A Whatcom County man is suspected of pushing, slapping, choking and whipping a woman he is familiar with and using physical force to rape her, even while police were outside attempting to get somebody to answer the door.
The Ferndale Police Department booked Michael Allen York, 29, into Whatcom County Jail on Aug. 12, and jail records show he was released on $50,000 bail Aug. 17.
The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged him Aug. 17 with two counts of second-degree rape (forcible compulsion) and one count each of second-degree assault (strangulation) and fourth-degree assault.
Police were initially called to the victim's residence by her parents on Aug. 11, but left after no one would come to the door, though they reported seeing people inside and making several attempts to speak to someone, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents.
A day later, the victim went to the Ferndale Police Department to report the alleged attack, court documents state, saying that York bit her hard on the shoulder, causing an argument and her to leave and go to another room. The victim told police York kicked a hole in the door, grabbed her hair, threw her on the ground, pushed and slapped her several times, forced the victim into sexual acts and choked her.
When police arrived at the residence, the victim reported she attempted to wave at them through a bathroom window, but she had to leave the window when York entered and raped her while she heard police still outside, according to court documents. York also reportedly whipped the victim with a belt.
Police reported the victim had injuries consistent with the attack she reported, documents state.
York was contacted by police and turned himself in to be booked into jail, Ferndale spokesperson Riley Sweeney told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
