A Vancouver sex offender accused of raping a woman was convicted Thursday by a jury and is now facing a life sentence in prison.
The Clark County Superior Court jury deliberated for about three hours before returning the guilty verdict against Jeremiah A. Teas. In addition to first-degree rape, jurors also found that Teas used a deadly weapon in the commission of the crime.
Teas, 40, is classified as a Level 2 sex offender, based on convictions from 1997 and 1998 for third-degree assault with sexual motivation and first-degree child molestation, respectively, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs’ database.
He will be sentenced Oct. 27, pending a pre-sentencing investigation.
Teas was accused of threatening and assaulting a Vancouver woman at knifepoint Oct. 5, 2016, after responding to an online ad for massage services. The assault occurred at her apartment. He was arrested two days later.
During the trial, Teas testified that he never attacked the woman or had sex with her because he was unable to become aroused.
His defense attorney, Gregg Schile, told jurors during closing arguments Thursday morning that the woman fabricated the rape after Teas shorted her money for her services.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu argued that the victim’s story has been consistent since the beginning and that Teas is the one who’s changed his story — he initially denied meeting with the woman and told detectives he was in the area to visit a friend.
Teas testified that he lied to detectives because he was ashamed about hiring an escort and didn’t want his family to know.
However, investigators found Teas’ DNA during the victim’s sexual assault exam and on the knife that he left at her apartment, Vu said, as well as blood smears inside after apparently cutting himself.
Vu described the victim as a single mother who, strapped for cash and desperate, posted the online ad. She invited Teas to her apartment after he responded and took him to her bedroom. Once inside, Teas suddenly attacked her, Vu said, and held a knife to her throat, announcing his intention to rape her.
The woman convinced Teas to put away the knife, Vu said, after assuring him she would comply. She eventually slipped away and ran screaming to her roommate, who was half-asleep in another room. Teas left the apartment.
Schile argued that version doesn’t make sense. If Teas was armed with a knife, why would he give up his advantage, he questioned.
Teas told the jury that the woman told him to take off his pants and offered him a condom. After having trouble becoming aroused, he tried to pay her. But when he reached into his pocket for the money, his pocket knife slipped out, he said, and the woman ran from the room.
He and his attorney said the woman never discussed the services she was offering or her fee. Schile described Teas as naive and said he didn’t know what he was getting himself into.
