Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a man accused of assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a park in Pierce County with second-degree child rape.
Michael Gary Barber, 57, of Spanaway, was initially held on $250,000 bail and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf at arraignment. Barber was released from custody and ordered to stay at home after a bail bond company posted his bail Wednesday morning. Pierce County sheriff's deputies arrested Barber Monday.
Barber lives near the victim, but he was a stranger to her, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause.
Deputies identified Barber using video from a doorbell security camera provided by the victim's mother and a description of the assailant from the victim, according to the probable cause statement.
Charging papers gave this account:
The 13-year-old girl's mother called police Sunday to report her daughter was raped. The girl told police she was in a park with headphones on when a man approached her and sat next to her.
He asked the girl a vulgar question about her boyfriend and then allegedly put his hand in her shorts and began sexually assaulting her. Prosecutors wrote the man stopped when two kids walked by.
Then, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into a wooded area behind the park, according to the charging papers. There, he allegedly continued to sexually assault her. While he was standing behind her, the girl was able to run home.
After calling police, the girl's mother showed investigators video from her Ring doorbell security camera, which showed Barber was at their house asking about doing yard work earlier that day. Detectives confirmed with the victim that the person in the video was the same man who raped her, prosecutors wrote. A neighbor gave police Barber's address and police went to his house.
A SWAT team was called to the scene after Barber and his wife refused to leave their house. Barber came out several times to flip off police and tell them to leave before he retreated back inside, according to the charging papers.
After several hours, police obtained a seizure warrant for Barber. Police announced the warrant to him, but he refused to surrender, prosecutors wrote.
Police used an explosive device directed at the garage door in an attempt to distract Barber so he would walk out. The plan worked, and Barber walked out, prosecutors wrote. Officers tackled and arrested him.
