Roughly a month after a 28-year-old Bellingham man was arrested and accused of being a serial rapist targeting incapacitated and homeless men over the past several years, police have identified at least five victims and believe there are likely more.
Julio C. Ortiz-Ortiz was charged Nov. 29 in Whatcom County Superior Court with one count of attempted second-degree rape, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of indecent liberties.
Ortiz-Ortiz pleaded not guilty to the charges at his Dec. 8 arraignment. His jury trial has tentatively been scheduled for Feb. 26.
Ortiz-Ortiz was arrested Nov. 22 and released from the Whatcom County Jail six days later on a $50,000 bond. Court records show Ortiz-Ortiz used a local bail bond company.
The Bellingham Herald has reached out to Ortiz-Ortiz's defense attorney, the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the Bellingham Police Department for more information.
Predatory behavior
Bellingham police say Ortiz-Ortiz has a documented history of predatory behavior targeting men who are incapacitated or are marginalized members of society, according to court records.
Over the past three years, Ortiz-Ortiz has been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing at least five men. At least two of the men were homeless and were offered food or a shower by Ortiz-Ortiz at the time they were assaulted, according to court documents.
Police previously said identifying victims has been difficult because many are homeless without easy access to a phone and without a fixed address. Police believe some victims may have moved out of the area, and that there could be potential additional victims in nearby cities, such as Seattle.
The Herald has reached out to Bellingham police to see how many additional victims may have come forward in the past month, and whether additional charges have been forwarded to the prosecutor's office for consideration.
Bellingham police are asking anyone with information concerning any incidents of sexual assault or misconduct involving Ortiz-Ortiz to call the non-emergency dispatch line at 360-676-6911.
November assault
Shortly after 5:15 a.m. Nov. 18, Bellingham police were called to the 1000 block of High Street for a welfare check.
Dispatch reported that an out-of-breath man called 911 to report that someone tried to rape him and that a handgun may have been involved, court records state.
Bellingham police spoke with a man who told them a man he only knew as "Jay" had tried to attack him while they were inside an apartment. The 29-year-old man told police he had to flee quickly and had left personal items behind in the apartment. Police later identified "Jay" as Ortiz-Ortiz, according to court documents.
The man, who is homeless, told police he was hanging out by the docks in downtown Bellingham when he met Ortiz-Ortiz. The man said Ortiz-Ortiz drove up in a black Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and invited him back to his apartment to take a shower. The man told police he got into Ortiz-Ortiz's truck and the pair drove to Ortiz-Ortiz's apartment in the 900 block of High Street.
The man told police he and Ortiz-Ortiz hung out for a while in the apartment and drank between three and five alcoholic seltzers. The man then took a shower in Ortiz-Ortiz's apartment.
While the man was showering, Ortiz-Ortiz kept trying to enter the bathroom. The man told police he also heard what sounded like a handgun slide being racked back and forth outside of the bathroom. The man said he never saw a gun, but was afraid Ortiz-Ortiz had one, according to court records.
The 29-year-old man told Ortiz-Ortiz he no longer felt comfortable at his apartment and was going to leave. The man told police that as he was trying to leave, Ortiz-Ortiz made sexual advances, court documents state.
The man told Ortiz-Ortiz he didn't want that to happen and Ortiz-Ortiz began physically attacking him. The man said Ortiz-Ortiz put his arms around him and grabbed him aggressively before squaring up like he wanted to engage in a fistfight. The man told police Ortiz-Ortiz started hitting him and that he began hitting Ortiz-Ortiz back in self-defense, according to court records.
The man said that while he was at the front door and trying to unlock and open it to leave, Ortiz-Ortiz was actively trying to prevent him from leaving. The man told police that when he was able to flee the residence, he left behind his shoes and other personal belongings.
He also told police that he yelled for help as soon as he left the residence, and that he hid until law enforcement arrived, court records state.
The man told police he had never met Ortiz-Ortiz prior to this incident. The man said he believed Ortiz-Ortiz "wanted to have sexual relations with him." The man told police he didn't want to have any sexual contact with Ortiz-Ortiz and that he was "scared for his life tonight and he was worried he might not be able to get away from Julio Ortiz-Ortiz."
The man also told police that Ortiz-Ortiz "might have had his way with him if he was not able to fight him off and exit the residence to call for help," the court records state.
The man provided a description of Ortiz-Ortiz and his apartment to police, and detailed the items he left inside the apartment when he fled.
Police learned a neighbor in the apartment complex had also called 911 to report hearing a fight in the apartment above his. The neighbor told police he heard a fight between what sounded like two men, but didn't hear any specific words spoken.
A different neighbor also told police that a man matching Ortiz-Ortiz's description lived in the apartment described to police.
When police knocked on the door of the specific apartment identified, Ortiz-Ortiz answered.
Ortiz-Ortiz agreed to step out of the apartment and speak with police. When asked if an altercation had occurred, he told police he was putting blankets outside.
When asked if he had anyone over to his apartment that day, Ortiz-Ortiz initially said he didn't know, but then later told police he had a man over. He told police he found the man outside, right outside of the apartment complex, court records state.
When asked if Ortiz-Ortiz invited the man over because he liked the way he looked, Ortiz-Ortiz answered "I guess," and told police he had only said hi to the man he had picked up.
Ortiz-Ortiz denied being assaulted by the man "even though there was an obvious injury to [Ortiz-Ortiz's] right eyebrow," and the injury was consistent with where the man told police he had bitten Ortiz-Ortiz during their fight, court documents show.
Ortiz-Ortiz then told police he didn't want to speak further without a lawyer present and went back inside his apartment. He allegedly refused to identify himself for law enforcement, the court records state.
Bellingham police requested Ortiz-Ortiz put the victim's belongings outside. A short time later, Ortiz-Ortiz put the victim's shoes and other belongings outside the front door. The victim identified the items as his and police gave the man a ride to a homeless shelter, the records state.
Paperwork seen inside of Ortiz-Ortiz's truck, which was parked in the alley, had Ortiz-Ortiz's name and birth date on it. Police then confirmed Ortiz-Ortiz was the man who answered the apartment door based on his driver's license photograph, the fact that he had the victim's belongings and that he had a face injury that was consistent with the injury described by the victim, court documents state.
Food offered
A second man reported a similar incident involving Ortiz-Ortiz to police in 2021.
The man, who was homeless at the time, said Ortiz-Ortiz offered him food and picked him up in a black pickup truck.
The man told police that once he was inside the vehicle, Ortiz-Ortiz allegedly began grabbing the man's genitals. The man said he had to fight off Ortiz-Ortiz "in a violent manner, similar to the struggle [the other victim] described," court records state.
The victim was able to escape Ortiz-Ortiz's truck. The victim told police that Ortiz-Ortiz then turned the vehicle around and purposefully ran over his bicycle while driving past him.
A nearby witness called 911 and reported Ortiz-Ortiz's license plate.
When asked about the incident, Ortiz-Ortiz told police he "frequently picks up 'friends' to help them and denied knowing the victim or ever seeing him before," according to court records.
No arrest was made at the time due to a lack of an independent witness.
DNA tests are pending on items taken from the scene in an attempt to tie Ortiz-Ortiz to the assault. Investigators are also requesting the DNA evidence be submitted to local, state and national DNA databases to determine potential links to other unsolved sexual assaults, according to court records.
Graduation party
A third victim came forward in 2022 and accused Ortiz-Ortiz of raping him while at a graduation party in 2020.
The man told police he passed out after drinking at a graduation party. He told police he fell asleep on a couch, and later woke up with his pants down.
Ortiz-Ortiz was asleep nearby, according to court records.
Two additional male victims from the graduation party were also identified. Both were either asleep or incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol.
One of the men awoke to Ortiz-Ortiz sexually assaulting him, while the other reported being assaulted while he was passed out. The latter assault may have been witnessed by another person.
Neither of the men reported being sexually assaulted "due to the shame and stigma of being labeled as 'gay'," the court records state.
Male victims are less likely to report sexual assault and misconduct due in part to the stigma of being labeled as gay if they identify as straight, court documents state.
The three assaults were never prosecuted due to a lack of victim cooperation at the time. Investigators have since reopened the cases and are attempting to obtain victim and witness statements, court documents state.
Witnesses in the investigation told police at the time that Ortiz-Ortiz would get kicked out of nightclubs in Bellingham and Seattle in the past for making unwanted sexual advances.
Investigators have identified at least five suspected victims but believe "there are many more who either fail to report or who were unable to identify Julio Ortiz-Ortiz as their attacker due to Julio Ortiz-Ortiz targeting strangers," the court records state.
"Not only does Julio Ortiz-Ortiz target victims who are homeless, he has shown a pattern of targeting anyone he has an opportunity to victimize who might be in close proximity to him."
