A previously convicted sex offender who held a teenage girl captive in a small trailer in a junk yard north of Bellingham for more than a week in 2020 and repeatedly sexually assaulted her has been sent to prison.
Darrin Scott Moseley, 42, was sentenced June 14 in Whatcom County Superior Court to 7 1/4 years in prison, with three years probation.
As part of his sentencing, Moseley will be required to register as a sex offender, will not be allowed to have contact with the victim or any minors, will have to undergo a psychosexual evaluation, and must comply with sexual deviancy treatment, according to court records.
Moseley pleaded guilty March 27 to one count of indecent liberties and one count of second-degree assault. He entered an Alford plea, which means he agreed prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict him at trial, but he does not admit guilt for his crimes. Moseley has maintained that he had consensual sex with the girl, who was 16 at the time, the court records state.
Moseley's charges were amended down as part of a plea deal. He originally was charged with three counts of first-degree rape with a deadly weapon, one count of first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation and with a deadly weapon, and one count of felony harassment with a deadly weapon and sexual motivation, court records show.
All of his original charges included aggravating factors that stated Moseley's conduct during the commission of the crimes manifested deliberate cruelty to the victim and that Moseley knew or should have known the victim was particularly vulnerable or incapable of resistance, the records state.
Both Moseley and the victim are "severely developmentally delayed and mentally ill," which presented challenges to reaching a conviction during trial, Whatcom County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erik Sigmar said in a statement sent to The Bellingham Herald.
"The plea bargain mitigated the risk of acquittal and avoided subjecting the victim to additional trauma in court," Sigmar said.
The plea deal was support by the victim through a court-appointed advocate, by law enforcement, by Moseley's defense attorney and by the Washington State Department of Corrections, he added.
"We are pleased that the court followed the recommendation. The court provided accountability, imposing substantial prison time followed by community custody, sexual deviancy treatment, and sex offender registration. The Moseley case represents what can be achieved when parties within the adversarial criminal justice system come together and compromise in the best interest of the victim, the community, and the offender," Sigmar said.
The Herald reached out to Moseley's defense attorney for comment, but did not hear back.
About a month before Moseley's mid-November 2020 arrest, Moseley told one of the owners of the property he was living on in the 4700 block of North King Mountain Road that he had met a nice girl.
Moseley asked whether he could bring the girl to the property, which was described in police and court records as "a junk yard" with many vehicles and heavy machinery. The property owner allegedly told Moseley no.
Moseley had been living on the property since his release from prison in 2019. He originally was living in a tent, but was later allowed to live in a 10-foot by 10-foot cab trailer. Both Moseley and his father lived on the property and would help the property owners rebuild cars, according to court records.
The property owner told Whatcom County Sheriff's Office detectives and a private investigator for Moseley's defense attorney that he recalled a noisy car coming onto the property between 4 and 5 a.m. about a week before Moseley's arrest on Nov. 18, 2020.
The car was later confirmed to belong to the man who dropped the teenage girl off to stay with Moseley at the property, according to court records. That man has not been charged in connection with this incident, court records show.
Between Nov. 16 and Nov. 18, 2020, there were at least 13 calls placed to 911, all of which were later associated with Moseley, according to court records.
Sheriff's deputies responded to the North King Mountain Road address multiple times during those two days and learned Moseley lived in a trailer on the property. At the time of Moseley's arrest, Whatcom County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Deb Slater told The Herald that even though Moseley had active warrants out for his arrest, they were unable to arrest him due to COVID-19 booking restrictions at the jail.
Slater also said while deputies learned Moseley was on the property several days prior to his arrest and they had made several attempts to contact him, they could not find him.
In two 911 calls Moseley made on Nov. 16, he told dispatch that a young girl had been tied up and was being raped. Moseley was reportedly frantic during the 911 calls, the court records state.
The following day, on Nov. 17, there were five calls placed to 911, including two hang-ups. During some of the calls, Moseley alluded to a man named "Jasper" and said the man was raping young girls.
The property owner also approached deputies on this day and told them he believed there was a young girl in the trailer with Moseley, according to court records.
Deputies attempted to speak to Moseley, but could not get him to come out of the trailer. The deputies then left the property, due to Moseley refusing to exit the trailer and because no one else identified themselves as being inside the trailer, court documents state.
The teenage girl later told detectives that she had heard deputies asking for anyone else in the trailer to announce themselves, but that Moseley told her to keep quiet and later said he would hurt her if she tried to leave, the records show.
The girl's sister told detectives that she, too, had received a call from Moseley on this day. The sister said Moseley talked about living in Oregon, being a contractor in Washington, and did not mention the girl, court records state.
On the day of Moseley's arrest, on Nov. 18, 2020, six calls were made to 911. One of those calls came from the 16-year-old girl.
Shortly after 5 p.m., dispatch received a call from a young girl. The girl gave her name and said, "I just need to go home," before hanging up the phone. Dispatch attempted to call the number back, but the calls went unanswered.
Dispatch learned the North King Mountain Road address was the location associated with the call and sheriff's deputies responded for a welfare check.
When deputies responded and knocked on the trailer door, Moseley answered. Deputies saw the teenage girl standing next to him in the doorway. Moseley was arrested.
In an interview with a detective, the 16-year-old girl said she ran away from her home in Bellingham after a man her mother brought home repeatedly sexually assaulted her. That man, Victor James Savchuk, 25, of Bellingham, has been charged with two counts of second-degree rape, one count of third-degree rape, one count of indecent liberties, one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of intimidating a witness. His case is still pending, court records show.
The girl said when she left home, she went to stay with an adult male she met in the parking lot of a Whatcom County hotel. The girl said she called the man her "stepdad" because he would take care of her and buy her things, according to court records.
The girl said the man dropped her off with Moseley roughly 10 days prior to her being found by deputies. The three smoked methamphetamine together before the man left the girl with Moseley. The man later told detectives that he and Moseley had grown up together and recently reconnected. The man said he thought that Moseley was "a good guy" and that the property "was a safe place" to leave the girl, court records state.
The man told the teenager to text or call him every night. The first night after leaving the girl with Moseley, the man said she messaged him and told him she was uncomfortable with Moseley and wanted to leave. She sent another message saying she was afraid Moseley would hurt her. After the man received more text messages, the man blocked the number. He told detectives he believed Moseley had written the subsequent messages and they were "whacked out," which is why he blocked the number, according to court records.
The teenager told detectives that Moseley gave her methamphetamine, alcohol and cannabis brownies. She said Moseley raped her every night, court records state. The girl told detectives that she told Moseley she didn't want to have sex with him, but he continued to sexually assault her.
During the time she was held captive, Moseley also threatened to stab her to death, held a knife to her throat while she slept, choked her, took her phone, deleted her contacts and broke the cameras on it and would stand in front of the door to prevent her from leaving.
Moseley also did not feed the teenager during the time he held her captive, except for giving her an occasional weed brownie, court records state.
The girl told detectives that she only left the trailer two times during the roughly 10-day period she was with Moseley — once to get coffee with Moseley and his father and once to go to the grocery store, where Moseley forced her to hold his hand, the court records show.
The girl told a nurse at St. Joseph's hospital that on the day she made the 911 call, she was "so scared she was able to call the police." The girl said she waited until Moseley went outside to use the bathroom and then grabbed a phone and called 911. Moseley returned, told her not to speak to anyone and she hung up the phone. Deputies arrived shortly after, documents show.
The teenager was then taken into protective custody.
During an interview with detectives after his arrest, Moseley said he was trying to "protect" the girl. Moseley kept referring to "Jasper" and said he was a threat to the girl's safety.
Moseley said he believed the girl was 20 and denied holding her against her will. He told the detective he was falling in love with the teenager.
Moseley admitted to detectives that he held a knife to the girl's neck and admitted to sexually assaulting her multiple times, court records show.
During an interview with Child Protective Services, the girl said that living on the streets was better than living at her home due to the abuse she suffered there.
The CPS investigator screened the teenager for commercial sexual exploitation of children. The screening did not confirm the girl was a victim of commercial sexual exploitation, but the screening did have many indications of it, according to court records.
Documents in the court records show that the teenager frequently ran away from home, experienced unstable housing and periods of homelessness, relied on emergency or temporary assistance to meet basic needs and was physically, sexually and emotionally abused and witnessed domestic violence.
Detectives and CPS workers said the teenager does not appear to function at her actual age level, and communicated as if she was 12 years old or younger, court records show.
Detectives learned that the girl, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorder, schizophrenia and a developmental disability, had been enrolled in special education classes since elementary school.
Since the time of Moseley's arrest in November 2020, the girl has experienced a significant decline in cognitive function and mental health, the court records state.
In late May 2023, a Washington State Department of Corrections evaluator spoke with a court-appointed advocate for the girl regarding the impacts of Moseley's actions.
The child advocate said the teenager has been placed in approximately 10 different care facilities across Washington and Idaho, with the most time being spent at a children's home in Idaho. The advocate said the girl has run away from the facilities on numerous occasions and was unable to care for herself, and its suspected that she was sexually assaulted again, according to court records.
The teenager is now legally an adult, but has been placed in extended foster care until she turns 21 in about two years. After that, she will continue to receive care through the Developmental Disabilities Administration, court records state.
The court-appointed child advocate said in late May the girl "is extremely vulnerable because of her mental health diagnoses and cognitive dysfunction," adding that "the full history of abuse and trauma experienced by (the teenager) may never fully be known."
A presentence investigation conducted by the state Department of Corrections prior to Moseley's June 14 sentencing showed that he has been involved in the criminal legal system since before age 10 and had a troubled home life.
Moseley reported he was first arrested at age 8 after he stole a check from a mailbox.
In the mid-to late-1990s, Moseley was convicted at age 14 of first-degree child molestation. He was then convicted at age 17 of first-degree child rape, according to court records.
Moseley was sentenced to spend more than two years at a now-closed medium security detention facility in Southwest Washington.
Moseley has four convictions as an adult between 2002 and 2014 for failing to register as a sex offender. He also has previous convictions for second-degree robbery and telephone harassment, court records show.
As a child, Moseley experienced neglect, sexual abuse and was denied food. Moseley has an intellectual disability, unspecified schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorder, depressive disorder, stimulant use disorder and cannabis use disorder, court documents state.
During an interview with detectives after his arrest in November 2020, he was described as physically imposing, but his demeanor was child-like. Court documents show Moseley's cognitive abilities are below average. He was found competent to stand trial in the case in April 2022.
Moseley's "previous crimes against other children show a continued deviant interest, which was not properly addressed during his sexual deviancy treatment as an adolescent." The teen-age girl " will never fully recover from what he did to her and Darrin must be held to account for his crimes. If Darrin does not have sufficient support and programming upon release from custody, his behavior could pose a serious risk to community safety," court records state.
