"Bellingham businessman not guilty of raping teenage babysitter"

DAVID ALLEN, attorney
Tyler Eugene Ryan, defendant

Bellingham Herald

By Denver Pratt

March 2, 2018 05:11pm

Updated March 05, 2018 11:04 AM

Following two days of deliberation and a weeks-long trial, a jury acquitted a Bellingham businessman accused of raping a teenage babysitter in 2015.

Tyler Eugene Ryan, 37, was found not guilty Friday afternoon of one count each of second-degree rape by forcible compulsion, third-degree rape of a child and intimidating a witness.

“I want to thank the jury for deliberating and coming to the verdict they did. I want to thank everybody that supported me and believed in me. It was a hard, terrible thing to deal with and justice was served,” Ryan said Friday afternoon.

Ryan said he planned to go home and hug his children, and “after that, I want to pick the pieces of my life back up and put them together.”

He noted it was important for the public to keep an open mind when accusations are made against people, as sometimes the full story can’t be told right away.

“There’s a lot of evidence and things we had that we couldn’t disclose, and so it’s important that people in our community do keep an open mind in these situations and not judge because as today showed, innocent people are and can still be accused,” he said.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting attorney Eric Richey said prosecutors knew when they charged the case it was going to be difficult.

“The evidence needed to come in well to get a good verdict, and it didn’t,” Richey said. “We’re disappointed, but we trust the jury process and respect the decision.”

When Ryan was originally charged in late July, he was an executive director of financial services at Multop Financial.

In late July, a girl, then 13 years old, alleged she was raped by Ryan while babysitting for him and his wife in November 2015, according to court records.

The girl told police Ryan made unwanted advances after he came home. She said she froze, tried to scream, but Ryan overpowered her, covered her mouth and raped her, according to court records.

The girl claimed Ryan told her she would regret it if she told anyone, according to court records.
 


Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article199755604.html#storylink=cpy

 

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