Vancouver man arrested in alleged rape of girl, 15

A Vancouver man who allegedly grabbed a 15-year-old girl off the street and raped her in his car in December has been arrested.

Efrain Marcos Rodriguez III, 27, appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of third-degree rape of a child in connection with the Dec. 19 assault, court records show.

The girl was walking in the 14000 block of Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard when a man pulled up behind her in a white BMW and followed her. She said the man, later identified as Rodriguez, got out of his car, grabbed her by her backpack and hair, and shoved her into the front passenger seat of the car, according to a probable cause affidavit.

She said Rodriguez sexually assaulted her. He stopped when someone walked by, the affidavit said.

Rodriguez then asked the girl where to drop her off. She said she didn’t want him to know where she lived so she asked him to take her to the Safeway in Hazel Dell. When they arrived, Rodriguez called her a “slut” and told her to get out of his car, court records state.

The girl’s mother took her to a hospital the following day for a sexual assault exam. Evidence from the exam was sent to the Washington State Patrol crime lab, which later found a DNA match to Rodriguez, according to court documents.

On Monday, Judge Scott Collier appointed Rodriguez an attorney and set his bail at $25,000. He will be arraigned Oct. 21.