Child-Rape Suspect Dodges Court Date -- John Babcock Faces Seven Sex Charges

A South Seattle man long suspected of having abused numerous children has been charged with statutory rape and indecent liberties.

Police are looking for John Babcock, 39, operator of a Rainier Valley lock shop, who was charged yesterday in King County Superior Court with four counts of statutory rape, two counts of indecent liberties and one of attempted indecent liberties. Babcock failed to make a court appearance yesterday afternoon.

He was arrested Saturday by Seattle police and released Monday on condition he appear in court.Bail has been set at $100,000.

Investigating Babcock has been a four-year effort by Seattle officer Leland Gayles, who has criticized police and prosecutors for not filing sex charges against the man earlier.

Gayles' outspokenness against Babcock led to a series of internal investigations, and Gayles has been recommended for firing. He is now on unpaid leave from the Police Department.

Babcock was arrested after a 19-year-old man was interviewed by authorities about Babcock's alleged activities involving children. The man was granted immunity from prosecution in a case of sex with a minor after he agreed to cooperate.

According to court documents, the young man, Babcock and a young girl played a game similar to strip poker on a fishing trip in 1987. The loser had to perform sex acts depicted on cards used in the game - oral sex, masturbation, intercourse. The game continued when they returned to Babcock's home, the youth said. Similar activity continued for about a year.

According to court papers, Babcock used a girl to lure other children into his home and into participating in games that ended in nudity and attempts at sexual activity.

Babcock was a Girl Scout troop leader in the late 1980s. One of the girls in the group, who was 6 at the time, said she was one of four girls Babcock dressed in lingerie and involved in a game in which they fondled him and he fondled them, according to court papers.

Another girl, whose father at the time assisted Babcock in his Girl Scout work, told authorities she rejected Babcock's efforts to involve her in similar games.

Parents of some of the children interviewed by King County deputy prosecutor Rebecca Roe are preparing claims to be filed with the state's Victim Compensation Office to recover the costs of therapy their children required after contact with Babcock.

Roe said in her affidavit that Babcock's home "was filthy and a mess" and that he practices witchcraft.

Gayles, former Seattle police Sgt. Chuck Pillon and Frank LaChance, a community activist who received the first tip on allegations against Babcock, were featured on Mike Siegal's KVI radio talk show last week.

Parents who phoned their comments to the program were highly critical of the police department's handling of their complaints against Babcock. They said detectives were slipshod and left them with the feeling they were protecting Babcock. One mother said she was berated by one detective who claimed Babcock was an upstanding citizen.

Police have long maintained that earlier investigations of Babcock were done properly. Prosecutors did not file charges earlier, contending there was not enough information to prosecute.

Babcock's three children have been placed in a foster home.