. Rice's father, husband and a friend spoke on her behalf during the hearing. None excused her behavior but told Steiner they still loved and supported her.

"We would give anything to change what's happened," her husband said.

The state has revoked Rice's licenses to work as a teacher and counselor.

A Spanaway man was arrested Tuesday afternoon while riding a bike in Pierce County for allegedly molesting and taking pornographic pictures of children on Fort Lewis grounds.

Jeffrey R. Smiley, 36, was charged in U.S. District Court in Tacoma with aggravated sexual abuse. He was also wanted on a warrant in Pierce County Superior Court for two counts of first-degree child molestation. The victims he's accused of assaulting were known to Smiley, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Smiley is not connected to the Army or Fort Lewis.

Investigators reportedly found mattresses, toys and cameras at two locations in a wooded area near Fort Lewis. They also found his car, which contained a computer and child porn image.

The FBI said there could be more victims. Anyone with information about additional victims should call the FBI at 206-622-0460.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, military police and Pierce County Sheriff's Department, Troyer said.

The News Tribune received one e-mail from a reader who spotted a contingent of federal and local law enforcement officers Friday afternoon near the base. Turns out, the officers and agents were investigating Smiley. They'd discovered two of his campsites on Fort Lewis property last week and had been actively searching for him.

A Pierce County man pleaded guilty last week to unsavory acts at a Lakewood bikini barista stand.

According to a prosecutor's affidavit:

Robert Kenneth Price, 49, exposed and manipulated himself in front of three different baristas at the Hot Chick-a-Latte drive-thru a total of 13 times over four days in January.

"On two occasions, he was driven by his wife," the charging documents say. "He also showed one barista a picture of his penis on his cell phone and asked her what she thought about it."

Then, on Jan. 7, after an alleged incident, one of the barista's mothers followed him home and documented his license plate allowing police to catch up with him.

Police said Price admitted to exposing himself "three or four" times, including once when his wife was at the wheel. She also told police she had seen one of his displays.

Price has a history of sex crime convictions in other states, the affidavit says.

Records show he pleaded guilt to two counts of indecent exposure. The charge has a standard sentencing range of 33-43 months; online court records showed he was scheduled to be sentenced in August. Price was being held in the Pierce County jail Tuesday evening.

(Photo: randomduck)

The online bulletin board Craigslist announced today that it was ending its "erotic services" ads, notorious for being prostitution come-ons.

The service will be gone when the current ads expire in seven days.

Here's a story I wrote last year for which I posted a couple of fake ads in order to get a sense of who was actually responding to them.

Men respond to Web ads trying to gauge prostitution
Local law enforcement agencies fighting prostitution target the street corner more than the Web. But there's plenty of it online.

By Ian Demsky

Tuesday,January 1, 2008
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: South Sound & Local, Page B01

When it comes to finding clients, the modern streetwalker lets her fingers do most of the work, the click clack of a computer keyboard replacing the sound of stiletto heels pacing the pavement.

Just how much illicit e-commerce is going on in the area is hard to measure. But after Fife drew attention to the issue recently when it passed an ordinance targeting online sex solicitation, we decided to set up an experiment to attempt to find out.

=> Read more!

Another person who claims he was sexually abused by Weldon Marc Gilbert has sued the millionaire Lake Tapps pilot for damages.

"John Doe" filed a civil suit against Gilbert last week in Pierce County Superior Court.

The plaintiff claims he was a minor when Gilbert offered him rides in his boat and gave him part-time jobs in an effort to gain his trust.

Gilbert used that trust to "engage in batteries by spanking and paddling plaintiff John Doe," the lawsuit states. The plaintiff also claims he was sexually abused.

He asks for damages for physical injuries and emotional distress.

Another alleged victim sued Gilbert in December 2007, making similar accusations.

Gilbert is charged with more than 30 crimes in federal court. He is scheduled to go to trial in April.

A Tacoma man was arrested last week in South Kitsap Internet sex sting.

According to the Kitsap Sun, 23-year-old David D. Kraqczyk thought he was meeting a 13-year-old at a fast food restaurant in South Kitsap. The fictional 13-year-old was actually a member of Perverted Justice, the organization made famous by Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator Series."

Kraqczyk was charged Tuesday with second-degree attempted child rape, the Sun reports.

When he was arrested, Kraqczyk told detectives he knew "this was illegal and morally wrong," documents state.

A former mental-health counselor pleaded not guilty in Pierce County Superior Court on Thursday to engaging in inappropriate sexual relationships with two patients at the Puyallup clinic where he once worked.

Michael G. Bennett, 66, is charged with two felony counts of indecent liberties. Prosecutors contend in charging documents that he engaged in sexual touching with two of his women clients from Good Samaritan Community Services. The criminal activity allegedly occurred between July 2007 and January 2008, the documents state.

It’s a crime under state law when a health-care provided has sexual contact “with a client or patient, and the sexual contact occurs during a treatment session, consultation, interview, or examination.”

Bennett worked at the clinic for more than 10 years and was assigned to the crisis intervention team at the time of the allegations, according to court documents. It was his job to help people who were dangerous to themselves or other because of their mental illness.

State officials began investigating Bennett in January 2008 when one of the women told her case manager that she’d had a sexual relationship with Bennett, according to charging papers. Good Samaritan officials placed him on administrative leave five days later.

Another woman came forward with allegations against Bennett in March, and investigators with the state Department of Health and the Puyallup Police Department launched investigations.

State health officials revoked Bennett’s license in July, and county prosecutors charged him last month.

This affidavit was filed about year ago, but I just ran across it after the accused was picked up on a bench warrant.

It just goes to show that in tough economic times, you can sometimes get a refund if you ask.

Bonus: the affidavit was written by prosecutor/author Mark Lindquist, whose novel "King of Methlehem" is full of similar gritty Pierce County vérité.

Here's the press release from DSHS about a court ruling on the constitutionality of the state's civil commitment facility for sex offenders:

Appellate Court upholds the constitutionality
of the DSHS sex offender treatment program

OLYMPIA -- A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of the DSHS Special Commitment Center treatment program for sexually violent predators.

The Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the March 2007 action of U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez to dissolve a federal injunction against the SCC. At one point, DSHS faced a contempt fine of $11 million before completing improvements that satisfied the court.

The underlying lawsuit, Turay v Richards, first went to trial in 1994. The last major court-required treatment improvement to the SCC was the opening of a transition facility in Seattle in 2005.

As he did two years ago, DSHS Deputy Secretary Blake Chard praised SCC staff for their hard work over the years to improve the mental health treatment of sex offenders. “We will continue to fine-tune our program to maintain its place as a leader in civil commitment programs,” Chard said.

The 292 SCC residents are housed and treated at facilities on McNeil Island, in Seattle and in supervised less-restrictive living quarters in various communities.

A Fort Lewis soldier accused of kidnapping and torturing two women in his Parkland home has returned to Pierce County.

Staff Sgt. Nathan Ryan Smith was booked into Pierce County Jail just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. He's scheduled to make his first court appearance this afternoon.

Smith was arrested Jan. 16 in Texas after he was found in a rental car with switched plates. A warrant had been issued for the 29-year-old solider's arrest after Pierce County prosecutors charged him with two counts of first-degree kidnapping, four courts of first-degree rape, attempted rape, felony harassment, destroying evidence and first-degree arson.

Smith, a cavalry scout with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division stationed at Fort Lewis, also is considered absent without leave from the Army.

Find out more about his capture here.

Don't have time right now to do much more than post this CrimeStoppers flyer. But look for a longer story soon.