Prosecutors last week charged a volunteer fire chief in Pacific County in Southwest Washington with 37 counts of child sex crimes involving four young boys.
Police believe Ilwaco volunteer Fire Chief Jefferey Archer molested and or raped the boys at his home in Ocean Park while babysitting them between 2013 and 2019, according to court documents. The four boys were 2, 6, 7 and 8 years old when the alleged sexual assaults began.
Archer was arrested by Pacific County sheriff’s deputies on Jan. 9 and booked into the Pacific County Jail on counts including first-degree child rape and molestation. He has since been put on administrative leave.
Archer began serving as a part-time fire chief in Ilwaco in 2021 and was hired as a full-time chief in November 2023, city administrator Holly Beller said.
A court records search did not show any criminal history for Archer before his arrest.
“The city will continue to monitor the investigation by the Pacific County sheriff’s office and respond appropriately as the matter is resolved,” Beller said. “The city of Ilwaco and the Ilwaco Fire Department are deeply committed to protecting the citizens of Ilwaco in the meantime.”
One of the boys told police that Archer sexually abused him every weekend for five months in 2019.
He said Archer gave him marijuana and alcohol for “allowing” Archer to perform sexual acts on him and said Archer took sexually explicit photos of him as well.
The boy also said Archer abused him and another boy at the same time in his Ocean Park home, according to court documents.
Archer is allegedly in an “intimate relationship” with one of the boys, who is now 18, police wrote in court documents.
Archer will be temporarily replaced by an interim fire chief until further notice, according to the Ilwaco Fire Department website. The department declined to comment.
