A Gleed man convicted of brutally raping a 12-year-old girl in 2018 will have to spend at least 80 years in prison.
Daniel John Arnold, 34, was sentenced Monday to an indeterminate sentence of 80 years to life in connection with the Jan. 23, 2018, home-invasion attack near South 32nd Avenue and West Nob Hill Boulevard.
Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said in a news release it was one of the worst sexual assault crimes he and his deputies have seen in their careers.
"Simply, this defendant deserves every month of incarceration that he received from the court," Brusic said.
A woman told police she had come home with her then-12-year-old granddaughter. Arnold appeared as she was parking in her garage and ordered the woman into the house, according to court documents. Arnold, who was armed with a switchblade knife, bound the woman with packing tape and threatened to kill the 12-year-old.
The girl's 16-year-old sister came home and found her grandmother bound and Arnold holding the knife to her sister's throat, court documents said. He ordered the older girl to lay on the floor as he raped the 12-year-old, court documents said.
The older girl grabbed Arnold's knife when he put it on the floor, and in the ensuing fight she stabbed Arnold in the upper chest while he punched her in the face, smashing her glasses, court documents said. She was able to help her grandmother and sister go to a neighbor's house, the documents said.
Police found Arnold after searching for several hours, following a series of broken fences, boot prints and blood. He was two blocks away hiding on a back porch with a carpet wrapped around him and had the 12-year-old's cellphone, court documents said.
Arnold was a stranger to his victims and had no connection with them.
During a bench trial in November, Judge Jeffery Swan found Arnold guilty of first-degree rape, second-degree child rape, first-degree burglary, three counts of first-degree kidnapping and two counts of second-degree assault. All of the counts carried a deadly weapon enhancement for the knife, while the burglary, kidnapping and second-degree assault charges also included sexual-motivation enhancement.
At Monday's sentencing hearing, Swan went 10 1/2 years above the standard range sentence because the rape involved a destructive impact on persons other than the victim, Brusic said.
Arnold, whom court records list as a high-school dropout, has a criminal record going back to 2004 that includes convictions for motor vehicle theft, identity theft, eluding, theft, fourth-degree assault and burglary.
Arnold awaits trial on rape and kidnapping charges stemming from a 2010 attack on a woman on North First Street. He was charged in that case after DNA taken from him in the 2018 case linked him to that attack.
