Mercer Island Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Rape

EVERETT

A Mercer Island man with a history of sexually assaulting young boys has pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of a 6-year-old at an Everett park last summer.

David Eugene Harto, 37, faces 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed for attempted first-degree child rape.

On July 19, the 6-year-old was using the restroom at Legion Park in Everett when Harto grabbed him. The boy resisted and Harto left, said Deputy Prosecutor Stephen Garvey.

Harto already is serving a 5 1/2-year sentence for first-degree-child molestation in Kitsap County. He also was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in King County for two Eastside incidents last September.

In one case, Harto grabbed a 6-year-old boy in a bathroom stall at Bellevue Community College, but he ran when the boy screamed. He also approached a 16-year-old youth in a bathroom at Mercer Island High School two days later, but again ran when the boy yelled.

The King County sentence is to run consecutive with the time Harto received in Kitsap County .

Harto was convicted in Colorado of abducting a 6-year-old boy in 1976, fondling him and attempting to rape him. He was released from a Colorado prison about three years ago.