Port Orchard Minister Charged With Rape -- Police Continue Probe Into Granddaughter's Abduction

Kitsap County prosecutors today charged the Port Orchard minister who allegedly kidnapped his 9-year-old granddaughter with rape and child molestation.

Fred Aylward has been charged with four separate felonies, including two counts of rape of a child in the first degree, one count of child molestation in the first degree, and one count of kidnapping in the first degree, said prosecuting attorney Dan Clem.

Aylward, founder and head minister of St. Margaret's Orthodox Catholic Church, led deputy sheriffs on a strange chase that began on Dec. 29 when he allegedly faked a car accident and disappeared with his granddaughter. St. Margaret's is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

The disappearance led to a highly publicized missing persons' search throughout Kitsap County.

Investigators said they tracked down Aylward through credit-card purchases he made as he made his way south. They found him two days later in a Los Angeles hotel, where he was having dinner with his granddaughter. He had told the girl they were going to Disneyland for a short trip.

Sheriff investigators said he had a bizarre fascination with his granddaughter.

Last week, prosecutors charged Aylward with custodial interference. Investigators sought more serious charges after interviews with the girl.

Aylward, who is being held on $200,000 bail, was scheduled to appear in Kitsap County Superior Court this afternoon.

The sheriff's office said the minister was previously accused of a 1978 kidnapping of his stepdaughter from an earlier marriage, but charges were later dropped. He was a Mormon elder at the time.