A man posing as a Seattle pornographer to lure victims to his Seattle apartment is now being sought by police for multiple counts of rape.

So far, investigators have identified nine women who reported the 40-year-old freelance journalist had sex with them or attempted to have sex with them under false pretenses, or had sex with them after he drugged them and they were too impaired to grant consent. He was charged earlier this month with three counts of rape in the second degree in connection with the women who is suspected of drugging.

A person is guilty of rape in the first degree when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion where the perpetrator or an accessory:

• Uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon or what appears to be a deadly weapon; or
• Kidnaps the victim; or
• Inflicts serious physical injury, including but not limited to physical injury which renders the victim unconscious; or
• Feloniously enters the building or vehicle where the victim is situated.

A person is guilty of rape in the second degree when, under circumstances not constituting rape in the first degree, he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person:

• By forcible compulsion;
• When the victim is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated; or
• When the victim is a person with a developmental disability, the patient of a health care provider, a resident of a mental health or rehabilitation facility or a frail elder or vulnerable adult and not married to the perpetrator.

Both first- and second-degree rape are Class A felonies, punishable by up to life in prison, or a fine of up to $50,000 or both.

Some states have criminalized “consent obtained by trickery,” but that does not apply in Washington State.

Although the Seattle-area serial rapist is expected to be charged with three counts of rape, before that can happen, police have to find him. After police began investigating allegations of rape, the man moved out of state. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Investigators claim to have evidence that links the man to the rapes of acquaintances and strangers dating back to 2001. At one point he posed online as a woman who was recruiting other women to appear in porn videos and told them they would have to audition by having sex with her photographer, who in reality, was the suspect.

The three rapes for which he is facing charges include a 2014 incident when the suspect purportedly lured a young woman, now 19 years old, to his apartment to pose for lingerie photos. Another woman, age 35, said she met him that same year through an online dating site. In 2013, a 32-year-old woman said the suspect came to her apartment for a drink. All three women told police the suspect served them alcoholic beverages that he drugged.

Two of the three women woke up naked or half-naked and found discarded condom wrappers on the floor. The third had trouble getting home because she was so confused. Four other women reported rapes, but in two of the cases the statute of limitations had run out and in two others charges were not brought.

If you are being accused of a crime, even if charges have not yet been filed, call the Seattle law office of Steve Karimi at (206) 621-8777 or contact him online.