A registered sex offender is facing new charges for allegedly harboring a runaway 14-year-old Centralia girl and raping her multiple times between July and September 2023.
The victim reportedly went missing on Sept. 1, 2023, according to court documents.
Officers with the Centralia Police Department investigated the girl’s disappearance and learned she was with her “boyfriend,” identified as Airon Jenkins, 20, of Lewis County.
Jenkins is a registered level 3 sex offender living as a transient in Lewis County, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He was convicted in Thurston County Juvenile Court for first-degree rape of a child and other sexual offenses in November 2016 and was subsequently convicted on multiple charges, including first-degree child molestation and communication with a minor for immoral purposes, in December 2017. He was most-recently convicted on a harassment, threat to kill, charge in March 2021, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
“That history is an alarming concern for community safety,” Deputy Prosecutor Joe Bassetti said during Jenkins’ preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday, Sept. 14.
Officers with the Centralia Police Department reportedly contacted Jenkins at his “converted bus home” sometime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 13, according to court documents.
When questioned about the girl, Jenkins allegedly “denied anyone else was in the home” and “first acted like he did not know her” then “said the last time he had seen her was a couple weeks ago.”
The girl exited the bus during Jenkins’ conversation with the Centralia officer, according to court documents.
While talking to officers, the girl “reported having sex with Jenkins several times, and as recently as that day,” according to court documents. She reportedly “indicated that she told Jenkins she was 17, but that they talked about how much trouble he would get in for being with her.”
In their reports, Centralia officers “indicated (the girl) neither looks, nor acts, 17, and that she looks and acts 13 or 14 years old.”
Jenkins was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 3 p.m. on Sept. 13. The next day, he was charged in Lewis County Superior Court with three counts of third-degree rape of a child and one count of unlawful harboring of a minor.
Judge James Lawler set Jenkins’ bail at $200,000 on Thursday, Sept. 14, citing Jenkins’ criminal history.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 21.
